Website:
www.puc.idaho.gov
Commission
OKs minor adjustments to Avista electric rates
Residential
customers of Avista Utilities will see about a 91-cent per month increase in
electric bills due to the expiration of a rate credit and about a 47-cent per
month decrease due to an increase in Bonneville Power Administration’s
residential exchange credit. The adjustments become effective Nov. 1.
The
expiration of a credit given to customers from the sale of the Centralia and
Skookumchuck power plants will result in an increase to average residential
bills of about 1.45 percent. A second adjustment, an increase in the Bonneville
Power Administration (BPA) credit will reduce average residential bills by
about 0.75 percent.
When
Avista sold its share of the Centralia, Wash., power plant, customers were
allowed to share in about $7.5 million of the company’s net-of-tax gain. That
credit will be fully refunded to customers by Nov. 1, requiring its
removal. Added to the credit in 2004,
was $154,000 from the sale of the Skookumchuck hydroelectric generation
facility, which supplied cooling water to the Centralia Power Plant.
While
the Centralia credit expires, another credit, the BPA credit, is increased. The
Bonneville Power Administration is a federally owned wholesale power marketer,
selling electricity at cost to customers in four Northwestern states, including
Idaho. The electricity is generated from a number of hydroelectric facilities
along the Columbia River and its tributaries. The Northwest Power Act of 1980
requires that residential and small-farm electric customers share in the
benefits of the hydropower system, typically through a credit on their electric
bills. The second half of a 10-year agreement (2001-2011) between Avista and
BPA allows for increased benefits to Avista customers. The credit increases
from $4.12 per month to $4.59 per month for a customer who uses 1,000
kilowatt-hours per month.
Avista,
headquartered in Spokane, serves about 340,000 electric and 300,000 natural gas
customers in Washington and northern Idaho. The company has about 110,000
electric customers in Idaho.
A full text of the
commission’s orders, along with other documents related to these cases, are
available on the commission’s Web site at www.puc.idaho.gov.
Click on “File Room” and then on “Electric Cases” and scroll down to Case
Numbers AVU-E-06-08 and AVU-E-060-09.