Report blames tree blown into power lines for Malden fire columbian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from columbian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Report blames tree blown into power lines for Malden fire sfgate.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sfgate.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
May 18, 2021
An investigation by the Washington Department of Natural Resources found a fire that leveled most of the town of Malden started when a tree branch touched an Avista Utilities power distribution line.
The Babb Fire began at a time when the 15,000 acres that burned were under a red flag warning for high winds and relatively low humidity, according to a report about the investigation, which was recently released. Almost everyone who lived in the 121 homes in rural Whitman County that were lost in the fire on Labor Day is still in the early stages of rebuilding or making decisions about if it is feasible to do so.
Avista Corp. Reports Financial Results for First Quarter 2021 and Confirms Earnings Guidance
SPOKANE, Wash., May 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Avista Corp. (
NYSE: AVA) today reported net income of $68.0 million, or $0.98 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2021, compared to $48.4 million, or $0.72 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2020.
“We’re off to a good start in 2021 and we are on track to meet our earnings targets for the full year. Avista Utilities’ earnings were better than expected due to higher utility margin, mainly from lower net power supply costs,” said Dennis Vermillion, president and chief executive officer of Avista Corp.
(a) The tax impact of each line item was calculated using Avista Corp. s statutory tax rate (federal and state combined) of 23.05 percent.
(b) Electric utility margin (operating revenues less resource costs) increased for the first quarter and was impacted primarily by the following:
General rate increase in Washington, effective April 1, 2020.
Customer growth contributed additional retail electric revenue.
In the first quarter of 2020, we recorded an accrual of $1.4 million for customer refunds related to our 2015 Washington general rate case.
For the first quarter of 2021, we recognized a pre-tax benefit of $4.3 million under the Energy Recovery Mechanism (ERM) compared to a pre-tax benefit of $5.2 million for the first quarter of 2020. For the full year 2021, we expect to be in a benefit position under the ERM within the 75 percent customer/25 percent Company sharing band.