If approved by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC), the settlement agreement is designed to provide an additional $20m, or a 4.5% increase in annual electric billed revenue, and $3.75m, or a 2.6% increase in annual natural gas billed revenue.
According to the company, approval of the settlement agreement will conclude the general rate requests filed in May 2011, with new rates expected to become effective from 1 January 2012.
If the settlement is approved, a residential customer in Washington using an average of 977kWh of electricity per month would see a $3.02, or 3.9%, per month increase for a revised monthly bill of $80.03.
A residential customer using an average of 67 therms of natural gas a month would see a $1.76, or 2.8%, increase per month for a revised monthly bill of $64.09.
Avista said that the settlement agreement includes deferred accounting treatment related to maintenance costs for its Coyote Springs 2 project and its share of the Colstrip 3 & 4 coal-fired projects that will address the year-to-year variability in these costs.
Also included in the settlement agreement is a provision that the company will not file a general rate case in Washington before 1 April 2012.
