SPOKANE, Wash. — Avista overcharged customers by a total of $43 million, according to a ruling by the Washington State Court of Appeals.
Staff members of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission recommended Avista refund $36 million to electric customers and $7 million to natural gas customers after a Court of Appeals order to review the company’s 2015 general rate case on Friday.
According to the UTC spokesperson, the 2015 rate case was contested in Thurston County Superior Court and later given to the Court of Appeals. The court reversed portions of the commission’s order related to estimates of the company’s future plant costs.
The case was remanded back to the commission for further review in the spring of 2019 and was reopened in May 2019, according the UTC.
The UTC is scheduled to hear the case in October.
The Alliance of Western Energy Consumers and the Public Counsel Unit of the Attorney General’s Office are expected to submit testimony.
Avista serves more than 240,000 electric and nearly 153,000 natural gas customers in eastern Washington.
Avista issued a statement Friday saying, "The filing of testimony by Commission Staff, Public Counsel and the other party to the proceeding is part of the procedural process that was set for this case in Washington. We are in the process of reviewing the testimony and will have the opportunity to formally respond with testimony on October 11, also as part of the procedural schedule. After all of the input from all parties is considered, the utility commission will issue a decision and determine the refund amount, if any."
