Avista receives $15 million settlement

Avista Corp., of Spokane, announced today that its unregulated subsidiary Avista Energy has received $15 million in a litigation settlement with various California parties stemming from a dispute concerning prices paid in the California spot markets in 2000 and 2001.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the settlement earlier this month.

As a result, Avista Energy will recognize a $10 million after-tax increase in its earnings. Avista said in a press release that it didn’t include this revenue in its original earnings guidance for 2014 and will adjust those figures in early August.

It said it has put about $6.5 million of that money in the Avista Foundation, the company’s community-investment program and plans to use the rest of the money to fund current operations and possibly to pay down debt.