Avista to raise rates Friday for Idaho customers
Starting Friday, Avista Utilities customers in Idaho will begin to see the rate increases for electricity and natural gas that regulators approved last June.
Earlier this year, Avista announced that it reached a settlement agreement that would raise rates for Idaho customers by about 12% for electricity users and 1.6% for natural gas ratepayers.
“This outcome provides us the opportunity to earn a fair return in Idaho and supports Avista’s efforts to make key capital investments so we can continue to provide the reliable energy our customers expect,” Dennis Vermillion, Avista president and CEO, said in a news release sent Thursday.
Natural gas prices have risen six times for Avista’s Idaho customers since September 2021 through a series of rate adjustments that account for higher prices the company has to pay to secure the fuel primarily used for heating homes and businesses, along with its general rate bumps to cover equipment and delivery costs.
The monthly bill for the average natural gas customer is about 55% higher than this time in 2021.
Avista’s latest rate proposals come following discussions with its largest customers that include Clearwater Paper Corp., Idaho Forest Group and Walmart Inc., according to a news release.
Natural gas customers using an average or 64 therms per month would see a 1.6% increase, making their monthly bill $74.62 beginning Friday.
Over two years ago, Avista predicted its gas customers would pay monthly bills of about $47.95 by September 2022.
The company started a series of six rate increases in 2021 which instead raised gas rates 55% since that time.
Avista spokeswoman Lena Funston explained last June that the utility faced much higher gas prices in 2021 and obtained approval for several rate increases for natural gas.
“During 2022, we sought to reflect in rates a cost of gas more similar to what we were paying in the wholesale market,” Funston wrote in June.
Funston said the prices for natural gas have since moderated.
For the company’s electricity customers, Avista will collect $22.1 million more beginning in September and then another $4.3 million in September 2024.
Avista’s average residential customer in Idaho can expect electricity bills to climb $10.15 per month to about $95.55 per month. That’s an 11.9% increase.
The next year the rates will increase again, pushing the bill to about $97.61 in September 2024.
Avista serves more than 141,000 electric and 92,000 natural gas customers in Idaho.
“This settlement agreement will provide new rates in Idaho that are fair and reasonable for our customers, the company, and our shareholders,” Vermillion said in June.