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Avista files for price adjustments Avista (NYSE: AVA) has made its annual Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) and Residential Exchange rate adjustment filings with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (IPUC or Commission) that if approved, are designed to increase overall electric revenues by approximately $2.8 million or 1.1% effective Oct. 1, 2020. These annual filings have no impact on Avista’s earnings. Avista previously made its annual Fixed Cost Adjustment (FCA) filing on June 30, 2020 with the same proposed effective date of Oct. 1, 2020. If the FCA, PCA and Residential Exchange filings are approved, overall electric revenues are designed to decrease by approximately $0.2 million or 0.1% effective Oct. 1, 2020. Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) The first adjustment is Avista’s annual Power Cost Adjustment (PCA). The PCA is an annual rate adjustment made to reflect certain differences between Avista’s actual cost of generating and purchasing electric power to serve customers and the cost currently included in customer rates. It is a true-up to reflect the actual cost of power to serve customers. The proposed PCA rate adjustment would surcharge to customers approximately $0.5 million effective Oct. 1, 2020. The surcharge is primarily associated with power supply costs that were higher than those included in retail rates, due to higher wholesale electric and natural gas prices. As a result of Avista’s PCA filing last year, the Commission approved a rebate of approximately $1.7 million. That rebate will end Sept. 30, 2020. The net effect of the expiring rebate, and the proposed surcharge, is an overall increase in revenue of approximately $2.2 million, or 0.9%. Residential Exchange Program The second adjustment is related to the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) Residential Exchange Program. The Residential Exchange Program provides a share of the benefits of the federal Columbia River power system to the residential and small farm customers of the investor-owned utilities in the Pacific Northwest, including Avista. Avista applies the benefits it receives, which typically fluctuate from year to year, to customers as a credit in their monthly electric rates. Due to fluctuations in usage, Avista rebated to customers a level of benefits that was slightly higher than the level of benefits received from BPA. Through this filing Avista is seeking to slightly reduce the level of benefits provided to qualifying customers in order to recover the over-rebated balance. As a result, the proposed revenue increase for these customers is approximately $0.6 million, or 0.2%. Customer Bills Resulting from these Filings If both filings are approved, residential electric customers in Idaho using an average of 898 kilowatt hours per month would see their monthly bills increase from $86.27 to $87.38, an increase of $1.11 per month, or approximately 1.3%. The proposed electric rate changes would be effective Oct. 1, 2020. The requested electric rate changes by rate schedule are as follows: Residential Service - Schedule 1—1.3% General Service - Schedules 11 & 12—0.8% Large General Service - Schedules 21 & 22—0.9% Extra Large General Service - Schedule 25—1.4% Extra Large General Service - Schedule 25P—1.3% Pumping Service - Schedules 31 & 32—0.8% Street & Area Lights - Schedules 41-49—0.2% Overall—1.1% Customer Bills Resulting from all Annual Electric Adjustments In addition to the filings discussed above, Avista previously made its annual Fixed Cost Adjustment (FCA) filing on June 30, 2020 with the same proposed effective date of Oct. 1, 2020. If the FCA, PCA and Residential Exchange filings are approved, residential electric customers in Idaho using an average of 898 kilowatt hours per month would see their monthly bills decrease from $86.27 to $86.21, a decrease of $0.06 per month, or approximately 0.1%. The proposed electric rate changes would be effective Oct. 1, 2020. Rate Application Procedure Avista’s applications are proposals, subject to public review and a Commission decision. Copies of the applications are available for public review on the Commission’s website (www.puc.idaho.gov). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unable to provide copies at our office locations as we usually do. However, copies of our filings are available at www.myavista.com/rates. Customers may file written comments related to Avista’s filings with the Commission. Customers may also subscribe to the Commission’s RSS feed (http://www.puc.idaho.gov/rssfeeds/rss.htm) to receive periodic updates via e-mail about the case. If you would like to submit comments on the proposed increase, you can do so by going to the Commission website or mailing comments to: Idaho Public Utilities Commission P.O. Box 83720 Boise, ID 83720-0074 |
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