Comments sought on Avista rate requests

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission is accepting written comments on three applications submitted by Avista Utilities to change the rates it charges natural gas customers in North Idaho.

The utility is seeking Commission approval to change the Fixed Cost Adjustment (FCA) rate. The FCA is a rate adjustment mechanism that is designed to break the link between the energy a utility sells and the revenue it collects to recover fixed costs by providing service. This decouples the utility’s revenues from its customers’ energy usage. The decoupling removes the utility’s incentive to increase sales to increase revenue and profits. It also encourages energy conservation.

The utility also submitted an application for its Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA) rate. The PGA allows Avista to adjust rates up or down to reflect actual changes in the utility’s costs to buy natural gas from suppliers, including changes in transportation, storage and other related costs.

The third application involves the natural gas energy efficiency rider adjustment. It involves the funding of Avista’s energy efficiency programs, which are designed to help the utility’s Idaho customers conserve energy. They include rebates for installing energy-efficient products like Energy Star certified windows and educational outreach to help customers reduce energy usage and costs. The programs are funded by an energy efficiency charge on customers’ bills. Avista is seeking Commission approval to temporarily suspend the programs, and is proposing to reduce the charge for the programs to $0.00000 per therm.

If the applications are approved by the Commission as filed, residential natural gas customers using an average of 66 therms per month would see their monthly bills decrease from $59.28 to $58.38, a decrease of approximately 1.5 percent.

Written comments are being accepted on all three applications. Please use the case number associated with the application you are commenting on.

• Fixed Cost Adjustment (FCA) - Case No. AVU-G-26-02: Comments due Oct. 13, 2026

• Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA) - Case No. AVU-G-26-03: Comments due Oct. 14, 2026

• Energy Efficiency Rider Adjustment - Case No. AVU-G-26-05: Comments due Oct. 14, 2026

Information: puc.idaho.gov