Dive Brief:

• Avista is increasing its planned capital expenditures to about $1 billion during the next three years, mainly to deal with aging infrastructure, company officials said during a conference call with analysts.
• Unlike California, Avista, based in Spokane, Washington, has above average water conditions in its service territory thanks to a wet February. The company's expected hydroelectric output for later this year is looking good, officials said.
• Avista's $170 million deal to buy Alaska Energy and Resources Co., parent to Juneau's Alaska Electric Light and Power, is on track to close by July, officials said.

Dive Insight:

While Avista is expanding in Alaska, the company is open to selling its Ecova subsidiary, which provides energy and utility management services. “We'll continue to look at opportunities both to growth it organically, which they are continuing to do as well as very targeted acquisitive growth, if there are opportunities,” said Scott Morris, chairman, president and CEO. “As far as whether we want to monetize the business or not, we may seek to monetize all or part of our investment in Ecova in the future.”

Avista is also exploring opportunities to sell liquefied and compressed natural gas in Alaska and Hawaii, two states that rely heavily on diesel fuel for power generation, according to Mark Thies, Avista chief financial officer.

Avista is happy with its ownership stake in the Colstrip power plant in Montana. “We're very pleased with our ownership of units 3 and 4,” Morris said. “We recognize there are lots of issues roaming around there, both nationally and regionally. However, it's a highly efficient plant. It's a great asset for our customers and we'll continue to monitor those situations, but we have no plans at this point to alter how we run units 3 and 4.”