Nearly 6,000 Avista Utilities customers were without power this morning when fuses blew at a substation near Francis Avenue and Cedar Street on the North Side of Spokane.

Avista Utilities is asking the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to allow an increase in the size of customer-owned power generation projects that qualify for the company’s net metering program. Avista wants the limit raised from 25 kilowatts to 100 kilowatts on projects that generate power through solar, wind, biomass or hydropower.

An Avista Utilities crew working near a construction site in Coeur d’Alene Tuesday dug into a Kootenai Electric Cooperative power line, causing a brief outage.

Spokane-based Avista Utilities will install Tropos Networks’ wireless network as one of the key parts of its “smart grid” system, the company announced Tuesday. Tropos, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., will provide Avista with its GridCom two-way communications capability. The wireless network will be the two-way foundation that will help deliver messages and data reports across the entire Avista power distribution system.

Power has been restored to most of the 1,700 customers in the Indian Trail area of Spokane early today after a vehicle crashed down an embankment and struck a power pole. Police are looking for the driver.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission will spend six months reviewing Avista Utilities’ request for more money to pay for natural gas energy efficiency programs, officials announced Friday. The utility wants to increase its “energy efficiency rider” by 2.6 percent, or about $1.52 per month for a typical residential gas customer. The tariff pays for 30 different programs that reduce natural gas use, including rebates for customers who buy energy-efficient appliances and furnaces. About $465,000 also helps low-income customers pay their bills.

Electrical power was knocked out to about 3,900 customers of Avista Utilities this morning in the Rathdrum Prairie area, but was restored about 9 a.m.

Whether Avista Utilities crew dispatchers qualify as supervisors will be decided by the National Labor Relations Board, once that labor-regulating body fills vacancies on its panel. A Seattle NLRB regional director recently ruled in favor of a Spokane local that argued that dispatchers are not supervisors and can join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

A steady decline in natural-gas prices will mean lower energy bills for Avista Utilities customers in Washington and Idaho. Effective Sunday, Washington residential and small-business customers will see natural gas rates cut by 25 percent.

Avista Corp. Wednesday reported improved third-quarter earnings despite sharply lower revenues.

Power was restored about 4 p.m. for 2,500 electrical customers northwest of Coeur d'Alene who were without power for about two hours, according to Avista Utilities.

Power was restored about 11:10 a.m. after a 30-minute outage darkened parts of downtown and the North Side about 10:45 a.m. today.

About 1,400 homes in north Spokane were without power for about an hour this morning, according to Avista Utilities.

High wind knocked out power to more than 4,000 homes tonight as a storm moved through the Inland Northwest.