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Feb 15 , 2010
Kudos to our customers who in 2009 saved enough electricity to power over 6,800 Inland Northwest homes for a year and enough natural gas to serve over 3,000 homes! These savings show that every little bit we do in our homes and businesses to save energy really do add up.
What did customers do to save so much energy last year? They looked for the Energy Star ® label when buying new appliances, installed high efficiency water heaters and furnaces, and upgraded windows and insulation to help keep their homes warm in winter and cool in summer.
For their efforts, customers qualified for rebates and incentives from Avista and reduced the amount of energy used in their homes. Commercial customers also received incentives for making energy efficiency improvements which helps manage their operating costs.
In total almost 35,000 rebates and incentives totaling about $18.1 million were given to residential, commercial, industrial and limited-income customers in 2009 through energy efficiency programs. But offering energy savings programs to customers is nothing new to us – we’ve been doing for more than 30 years.
To make sure we’re able to keep up with the increasing demand from customers for the popular energy efficiency programs, we filed requests today with the utility commissions in Washington and Idaho for modest increases in the natural gas tariffs which fund these programs. If approved by the utility commissions, residential natural gas customers in Washington will see a $2.54 increase in their bill starting March 15, and Idaho residential customers will see a $1.52 monthly increase.
This leads to the question – why do we help customers use less of our product? Because generally it costs less to help customers reduce their energy use than it would cost to build new power plants or purchase additional energy to meet customer demand. Plus, using less energy is the best option for our environment.
Dec 23 , 2009
Yesterday the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) issued a decision on Avista’s electric and natural gas general rate case. I wrote a post about this pending decision on Dec. 18., noting that this case has been in the works since Jan. 23, and discussed the activities in the case since it was originally filed.
In the news release announcing the decision yesterday, the WUTC said it approved a 2.8 percent increase in annual electric revenue, or $12.1 million a year, and a 0.3 percent natural gas increase, or $557,000 in additional revenue.
In addition, the commission authorized deferred accounting treatment for the Lancaster power plant which would equal approximately $12 million. Avista will have the opportunity to recover these costs in a future rate case.
A partial settlement agreement between Avista and interveners in the case was reached on Sept. 4 that reduced Avista’s original electric request from $69.8 million to $38 million, mainly because of decreased power supply costs.
The decision document is 148-pages and we didn’t get it until late Tuesday afternoon, so our rates folks are still reviewing it. Watch this blog for more information about your rates and feel free to e-mail us with any questions. Nov 04 , 2009
The Oregon Public Utilities Commission put out a news release on Monday about the details of Avista’s natural gas rate increase request from July and our recent request to decrease prices, due to the wholesale cost of gas.
We announced the basic details of this up, down rate activity on September 30, in the blog post, “ Settlement reached for Oregon natural gas rates.” But I received a few e-mails this week asking for clarification. I think the Oregon PUC news release actually covers it pretty well. It’s re-published in its entirety below.
Commission Issues Avista Utilities General Rate Case Decision
Salem, OR. The Oregon Public Utility Commission today announced its decision to adjust rates for customers of Avista Utilities, which serves approximately 95,000 customers in LaGrande, Roseburg, Medford and Klamath Falls.
In July Avista filed its request with the Commission to raise its rates by 11.6% to pay for major capital projects including pipeline reinforcement projects throughout Oregon. The Commission, after closely examining the request, reduced it to a 7.1% increase.
“While this decision for the general rate case will increase rates, customers will still see their bills go down because it will be offset by a 20% rate decrease that accounts for recent drops in prices for natural gas, that also takes effect Nov. 1,” said Commission Chairman Lee Beyer.
The average residential customer who uses 52 therms will see their bill drop by $10 or 13%.
The decision also settles a true-up for utility taxes. Avista customers will see a $2.4 million dollar refund on their November and December bills. Senate Bill 408 is designed to ensure that the amount collected for taxes in customer rates matches the amount paid by utilities to taxing authorities.
This is the third time since 1991 that Avista has asked the Commission to adjust rates for a general rate request.
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Oct 30 , 2009
You might have seen this in the local news over the last few days – good news travels fast – Washington and Idaho regulators have approved sizable decreases in your natural gas rates. This latest decrease will be 25 percent in Washington, 23 percent in Idaho.
Bottom line for Washington, it’s the third such decrease in 2009 alone, totaling about 35 percent. In Idaho, the overall total reduction is 30 percent. We requested these decreases last January, this summer and again this fall and have to wait for each state commission to approve any change.
These new rates were approved this week and will be effective Sunday, Nov. 1, just in time for the winter heating season.
Before you crank up the heat in celebration, remember that to really see the cost benefits of lower rates, you will need to at least maintain your current usage (or use less). You may want to turn up the heat a bit because it’s cheaper to do it, but just remember that your savings could be wiped out if you chose to use more than the previous year. Be comfortable, but knowledgeable about your usage.
If you want to take a closer look at your usage from last year, log on to your My Account and look at the Bill Analyzer, which can compare one month or one year of usage, giving you a breakdown of contributing factors of the changes on your bill. If you don't have a My Account, click here.
One final note – these rate decreases are because of the declining cost of natural gas on the wholesale market. Your total natural gas bill is divided into two costs: natural gas (about two-thirds) and the cost to deliver the gas (about one-third). Wholesale natural gas prices fluctuate based on market conditions. That means prices may increase over the next year. When the cost of gas goes back up, it will be reflected in the rates you pay. We’ll keep you informed of any changes on this blog.
Oct 22 , 2009
By now you probably know that if your state commission approves a natural gas rate decrease request, you are likely to see a 17 to 20 percent decrease in your natural gas rates on Nov. 1.
But before you start planning for that extra cash in your pocket this winter, you need to consider your normal energy usage.
I think it’s human nature to assume that because the price is cheaper, it’s OK to use a little more. You might want to turn that thermostat up a few degrees, “because I’m saving money anyway, since the rate is lower.” As we say in our energy efficiency messages “every little bit” really does add up. This phrase works for both savings and costs.
One of my friends here at Avista, Christine McCabe, who does a lot of senior energy workshops says, as a general guideline, you should keep your home at a comfortable temperature for you. I think that’s good advice and it’s flexible for each of us. If you’re watching TV and not moving around the house, you might like it a little warmer. Yet, if you’re doing laundry, cooking dinner and cleaning the house – you’re probably keeping yourself plenty warm already and don’t need to turn up the thermostat.
Here’s my concern this winter: We’ve been sharing news about lower natural gas rates all year long and it’s true that your rates will be lower. Yet, this doesn’t mean you will automatically save money. It comes down to you and your decisions on how you use energy.
So be comfortable this winter, but don’t overdo it by assuming that the lower rates will help you avoid those traditionally higher winter bills. You are in control of your bill.
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One example of info provided by the
Bill Analyzer. It leads you to more
detailed info specific to your use.
Click to enlarge. | If you’d like to take a deeper dive into your bill, you might want to check out our Bill Analyzer on this website. It’s one of the tools that can help you understand how you use energy at your home and compare your recent usage and bills to past months and years.
The Bill Analyzer is easy to use and a simple report shows your energy consumption and how your bill was impacted by items such as: weather, number of days in each month’s billing cycle, average cost of natural gas and/or electricity, and daily energy usage.
Oct 20 , 2009
Any business owner knows that the cost of energy is a significant part of a monthly budget. Thankfully we just announced some new energy efficiency rebates for commercial customers that might just help trim that budget line item.
Oregon commercial customers can now receive rebates from $200 to $3,000 installing ENERGY STAR commercial kitchen equipment and dishwashers or for installing high efficiency natural gas furnaces. New incentives are also available for commercial insulation measures and refrigeration night curtains. In addition, Avista offers rebates and incentives for site-specific energy efficiency improvements made to commercial operations such as businesses, schools, and public facilities.
What’s cool about these new rebates is that Oregon customers already understand the value of energy efficiency. Just last year residential, commercial and industrial Avista customers in the state received more than 3,300 rebates and incentives totaling $850,000. Through the programs, customers reduced their energy use by over 287,000 therms of natural gas – that’s about the amount of natural gas used by almost 475 residential customers in one year. That’s good stuff.
Commercial and residential customers can find more information about energy efficiency rebates at www.everylittlebit.com. Oct 16 , 2009
It’s worth a look if you’re curious about the fuel that feeds many parts of your home or business. The video discusses natural gas as clean, abundant, reliable, efficient, safe, domestic and versatile. I couldn’t agree more – which probably isn’t surprising given that Avista is a natural gas utility as well.
Of course Spectra comes at the fuel from a different angle. They use massive transmission lines to distribute large quantities of natural gas over long distances, where as Avista serves local customers at their homes and businesses. We’re in your community and we’re the face of natural gas service for many. Regardless, it’s just another side of the business and they know the value of the fuel as well. We’ve been talking about natural gas a lot over the past few months in relation to rate reductions – always a good thing for customers. Reducing your usage through energy efficiency is obviously a key factor in saving on your energy bill, but when we can pass along savings in rates due to reductions in the wholesale cost of gas, that’s a benefit too. If you’d like to learn more, check out our conversation page info about natural gas. Oct 09 , 2009
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My gas meter and new
concrete work. Click to
enlarge. |
So, a funny thing happened to me this week. Dan_at_Avista, the guy who talks about Avista online, became Dan – the Avista troubled gas customer. Let me say first, that everything turned out great, but had some knowledgeable employees not inspected my gas meter, I could have been in a world of hurt.
It turns out that six years ago when we built our house (years before I ever worked for Avista), the concrete crew that poured the path around my garage to the backyard made a pretty big mistake. My natural gas meter is attached to the side of my garage, right on the paved sidewalk. Unbeknownst to me they paved right over the lower shutoff valve. I had no idea this was covered, since I’m no gas meter expert and I’d never had any problems or the need to shut off gas to my house.
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A close up of the uncovered
valve. Click to enlarge. |
As you can see from the pictures, if you didn’t know the valve was buried, you’d never know it was there. Full disclosure: there is another shutoff valve on the top of the meter that feeds into the house, so had an emergency occurred and the fire department or Avista needed to shut off service to the house, they could have. But I’d certainly rather have every option available.
A few weeks back, during a routine inspection of meters, Avista noticed the issue and created a service order to have it fixed. A Customer Project Coordinator checked it out Tuesday, left a detailed door hanger, business card and called and left me a message explaining the safety situation and that he was scheduling a crew to cut out the concrete under the meter to free up the valve in the next day or so.
I got a call yesterday from the crew on site, letting me know they were going to shutoff my gas service to perform the concrete cuts. They wanted to know when it was convenient for me to have a Gas Serviceman return to my house and re-light my appliances. They scheduled the re-light for a little after the time I usually get home.
So, when I got home last night I called our customer service department to double check that I was scheduled for a re-light that night. Indeed I was, and the serviceman was on his way. Sure enough, about 3 minutes after I got off the phone, my co-worker showed up.
After explaining to me what work had been done at the meter he came inside and re-lit my furnace and water heater. Unfortunately, I did get a stern look when he pulled out my air filter, that hadn’t been changed in a few months. “This is costing you money,” he said. Plugged/dirty air filters make your system work harder to heat the home – information I already knew, but had ignored in my laziness. (I’ll be picking up some new filters on the way home tonight, promise.)
In the end, I’ve learned a few things over the last three days. First, the Avista customer service that we talk about so much is alive and well. There’s no flag on my account that says “be nice to this one because he’s an employee,” this is how we treat everyone. Second, I was impressed with how quickly this issue was fixed once it was discovered. And finally, I need to keep better track of when to swap out my furnace filter.
Do you have a good Avista story you can share? Drop me a note in the comments section.
Oct 08 , 2009
It’s true; you probably go through your day and use electricity or natural gas and never really think about it. Yet, if you’re reading this right now, you’re using electricity from somewhere (and if you’re not, call me, we need to talk about your magical electricity-free computer).
So, it stands to reason that there is a month designated to think about this stuff. Since President George W. Bush proclaimed October as Energy Awareness Month in 2006, the U.S. Department of Energy has been actively observing this month to promote the wise use of energy throughout the nation. The theme for 2009 is “A Sustainable Energy Future; Putting All the Pieces Together.”
Avista is no stranger to energy efficiency, energy conservation, and sustainability. We’ve been providing clean, renewable energy for more than a century now, and today we have one of the lowest carbon footprints of all utilities in the United States.
In addition, Avista has been actively promoting energy efficiency for the last 30 years by providing energy efficiency rebates and incentives, and by providing customers with information on the wise use of energy. If you are looking for some information to get you started, check out the links below.
Sep 30 , 2009 As we noted here in August, we’ve requested around a 20 percent decrease in natural gas rates due to the declining cost of wholesale natural gas. This decrease is still pending, but is likely to be approved. Today, we’ve announced an all-party settlement in our request to increase rates (the portion that pays for expenses and capital investments made to our system to ensure the safe, reliable delivery of natural gas). That increase settlement, if approved by the Public Utility Commission of Oregon would increase rates 7.1 percent.
The bottom line: a 13% decrease in rates
The bottom line is that our two requests should result in a 13 percent decrease if approved, since we’ve requested two things: a -20 percent (cost of gas) and a +7.1 percent (cost of service delivery). For an Oregon customer using an average of 52 therms of natural gas per month, the net result should be a $10 cost savings each month. It’s expected that both requests, if approved, will take effect on Nov. 1.
Now, hold on a minute.
Why would we tell customers in August that we’re requesting to lower rates 20 percent due to the cost of wholesale gas, when we were asking for an increase at the same time for a different part of rates? The requests are independent of each other and happen on different timelines, which is certainly a bit confusing. These independent requests, if approved, will both become effective Nov. 1, right when the winter heating season kicks in. The bottom line is that customers are expected to see a 13 percent decrease, or $10 per month savings – the lowest rates since 2004. If you have any comments or questions, drop us a line in a comment or e-mail.
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