160822_AVUworkshops.pdf

Case No. AVU-E-16-03, Notice of Public Workshops
Contact: Gene Fadness [phone], 890-2712
www.puc.idaho.gov

Commission staff to conduct customer workshops
regarding Avista Utilities’ rate increase proposal
Workshops are Sept 21 in Moscow, Sept. 22 in Coeur d’Alene

BOISE (August 22, 2016) – Staff from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission will be in Moscow
and Coeur d’Alene to answer questions from Avista Utilities’ customers regarding its application
to increase base rates by an average 6.3 percent.

The first workshop will be Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. at the 1912 Center on 412 E. Third St. in Moscow.
The second workshop will be Sept. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library on 702 E.
Front Avenue.

At the workshops, the commission staff will explain the company’s application and how the
commission evaluates and decides a rate case. The staff will not take any positions on the
merits of Avista’s case during the workshop, but will do so when staff files its comments on Oct.
25. The purpose of the workshop is to hear feedback from customers, which will help the staff
in the development of its comments.

After commission staff and other parties to the case file their comments on Oct. 25, Avista will
file rebuttal comments by Nov. 21. Technical hearings are tentatively scheduled the week of
Dec. 2 and public hearings may be held at about the same time. Definite dates and locations for
possible public hearings will be announced later.

Other parties to the case include the Clearwater Paper Corporation, Idaho Forest Products, the
Snake River Alliance and the Community Action Partnership Association of Idaho, which
primarily represents customers on low- and fixed-incomes.

Avista’s application, supporting testimony and exhibits are available on the commission’s
website at www.puc.idaho.gov. Click on “Open Cases” under the “Electric” heading and scroll
down to Case No. AVU-E-16-03.

On May 26, Avista, which serves about 125,000 electric customers from the Grangeville area
north, filed an application with the commission to increase its annual electric revenue by $15.4
million, or 6.3 percent.

If the commission were to grant Avista’s request in full, a residential customer who uses the
company average of 918 kilowatt-hours per month would see an increase of about $6.54 per
month. That includes a proposed increase in the monthly customer service charge from $5.25
per month to $6.25. The company seeks a 7.78 percent rate of return and a 9.9 percent return
on equity.
The commission’s staff of auditors, engineers and attorneys are in the midst of a six-month
investigation of Avista’s application. The commission, by state law, cannot accept or deny the
requested increase without first considering the evidence. State law requires that regulated
utilities be allowed to recover their prudently incurred expenses and earn a reasonable rate of
return, which is also established by the commission. The burden of proof is on the utility to
demonstrate that additional capital investment was necessary to serve customers and, if so,
were the expenses prudently incurred. Commission rulings can be appealed to the state
Supreme Court by either the utility or customer groups.

Avista claims about 77 percent of the proposed increase is attributable to an increase in net
plant investment. The company says it will invest $165.4 million in 2016 and $75.8 million in
2017 in generation plants, including $77 million in improvements at the 108-year-old Nine Mile
Falls hydroelectric plant northwest of Spokane on the Spokane River. Another $35 million in
improvements are under way at the Little Falls plant further west of the Nine Mile Falls plant.
Some $25 million in improvements are planned for Avista’s portion of the Colstrip coal plant in
eastern Montana.

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