Avista Receives Commission Decision in Oregon Natural Gas Rate Case
The Commission approved rates designed to increase annual billed revenues by 4.9 percent or
"The Commission's decision represents positive outcomes for our customers, the company and our shareholders," said
The Commission's decision reflects a 9.4 percent return on equity (ROE), and a 50 percent equity layer. The rate of return is 7.46 percent.
A residential customer using an average of 46 therms per month would see a
Decoupling
The Commission's decision includes approval of a natural gas decoupling mechanism. Decoupling is a mechanism designed to break the link between a utility's revenues and a consumer's energy usage. The company's actual revenue, based on therm sales will vary, up or down, from the level set by the PUC. This could be due to changes in weather, conservation or the economy. Under the proposed decoupling mechanism, the company's natural gas revenues would be adjusted each month to reflect revenues based on the number of customers, rather than therm sales. The difference between revenues based on sales and revenues based on the number of customers will result in either surcharges or rebates to customers in the following year.
Avista's Original Request
Avista's original request filed with the PUC in
Avista's general rate request filing was driven by the need to expand and replace the facilities used to serve customers. This included, among other things, increased investment to replace certain natural gas service pipe and other pipeline upgrades.
Avista serves approximately 98,000 customers in
About
This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the company's current expectations. Forward-looking statements are all statements other than historical facts. Such statements speak only as of the date of the news release and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations. These risks and uncertainties include, in addition to those discussed herein, all of the factors discussed in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
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