Natural Gas Rate Changes: Avista has proposed an overall decrease in natural gas rates by 8.6%. This includes a $17.2 million reduction (6.1%) in the Purchased Gas Cost Adjustment and a $7.6 million decrease (2.7%) due to the Climate Commitment Act. The Low Income Rate Assistance Program will see a slight increase of $0.8 million (0.3%).
Electric Rate Changes: Conversely, electric rates are set to increase by 1.7%. This includes a $4.6 million increase (0.6%) from the Residential Exchange Program and a $6.7 million increase (0.9%) for the Low Income Rate Assistance Program, offset by various decreases in other areas.
Detailed Breakdown of Adjustments
Purchased Gas Cost Adjustment (PGA): This adjustment ensures that customers pay the actual wholesale cost of natural gas, which is currently lower than the rates included in customer bills. Approximately 55% of a natural gas bill is attributed to these costs.
Climate Commitment Act (CCA): The CCA aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 95% from 1990 levels by 2050. The proposed rate change reflects a shift in compliance costs, resulting in a decrease for customers.
Low Income Rate Assistance Program (LIRAP): This program assists low-income customers, necessitating a rate increase to maintain and expand its offerings.
Insurance Balancing Account: Adjustments reflect higher insurance expenses for electric customers and slightly lower for natural gas customers.
Wildfire Balancing Account: This account tracks wildfire-related expenses, with adjustments reflecting the current costs incurred.
Residential Exchange Program: Benefits from the federal Columbia River power system will decrease, leading to a lower reduction in electric rates for qualifying customers.
Clean Energy Implementation Plan (CEIP): This plan recovers costs associated with transitioning to clean energy, including investments aimed at benefiting vulnerable communities.
Impact on Customer Bills
Natural Gas Customers: If approved, residential customers using an average of 66 therms per month would see their bills decrease from $95.97 to $86.84, a reduction of $9.13 (approximately 9.5%).
Electric Customers: Residential customers using an average of 945 kilowatt hours per month would experience an increase from $123.42 to $126.69, an increase of $3.27 (approximately 2.6%).
Customer Support Resources
Assistance Programs: Avista offers various programs to help customers manage their energy bills, including My Energy Discount and Comfort Level Billing. Additional resources are available for emergency grants and energy-saving tips.
Company Overview
Avista Corp.: Avista is an energy company providing electric service to 422,000 customers and natural gas to 383,000 customers across a service territory of 30,000 square miles. The company is publicly traded under the ticker symbol "AVA".
AVA
$38.555+Infinity%1D
Analyst Views on AVA
Wall Street analysts forecast AVA stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for AVA is 39.25 USD with a low forecast of 36.00 USD and a high forecast of 42.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
4 Analyst Rating
Wall Street analysts forecast AVA stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for AVA is 39.25 USD with a low forecast of 36.00 USD and a high forecast of 42.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
0 Buy
3 Hold
1 Sell
Hold
Current: 38.790
Low
36.00
Averages
39.25
High
42.00
Current: 38.790
Low
36.00
Averages
39.25
High
42.00
Mizuho
Anthony Crowdell
Neutral
maintain
$39 -> $42
2025-11-07
Reason
Mizuho
Anthony Crowdell
Price Target
$39 -> $42
2025-11-07
maintain
Neutral
Reason
Mizuho analyst Anthony Crowdell raised the firm's price target on Avista to $42 from $39 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares.
Wells Fargo
Shahriar Pourreza
Equal Weight
initiated
$38
2025-10-27
Reason
Wells Fargo
Shahriar Pourreza
Price Target
$38
2025-10-27
initiated
Equal Weight
Reason
Wells Fargo analyst Shahriar Pourreza initiated coverage of Avista with an Equal Weight rating and $38 price target. The firm launched coverage of the powers and utilities group with 19 Overweights and 14 Equal Weights. Wells prefers names where with growth prospects "actually driving earnings higher" or stocks that are trading at valuation levels "not necessarily reflecting fundamentals." Wells added Constellation (CEG) to its "Best Idea List" for power and Sempra (SRE) to its "Best Idea List" for utilities. Utilities are "materially undervalued" as a "perfect storm of tailwinds" is hitting the group that is much more structural in nature than cyclical, contends the firm.
Jefferies
Hold
maintain
$40 -> $41
2025-10-22
Reason
Jefferies
Price Target
$40 -> $41
2025-10-22
maintain
Hold
Reason
Jefferies raised the firm's price target on Avista to $41 from $40 and keeps a Hold rating on the shares. The firm sees a mostly positive Q3 "super cycle" of updates with messages of "capex up & cost of capital down" from the utilities group, the analyst tells investors in a sector preview.
Jefferies
Julien Dumoulin-Smith
Hold
Maintains
$40 → $39
2025-01-28
Reason
Jefferies
Julien Dumoulin-Smith
Price Target
$40 → $39
2025-01-28
Maintains
Hold
Reason
About AVA
Avista Corp. is an energy company involved in the production, transmission and distribution of energy as well as other energy-related businesses. Its segment includes Avista Utilities and AEL&P. The Avista Utilities segment comprises regulated utility operations in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana. It engages in electric distribution and transmission, and natural gas distribution services in parts of eastern Washington and northern Idaho. It also provides natural gas distribution service in parts of northeastern and southwestern Oregon. Additionally, it supplies electricity to a small number of customers in Montana. Avista Utilities also engages in wholesale purchases and sales of electricity and natural gas as an integral part of energy resource management and its load-serving obligation. The AEL&P segment is a regulated utility providing electric services in Juneau, Alaska that is a wholly owned subsidiary and the primary operating subsidiary of AERC.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
