Avista seeks to raise residential price for electricity by about 25% by 2030

Avista Utilities announced Friday it is seeking approval to raise residential electricity rates by 13.9% starting in 2027 and would raise rates by about 25% by 2030.

The proposal, which also seeks yearly increases to natural gas customers, was submitted to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission for approval. It includes a 13.9% hike in 2027 followed by a 4.7% increase in 2028, a 3.5% increase in 2029 and a 2.8% increase in 2030.

If approved, that would raise electricity bills for average Avista customers by 24.9% starting in January 2030.

“As a lifelong member of this community, I recognize that rising energy costs are difficult for our customers,” Avista president and CEO Heather Rosentrater said in a news release.

“While this rate request reflects what’s needed to maintain safe, reliable service, we’re committed to helping customers manage their bills through payment assistance programs and energy-saving tools, while continuing to control costs and investing in technology to improve efficiencies,” she continued. “This proposal helps us make the investments needed for reliability and critical infrastructure, while giving our customers more predictability over the next four years.”

If approved by the UTC, a residential electric customer in Washington who uses an average of 925 kilowatt hours per month would see their bill rise from $124.23 a month in January 2026 to $157.94 by 2030.

Of that, the initial 13.9% increase would raise the monthly bill by $17.21 in 2027 followed by the smaller increases each corresponding year until 2030.

In addition to electricity rates, Avista has sought UTC approval to raise residential natural gas rates by 5% in 2027, about 2.5% in 2028, followed by a 2.2% increase in 2029 and a 1.1% hike in 2030. All told, it would increase rates by 10.8% over those four years.

The average residential customer in Washington using an average of 61 therms per month would see an increase from $91.06 in January 2026 to $100.46 in 2030. Of that, customers would pay an initial $4.14 increase in 2027 and smaller amounts added on each year until 2030.

Lena Funston, spokeswoman for Avista, said company officials are keenly aware that they are seeking rate increases at a time when consumers are also paying more for groceries, rent and other living expenses.

“We take our role in the community very seriously,” Funston said. “We want to be a good community partner. We are very aware of what we are asking for, and we do believe it is fair and reasonable, and we will just work through that process with the commission.”

Cost drivers

Funston said that one of the major drivers behind the price increase requests is the cost of power.

Avista gets about 49% of its electricity through the use of hydroelectric power, or water passing through turbines built into dams. Some 32% of the power comes through electricity generated by turbines powered by natural gas.

It had been getting about 8% of its power through part ownership of a coal-fired power plant in Colstrip, Montana. But that source ended on Dec. 31, as Avista complied with a previous state law banning the use of coal for power generation by the end of 2025.

The rest, about 11% combined, comes from wind and biomass.

“We are being compliant with those (clean energy) policies that have already been in place for a few years now,” Funston said. “But, of course, it means that now we need to source other energy and we are finding sources that are more expensive than the ones we previously were using.”

In addition to higher energy prices, Avista continues to invest in maintaining and upgrading the thousands of miles of pipes, poles and wires that allow it to electrify more than 400,000 customers across Washington, North Idaho and parts of Oregon.

“We are constantly out there evaluating the health of our system and removing equipment that has outlived its usefulness,” she said. “It’s a constant part of our business.”

Part of that maintenance includes dams that were built 60 to 100 years ago. “They don’t last forever,” she said.

With several years of dry summers, wildfire safety and prevention has added to the costs for the utility, Funston said.

“Most of that is referring to maintenance on our lines, including vegetation management so that trees are not in our right of way,” she said. “That includes replacing wooden poles with steel poles and placing fire mesh on poles. It is, of course, very costly.”

In addition to costs to upgrade the power grid, Avista like everybody else is paying more to keep itself whole.

“There are higher insurance costs due to wildfire risk,” she said. “Those are all part of the wildfire costs.”

As of Jan. 1, 2020, the average monthly bill, based on 932 kilowatts of use, was $83.48, according to Avista. If the UTC approves the rate-increase requests for 2030, it means the average user would pay $157.94 a month, which is about 89% higher than the monthly bill for electricity in 2020.

“We recognize that a lot of customers are struggling,” Funston said. “We want to make it as easy as possible to meet their energy needs and we want to provide safe and reliable energy to them.”

She noted that Avista has several programs, including Comfort Level Billing, which evens out the payments each month to avoid spikes in costs during months of heavier use.

The company can also connect customers to local agencies that can help with financial troubles, weatherizing older homes and other issues.

“If they are struggling,” Funston said, “we’d love to hear from them and figure out ways we can help.”