The proposed revenue increases are driven primarily by capital investments in upgrading aging infrastructure to increase capacity and reliability, relicensing costs for Avista’s Spokane River hydropower projects, and expanding the natural gas storage and delivery capacity at its Jackson Prairie storage facility.
The requested increases are designed to produce $36.6 million in additional revenue for electric service and $6.6 million in revenue for natural gas service. This request is based on a proposed rate of return on rate base of 8.43%, with a common equity ratio of 46.3% and a 10.8% return on equity.
If the request is approved, a customer using an average 1,000kWh of electricity per month would see a $6.53 per month increase, or 9.2%, for a revised monthly bill of $77.29.
A natural gas customer using an average of 70 therms per month would see a $2.84 increase, or 3.3%, for a revised monthly bill of $87.99.
