Bert Caldwell

Washington Water Power Co. has not changed residential electricity rates in 10 years, and will try to extend that stretch by lowering its power costs by 10 percent over the next two years, President Les Bryan said. WWP, with its hydropower resources, already has the lowest generating costs of any private utility in the country, he told company shareholders Tuesday.

A year ago, Diana Gissel was driving from town to town in the Inland Northwest selling linens, furnishings and other goods to hotels. Now, said the owner of Northwest Hospitality Inc., she does not leave her Coeur d'Alene home to make sales.

The future of the Columbia River and the wildlife and industry that depend upon it get too little consideration from some key Northwest decision-makers, representatives from more than two dozen regional groups said Friday. The result has been a near breakdown of the few efforts to reach consensus, some said, with the decision Thursday by four basin tribes to withdraw from a salmon restoration review just the latest example. The state of Montana had pulled our earlier.

Avista Energy, a newly formed business of Washington Water Power Co., will open an energy trading office in Houston this July. The operation, with its state-of-the-art trading floor, will enable Avista to reach every corner of the lower 48 states with electricity, natural gas and other energy services, said Vice President Alan Meyers. It also places the company in the center of the natural gas market among some of the giants in the energy industry. Meyers said the competition, rather than causing concern, assures a pool of industry veterans that a newcomer like Avista can tap into.

Group Health Northwest and its Puget Sound parent will soon be affiliates of Kaiser Permanente, the largest health maintenance organization in the United States. Members of Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, by an 80 percent majority, approved bylaw changes that authorized formation of Kaiser/ Group Health.

MPM Technologies Inc. of Spokane has purchased U.S. Filter/Engineered Systems' Oxidation Group from U.S. Filter Corp. The group, based in Schaumburg, Ill., designs, installs and services air-treatment systems for major industry worldwide, MPM President Charles Romberg said.

Window of opportunity Ken Johnson removes the cracked windshield from a minivan at the home of a North Side customer. His employer, American Auto Glass, uses factoring to help finance its business. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review

Maybe they call it "factoring" because so many factors go into the purchase of accounts receivable. With all the ins and outs, said Gene Slatter, president of Commercial Finance Inc., it pays potential clients to shop their deal around to several factors before deciding with whom to work. The first consideration is discount - the amount the factor deducts from an invoice to cover its cost and profit. If the client's customer has rock-solid credit and payment is likely within 30 days, the discount may be as low as 2 percent.

Itron Inc. Thursday announced an agreement to buy Design Concepts Inc., a Boise supplier of telephone-based devices for remote reading of electric meters. Terms call for Itron to issue 759,000 unregistered shares of common stock to DCI shareholders in exchange for all their shares. Based on the Thursday closing price for Itron stock - $22 - the deal would be valued at $16.7 million. The merger will be accounted for as a pooling of interests treated as a tax-free reorganization. Closure is expected within a few days.

Bill Papesh enjoys collecting Western Americana. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Boeing Co. stock has not peaked, and the shares of suppliers and other Northwest companies should still gain altitude, the manager of a regional mutual fund said Thursday. David Simpson, of Seattle, who was on a panel of regional stock analysts and money managers at the Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference, handles $220 million at the Composite Northwest Fund.

The former president of United Security Bank is suing his old employer, alleging the Spokane-based institution denied him promised options and incentive bonuses. The complaint filed Wednesday in Spokane County Superior Court by Robert McKean also claims William "Bud" Dashiell, president of United Security Bancorp, made defamatory statements in an interim review that were partly to blame for his firing in November.

Utility deregulation leaves some consumers cold. Despite years of choice in telecommunications and natural gas, speakers said Thursday, most residential customers have stuck with their traditional provider, be it AT&T; or their local utility.

American companies hoping to increase sales in Japan will encounter consumers shouldering heavy new tax burdens, consultant Philip Jones said Tuesday.

When California deregulates its immense electricity market next Jan. 1, Itron Inc. will be reading the meter. The Spokane company Monday announced that a North Carolina-based subsidiary, Utility Translation Systems Inc., outbid several competitors to provide software that will monitor the flow of electricity into and out of a central power pool in the Golden State.

Washington regulators have issued a generally favorable report card on Washington Water Power Co.'s performance during last year's ice storm. But that emergency and others around the state this winter, plus the looming deregulation of the electricity industry, prompted the Washington Utility and Transportation Commission to authorize a study of operations by all utilities during periods of crisis.

Itron Inc. reported a loss for the first quarter, but tempered the bad news with positive cash flow and record backlogs. Revenues for the Spokane-based maker of automated meter-reading equipment for the utility industry declined to $40.6 million from $48.1 million for the same period last year.

Washington Water Power Co. energized a company Monday that will take its energy marketing and trading operations national. And officers of the new company, Avista Energy, announced formation of a unique partnership with the Chelan County Public Utility District that will help boost business immediately. WWP has become one of the largest sellers of wholesale power in recent years, with operations last year producing $230 million in revenues. Avista Vice President Alan Meyers said the company will take over all WWP wholesale marketing activity except that associated with selling the Spokane utility's own surplus.

Standing on principle. June Petersen, a Pend Oreille County tax resister who has waged a long-running battle with the IRS, says she doesn't want her taxes used "to kill other people." Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Suspected embezzlement by an official of Home Security Bank will force its Spokane-based parent to take a $525,000 charge against 1996 earnings. United Security Bancorporation officials were notified of possible improprieties at its Sunnyside subsidiary late last summer, said Chief Executive Officer William "Bud" Dashiell. An internal investigation began immediately, he said, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation was summoned.

At Wells Fargo, Garrett is on a fast-moving stagecoach. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

The first quarter was mostly small change for investors in Inland Northwest companies. Percentage gains or losses mostly ranged in the single digits, although five companies had losses exceeding that range.

Workers at Omak Wood Products Inc. Saturday approved contract concessions that will roll wages back 12 percent, cut paid vacation and slash company pension contributions. The alternative was a ruling in U.S. Bankruptcy Court that could have stripped away the pension contributions entirely, said Lloyd Groomes, business agent for the local that represents the plant's 475 hourly workers.

Washington Water Power Co. has renamed its energy services subsidiary, designated a president and announced the opening of an office in Las Vegas. Known as WP Energy Solutions for the last 15 months, the company Monday became Avista Advantage, with Gerry Crooks as president.