20231030News Release.pdf

Case No. AVU-G-23-05
Order No. 35969
Case No. AVU-G-23-06
Order No. 35970
Contact: Adam Rush
Office: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

NEWS RELEASE: Commission approves natural gas utility’s applications that will change
customer rates.

BOISE (Oct. 30, 2023) – The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has approved two applications
submitted by Avista Utilities that will change the rates customers pay for natural gas.

Avista asked the commission for approval to adjust the fixed cost adjustment (FCA) rates and
approval to change purchased gas cost adjustment (PGA) rates. The FCA is a rate
adjustment mechanism that is designed to separate the link between the energy a utility sells and
the revenue it collects to recover fixed costs of providing service, which decouples
Avista’s revenues from customers’ energy usage. The decoupling removes a utility’s incentive to
increase sales to increase revenue and profits and encourages energy conservation.

The approval of the FCA application will reduce residential customers’ rates by 0.2 percent. This
represents a rebate of 1.219 cents per therm. Non-residential customers will see a
decrease of 1.2 percent, which represents a rebate of 0.632 cents per therm.

The PGA is a commission-approved mechanism that adjusts rates up or down to reflect changes
in Avista’s costs to buy natural gas from suppliers. These include changes in transportation,
storage and other related costs. The approval of the PGA will increase residential customers’
rates by $3.54, or 4.7 percent per month. Other groups of customers also will see an increase in
rates.

Additional information is available at puc.idaho.gov/case/Details/7114 and
puc.idaho.gov/case/Details/7090.