Avista PGA projects 7.4 percent gas rate drop
Avista Corp. recently filed a purchased gas cost adjustment (PGA) that, if approved by the Public Utility Commission of Oregon, will result in an overall decrease in natural gas rates of 7.4 percent.
PGAs are filed annually by gas companies to adjust the price of natural gas to mirror the cost of gas on the wholesale market, allowing companies to regulate their prices as purchasing costs rise and fall. Gas costs are then passed on to customers, while the gas company incurs neither gains nor losses.
Avista currently serves 375,000 electric customers and 335,000 natural gas customers, operating in eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and parts of southern and eastern Oregon, with a service area covering 30,000 square miles and including 1.6 million residents. If Avista’s PGA is approved, the company’s approximately 98,000 customers in Oregon – assuming an average use of 24 therms per month – could see reductions of $4.09 per month, or 6.9 percent, bringing new monthly totals to approximately $55.12, starting November 1.
Avista filed four additional rate adjustments that account for demand-side management program funding, intervenor funding and other unamortized residual balances, which would result in a total decrease of 0.1 percent, or $0.1 million.
