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Nov 16 , 2012
It was a short event, but long on good feelings. Avista hosted three distinguished visitors on Nov. 15 and an enthusiastic group of employees was there to join in the fun.
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Captain Kyle Smith of the Salvation Army presents
the “Making Spokane Better” award to Avista and our
employees. This is the highest award the non-profit
organization bestows on a business. | Tom Sherry, local TV weatherman and head cheerleader for the KREM 2 Tom’s Turkey Drive, made his annual visit to Avista to receive the “big check” donation in support of the effort to provide 11,000 holiday meals to those in need in our community. Avista Vice President of Customer Solutions Jason Thackston presented Tom with a check for $16,000 -- $8,000 in donations from Avista employees matched by the Avista Foundation. That will equate to 800 meals that will feed more than 3,000 people on Thanksgiving.
Captain Kyle Smith and Stan Parrish from the Salvation Army also were on hand to present the “Making Spokane Better” award to Avista and our employees. This is the highest award the non-profit organization bestows on a business. The award recognizes the Avista Foundation’s grants for programs like the Salvation Army’s Spokane Nurturing Center, the Coeur d’Alene Kroc Center and the Lewiston Community Center. Of special note in the award, the Salvation Army called out the exemplary volunteerism of Avista Utilities employees, including the more than 100 employees who volunteered at the Backpack Distribution/Energy Fair event this past August.
In making the presentation, Capt. Kyle said, “Even without the charity this company gives to the community, Avista and its employees make Spokane a better place to live. We greatly appreciate the leadership Avista has shown in strengthening the safety net services for those most in need in our community.”
Nov 15 , 2012
We’re lucky to live in an area that experiences very few power outages related to storms. But, that doesn’t mean we’re immune to the treachery of old man winter. A heavy build-up of ice and snow on power lines can cause wires to snap and utility poles to topple. Falling trees and tree limbs covered in ice can bring down power lines, cause outages, and threaten property, even lives. While it is never our intent for you to experience a lengthy outage, being prepared and knowing what to do during an extended power outage is essential. Rest assured that our crews work diligently to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. Here are six must-know tips on how to prepare for a winter power outage:
1. Keep the following emergency supplies on hand: flashlights with fresh batteries, a battery operated radio, matches, candles, first-aid kit, a manual can opener, water and nonperishable food.
2. Have a cell phone or land-line telephone. Cordless phones will not work without electricity. Program Avista’s customer service number into your phone (1-800-227-9187). You can report and track the status of an outage online at www.avistautilities.com.
3. Find out ahead of time how to manually open and close any electric garage doors, security doors or gates.
4. Identify the most insulated room in your home in advance; that's where you and your family can gather if you need to stay warm.
5. Protect sensitive equipment such as computers, DVD players and televisions by installing surge protectors or other power protection devices. This measure can prevent a sudden surge of electricity from damaging your equipment.
6. Make sure your smoke alarms and CO2 detectors have fresh batteries.
During an outage, you’ll want to be prepared as well. Be sure to:
• Turn off electric appliances as well as lights that were in use when the power went off. This will help prevent power surges when the electricity is restored.
• Avoid heating your home or cooking indoors with an outdoor grill or other items not intended for indoor use. They can create deadly fumes if used inside.
• To keep pipes from freezing, wrap them in insulation or layers of newspapers, covering the newspapers with plastic to keep out moisture. Let faucets drip a little to avoid freezing.
• Keep your refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to prevent food spoilage.
• Leave one light switch on so you know when your electricity has been restored.
• Assist family members or neighbors who may be vulnerable if exposed to low temperatures for extended periods.
• Once your power is back online, turn on your front porch light. This can help Avista crews working in a neighborhood know which homes have power.
When outside, treat all downed and hanging lines as if they are active electric lines: Stay away, warn others to stay away, and immediately contact Avista at 1-800-227-9187. If traffic lights are out of service, treat the intersection like a four-way stop.
For more safety tips visit us online. Click here for a printable list to store in a handy location at your home or on your mobile device. Nov 06 , 2012
Avista Utilities was recently honored with a special recognition award from the judges of the Green Washington Awards, sponsored by Seattle Business magazine. Avista was also named to the list of the 50 greenest companies in the state of Washington.
Making the special award, magazine executive editor Leslie Helm said, “Avista, which has been providing power to much of eastern Washington and northwest Idaho since 1889, prides itself on its history of clean power generation. And it takes sustainability seriously, ranking as the nation’s third lowest emitter of CO2 (in pounds per megawatt hour) amongst investor-owned utilities. It’s known for being a proponent of renewable energy ... and the company has long championed the use of wind power. Avista is also renowned for building the nation’s first biomass-fueled power generation plant.”
Accepting the award on behalf of Avista, President Dennis Vermillion said, “We are very pleased to be recognized in the Green Washington Awards and to be among the top sustainability performers in Washington. Our employees are some of the brightest and most talented of any company I know.
“For us, doing business responsibly means doing it in ways that have the least impact on the environment and the most positive impact on our customers and communities. This kind of shared value is the backbone of our company.” Nov 05 , 2012 Planning energy efficiency updates at your home? Find a rebate
Below are a few highlights of what you’ll find:
• Customers in Washington and Idaho can find rebates and incentives for making qualifying electric energy efficiency improvements.
• As of Nov. 1, 2012, natural gas rebates and incentives are not available in Idaho.
• Rebates and incentives for natural gas customers in Washington are currently available but are being reviewed by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. The outcome of the review may guide natural gas program changes due to continuing low wholesale natural gas prices. Because of the low prices, our natural gas energy efficiency programs are no longer cost effective. It now costs more to provide natural gas energy efficiency rebates and incentives than it costs for the natural gas that customers use.
• Natural gas rebates and incentives are available in Oregon too.
• Submit your forms online for quick turn around on your energy efficiency rebate and incentive payment.
You can visit us here at the Avista Blog in December for information on any additional program changes that may be taking place for 2013.
Nov 02 , 2012
Q’emiln Park boat launch to close Nov. 5
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A timber intake gate is removed from the Post Falls Dam in
August 2012. We’re replacing the lifting hoists and old timber
intake gates at the dam with modern lifting hoists and new
steel gates. | You may remember early this summer we announced a project to replace the lifting hoists and old timber intake gates at our Post Falls Dam on the Spokane River with modern lifting hoists and new steel gates. The project began in July and crews will continue to work on it into the winter until it’s completed. The dam needs ongoing maintenance and updates to keep it running safely and efficiently. The work is expected to update a system that is more than 100 years old in places, enhancing safety and increasing reliability and efficiency at the dam.
Currently we’re completing work on the first of the dam’s six intake gates. This week we temporarily opened spill gates at the dam to test the operation of the first new gate and put the generating unit below it back into service.
Seasonal closure of Q’emiln Park boat launch Nov. 5
The Q’emiln Park boat launch will be closed for the season beginning Monday, Nov. 5. The ramp is typically closed each year in mid-November due to weather conditions and dropping water levels.
The boat launch must remain closed for safety reasons whenever water is spilled through gates at the Post Falls Dam, which can be the case for much of the fall through spring. Generally, the ramp re-opens in the late spring or early summer, depending on the amount of inflows into Coeur d’Alene Lake.
As a result of Avista’s annual drawdown of Coeur d’Alene Lake, Spokane River levels above the dam will be approximately two and a half feet below the summer full-pool elevation of 2,128 feet on Nov. 5. Water levels may drop by as much as five additional feet by the end of January. These water levels are subject to change due to weather conditions.
Stay safe on the water
We’d like to remind you to always exercise caution on the water, as river and lake levels can change at any time depending on weather and other factors.
The best way to get the most current information on anticipated elevation changes on Coeur d’Alene Lake, Lake Spokane, and the Spokane River is to call Avista’s 24-hour telephone information line.
In Idaho, call (208) 769-1357; in Washington, call (509) 495-8043.
The recorded information is provided to advise shoreline property owners, commercial and recreational users of changes in lake and river elevation levels that may affect plans for water use. You can also check current river and lake levels on our website.
Nov 01 , 2012
If you’re an Avista natural gas customer in Oregon, your natural gas rates are lower starting today – good news for the coming winter months. That’s because the Public Utility Commission of Oregon (PUC) approved our request to reduce natural gas rates in Oregon by an overall 8.2 percent. See the ad we ran in local newspapers.
Today’s decreases are mostly because of lower natural gas prices. Abundant supplies of natural gas and lower demand have continued to push wholesale natural gas prices downward.
You have been seeing the benefits of increased natural gas supply and lower prices for some time. The costs of purchasing natural gas on the wholesale market and transporting it to our delivery pipelines makes up more than half of your natural gas bill, and these costs fluctuate up and down based on market prices. We do not mark these costs up. We pass them directly through to you through Purchased Gas Cost Adjustments, or PGAs, such as this one.
You will see two separate rate adjustments as a result of this PGA. If you are a residential customer using approximately 47 therms a month, you can expect your bill to decrease by $4.78 for a revised monthly bill of $57.22 beginning today. Other customer groups can also expect decreases in a similar range.
You will see an additional decrease of $0.50, beginning Jan. 1, 2013, for a total decrease of $5.28, and a revised monthly bill of $56.72. This is related to Avista’s purchase of the Klamath Falls Lateral, a 15-mile, 6-inch transmission pipeline that interconnects with Gas Transmission Northwest to transport gas to our customers in Klamath Falls. We expect this purchase to save customers approximately $1 million annually beginning in January 2013.
Did you know, if you’re an Oregon natural gas customer, your rates are at levels similar to those from 2004, and even less when you adjust for inflation? This is mostly because of the declining prices of natural gas on the wholesale market.
Read more about natural gas pricing in our thee-part Avista blog series that helps explain the three main drivers of your natural gas energy bill – wholesale gas costs, fixed transportation costs, and equipment and people. Nov 01 , 2012
New, lower rates start today
If you’re an Avista natural gas customer in Washington, we’ve got good news for you as we head into the colder months of fall and winter. Beginning today and through the rest of the year, depending on your energy usage, you’ll see lower natural gas rates. That’s because last week, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission approved our Sept. 13 request to reduce natural gas rates in Washington by an overall 4.4 percent.
Rates for our natural gas customers in Washington and Idaho have decreased twice this year because of lower wholesale prices. Overall, natural gas rates in Washington have dropped by about 11 percent in 2012.
Today’s decreases are mostly because of lower natural gas prices. You might remember we reduced natural gas rates for Washington customers in March by 6.4 percent. Like then, abundant supplies of natural gas and lower demand have continued to push wholesale natural gas prices downward. That’s good news. Why? Because we pass those savings directly through to you through Purchased Gas Cost Adjustments, or PGAs, such as this one.
The combined costs of purchasing natural gas on the wholesale market and having it transported to our distribution system for delivery to you is about 55 percent of your natural gas bill – or 55 cents of every dollar you pay for natural gas.
With the new rates, if you’re a residential customer in Washington using an average of 68 therms per month, you’ll see a decrease of $2.58 starting today, for a revised monthly bill of $58.18.
If you’re a commercial customer, you can expect decreases of 5.1 percent for large general service schedule 111, 5.7 percent for extra large general service schedule 121 and 8.0 percent for interruptible sales service schedule 131.
What about rate increases?
Wondering how this decrease is related to news you’ve heard about upcoming rate increases? Recently, Avista announced a settlement with various parties in our general rate case in Washington. The settlement, if approved by the commission, would increase electric rates by 2.0%, and natural gas rates by 3.6% beginning Jan. 1, 2013. This natural gas rate change in the settlement is related to owning and operating the natural gas system, and is separate from the cost of the natural gas itself.
Even if proposed rate increases are approved and take effect in January, your natural gas rates at the beginning of 2013 will still be well below where they were at the beginning of 2012.
The good news is our customers have been seeing the benefits of increased natural gas supply and lower prices for some time. In fact, Avista pays some of the lowest wholesale natural gas prices among our utility peers in the region. It means our customers continue to have some of the lowest natural gas rates in the country.
Did you know if you’re a Washington natural gas customer, your rates are at levels similar to those from 2003, and even less when you adjust for inflation? This is mostly because of the declining prices of natural gas on the wholesale market. In fact, when adjusted for inflation, natural gas rates in both Idaho and Washington have stayed fairly level over the past 50 years.
Read more about natural gas pricing in our thee-part Avista blog series that helps explain the three main drivers of your natural gas energy bill – wholesale gas costs, fixed transportation costs, and equipment and people.
Oct 24 , 2012
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YMCA Board Vice Chair Deena Manning (left) and Executive
Director Kevin Clark (right) receive the energy efficiency
incentive check from Steve Vincent, Avista’s economic
development manager for Oregon, and his helper, daughter
Amanda.
| Swimmers enjoying the YMCA pool in Grants Pass, Oregon, will notice less humidity in the air thanks in part to almost $78,000 the organization received yesterday in energy efficiency incentives from Avista toward the complete cost of the project.
The energy savings from the new high efficiency dehumidification and ventilation system for the pool area is expected to save the YMCA almost $23,000 per year in energy costs because of using less natural gas than the old system. It does that by pulling warm moist air from the pool area making the air drier and returning the heat to the boiler system to warm the pool water.
The result - the YMCA is expected to use almost 26,000 therms a year less with the new system. That’s enough natural gas to provide service to 43 Oregon homes for a year.
Find out how you too can save energy and dollars whether you are a residential or business customer. Oct 22 , 2012
Settlement provides more certainty for you to manage your energy costs over the next two years
Post by Anna Scarlett
Today we announced a settlement agreement with several parties on the electric and natural gas general rate requests we filed back in April. The settlement, if approved by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC), would mean a modest two-phase rate increase in electric and natural gas rates. The first would take effect Jan. 1, 2013 and the second on Jan. 1 of 2014.
Better yet, we’ve agreed not to request additional general rate increases that would take effect before Jan. 1 of 2015. This doesn’t mean we wouldn’t adjust rates based on wholesale natural gas costs before then (remember, that’s a separate part of your bill). For more information about how we adjust those costs, read our Natural Gas Pricing 101 series.
But what it does mean is that you’ll have more certainty in your energy rates for the next two years, so you can better plan to manage your energy costs. And your energy prices will still be among the lowest in the nation.
The bottom line
If the commission approves the settlement and you are an Avista electric customer, you would see two separate rate increases:
· Beginning Jan. 1, 2013, if you use an average of 989 kilowatt hours a month, you would see an increase of $1.20 per month, which equates to about 4 cents a day, for a revised bill of $78.69.
· Beginning Jan. 1, 2014, if you use an average of 989 kilowatt hours a month, you would see an additional increase of $1.60 per month, or about 5 cents a day, for a revised bill of $80.29.
Here’s how the changes, if approved, would affect you as a natural gas customer:
· Beginning Jan. 1, 2013, the first 70 therms of your bill would actually cost a little less. This means an average monthly bill for 68 therms would decrease by about 38 cents to $60.37. For every therm you use over 70, you would see an increase of about 10 cents per month. So, if your usage is less than 70 therms a month, through energy efficiency efforts, for example, you will really see the benefit of this change.
· Beginning Jan. 1, 2014, if you use an average of 68 therms a month, you would see an increase of 57 cents a month, or about 2 cents a day, for a revised monthly bill of $60.94.
The settlement and what’s next
You may be wondering what a rate case settlement agreement is and how it all works. When Avista files a request to increase rates, it goes through a process much like a legal proceeding. Parties representing various groups including residential, small-business, low-income, and natural gas industrial customers, take part and submit testimony and proposals on behalf of their groups.
The commission oversees this process, and is charged with setting rates that are fair, just, and reasonable for customers, while allowing Avista the opportunity to earn a fair return on the investment shareholders make so we can continue delivering safe, reliable energy. When we can reach an agreement like this one, it saves time and the cost of a fully litigated rate case. It is ultimately up to the commission to approve the request.
In addition to Avista, the parties to the proposed settlement are the Staff of the WUTC, Northwest Industrial Gas Users, Industrial Customers of Northwest Utilities and The Energy Project, a low-income customer advocacy group. The Public Counsel Section of the Washington Office of the Attorney General and the Northwest Energy Coalition did not join in the Settlement Agreement. The WUTC sets the schedule for next steps, which include hearing testimony from the parties. For more information, see the WUTC website.
Here are a couple of other resources about how energy rates are set that you might find helpful.
WUTC video: What’s Up (and Down) with Energy Rates?
Avista Rates and Pricing: What’s Driving the Cost of Energy? Oct 16 , 2012
Visit to Avista’s Pre-Apprentice Line School a part of Careers In Energy Week
This week Avista is participating in national Careers in Energy Week, focusing on informing the public of the great careers we have in the energy industry.
Today high school counselors and teachers experienced life as an apprentice at the Jack Stewart Training Center, Avista’s Pre-Apprentice Line School. More than 20 participants learned how electric crews place ground wires on poles, position cross arms and place poles in the ground.
Avista didn’t let them just stand around either – they did the actual work with shovels, power drills, hammers and ropes. Due to some unfriendly high winds, rookies weren’t able to climb a pole, but there were several who were interested.
Almost half of today’s energy workforce will be retiring in the next decade. As technology within the industry quickly increases, so does the need for a tech-savvy workforce to support high-skill, high-wage jobs. The right education and training will provide men and women a rewarding, well-paying career that benefits millions of people every day.
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