Avista (AVA) Reaches Settlement for Idaho General Rate Case
Avista Corporation AVA recently announced that it has successfully reached a settlement agreement with Idaho Public Utilities Commission staff, Idaho Forest Group, LLC, Clearwater Paper Corporation and Walmart Inc, concerning the Idaho General Rate Case. This agreement has been submitted to the Idaho Public Utilities Commission for consideration and will resolve all issues in the proceeding.
Avista had originally proposed a base electric revenue increase of $37.5 million (14.7%) effective Sep 1, 2023, and $13.2 million (4.5%) effective Sep 1, 2024, and a base gas revenue increase of $2.8 million (2.7%) and $0.1 million (0.1%), respectively. The proposed electric and natural gas revenue increase requests are based on a rate of return (ROR) of 7.59%, with a common equity ratio of 50% and a return on equity (ROE) of 10.25%.
Benefits for AVA’s Customers
Once the aforementioned settlement is approved, an average 927 kWh residential customer electric bill will show an increase of $10.15 per month (11.9%) for a revised bill of $95.55 and an average 64 therms per month residential natural gas customer will see an increase of $1.20 per month (1.6%) for a revised bill of $74.62, effective Sep 1, 2023. Effective Sep 1, 2024, the electric bill will show an increase of $2.06 per month (2.2%) for a revised bill of $97.61, while the natural gas bill will show a rise of 3 cents per month (0%) for a revised bill of $74.65.
Avista also provides services to help customers manage their energy bills, including comfort level billing, payment plans and Customer Assistance Referral and Evaluation Services (CARES), which assists customers with special needs by referring them to local organizations and churches for assistance with housing, utilities, medical assistance, and other needs. It also provides rebates and incentives through its outreach programs.
Price Performance
Over the past year, shares of AVA have lost 0.8% compared with the industry’s 5.8% decline.
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Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks
Avista currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Some other top-ranked utilities in the same sector are Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. CWCO, Veolia Environnement VEOEY and TransAlta Corp. TAC, each carrying a Zacks Rank #1 at present.
CWCO’s long-term (three- to five-year) earnings growth rate is 8%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 earnings per share (EPS) indicates an increase of 79.6% year over year.
VEOEY’s long-term earnings growth rate is 11.7%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 earnings per share indicates an increase of 206.8% year over year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TAC’s 2023 earnings per share indicates an increase of 1325% year over year. In the past 60 days, the bottom-line estimates have moved up 50.8%.
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