Not swayed by the utility’s request for a decision before the end of April, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) said Wednesday it was exercising its option to delay for six months retail electricity and natural gas rate increases requested in March by Spokane, WA-based Avista Utilities for its operations in Idaho.

When making the Idaho filing and a similar one in its headquarters state of Washington, Avista stressed that it was seeking rate recovery for investments it has made in its electric and gas infrastructures to protect safety and reliability of the energy systems.

In Idaho Avista asked the PUC for a $32.1 million, or 14%, increase in electricity rates and a $2.6 million, or 3.6%, increase for retail natural gas customers. The PUC listed slightly different numbers because it only included proposed base rate changes, characterizing the overall increase being sought at $32.1 million, including an 8.55% rate of return and a 10.9% return on equity.

Avista asked for a decision by April 23, but with the six-month suspension the earliest the PUC could make a decision would be in September, most likely to be effective Oct. 1, a PUC spokesperson said.

If the utility’s request was granted in full, monthly electric bills could rise by an average of $11.40, while gas bills could go up an average of $2.77/month.

The PUC said that Avista has indicated in its filing that the rate hikes are needed to meet “escalating power supply costs, increased costs to meet new federal requirements on reliability and the need to replace aging infrastructure.”

Regulators pointed out that the utility power supply contracts covering 100 average megawatts, or about 10% of the Avista retail load in the state, are set to expire this year. For the most part it is 3-cent/kWh power, which the PUC said was “well below” the cost to replace that power, according to Avista CEO Scott Morris.

“Avista’s average cost of resources is now about 4.3 cents/kWh, and the additional cost to replace the expiring contracts will be about $10 million,” said a PUC spokesperson who again said the source of that information was Avista.

“We remain focused on managing our costs as we continue making significant investments,” said Morris, citing aging infrastructure, increased government mandates and hydroelectric upgrades and new energy supplies as the reason for the investments.

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