The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has approved Avista Corp.'s rate settlement, providing for a $6.3 million, or 2.5%, increase in the company's electric revenues to recover capital investments in infrastructure. Anchored on a 9.5% return on equity, the approved rates will take effect Jan. 1, 2017.
The all-party rate settlement signed Oct. 24 also allows for a continued recovery of about $4.1 million in costs related to the Palouse wind farm in Whitman County, Wash., through a power cost adjustment mechanism, according to a Dec. 28 news release. Avista originally requested in May a $15.4 million, or 6.3%, increase based on a 9.9% ROE.
With the new rates, average residential customers consuming 918 kWh monthly will see a rate hike of $2.64, or 3.1%, per month, for a revised monthly bill of $87.15. That total also includes a 50-cent increase in the monthly basic charge, to $5.75. (C-AVU-E-16-03)