Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]

Schedule of Property Plant and Equipment Useful Lives [Table Text Block]

The average service lives for the following broad categories of utility plant in service are (in years):

	Avista Utilities	Alaska Electric Light and Power Company
Electric thermal/other production	40	36
Hydroelectric production	79	45
Electric transmission	58	39
Electric distribution	35	38
Natural gas distribution property	46	N/A

Disposition of available-for-sale securities [Table Text Block]

The following is a summary of the disposition of available-for-sale securities during the years ended December 31 (dollars in thousands):

	2014			2013
Proceeds from sales, maturities and calls	$	14,612		$	22,960
Gross realized gains	3			19
Gross realized losses (1)	(735		)	—

Appropriated Retained Earnings

The appropriated retained earnings amounts included in retained earnings were as follows as of December 31 (dollars in thousands):

	2014		2013
Appropriated retained earnings	$	14,270	$	9,714

Unbilled Accounts Receivable

Accounts receivable includes unbilled energy revenues of the following amounts as of December 31 (dollars in thousands):

	2014		2013
Unbilled accounts receivable	$	80,718	$	81,059

Ratio Of Depreciation To Average Depreciable Property

For utility operations, the ratio of depreciation provisions to average depreciable property was as follows for the years ended December 31:

	2014		2013		2012
Avista Utilities
Ratio of depreciation to average depreciable property	2.97	%	2.90	%	2.92	%
Alaska Electric Light and Power Company
Ratio of depreciation to average depreciable property	2.43	%	—	%	—	%

Utility Taxes

Utility related taxes collected from customers (primarily state excise taxes and city utility taxes) are recorded as operating revenue and expense and totaled the following amounts for the years ended December 31 (dollars in thousands):

	2014		2013		2012
Utility taxes	$	58,250	$	55,565	$	53,716

Effective AFUDC Rate

The effective AFUDC rate was the following for the years ended December 31:

	2014		2013		2012
Avista Utilities
Effective AFUDC rate	7.64	%	7.64	%	7.62	%
Alaska Electric Light and Power Company
Effective AFUDC rate	10.37	%	—	%	—	%

Other Income - Net

Other Income - net consisted of the following items for the years ended December 31 (dollars in thousands):

	2014		2013			2012
Interest income	$	987	$	754		$	944
Interest on regulatory deferrals	220		126			68
Equity-related AFUDC	8,808		6,066			4,055
Net gain (loss) on investments	276		(3,378		)	(3,343		)
Other income	1,055		1,599			989
Total	$	11,346	$	5,167		$	2,713

Allowance For Doubtful Accounts

The following table presents the activity in the allowance for doubtful accounts during the years ended December 31 (dollars in thousands):

	2014			2013			2012
Allowance as of the beginning of the year	$	44,309		$	44,155		$	43,958
Additions expensed during the year	5,296			5,099			4,213
Net deductions (1)	(44,717		)	(4,945		)	(4,016		)
Allowance as of the end of the year	$	4,888		$	44,309		$	44,155

(1) During the second quarter of 2014, the Company received $15.0 million in gross proceeds related to the settlement of its California wholesale power markets litigation. The gross proceeds effectively settled all outstanding receivables and payables at Avista Energy (which had been fully reserved against since 2001). As a result of the settlement, the Company reversed $15.0 million of the allowance, which was recorded as a reduction to non-utility other operating expenses on the Consolidated Statements of Income, and the remainder of the receivables, payables and allowance were removed from the Consolidated Balance Sheets (and had no effect on net income). See Note 20 for additional discussion of the settlement in the California wholesale power markets litigation.

Materials And Supplies Fuel Stock And Natural Gas Stored

Inventories of materials and supplies, fuel stock and natural gas stored are recorded at average cost for our regulated operations and the lower of cost or market for our non-regulated operations and consisted of the following as of December 31 (dollars in thousands):

	2014		2013
Materials and supplies	$	32,483	$	28,747
Fuel stock	5,142		3,170
Natural gas stored	28,731		13,029
Total	$	66,356	$	44,946

Investments And Funds Held For Clients

Investments and funds held for clients as of December 31, 2013 were as follows (dollars in thousands):

	Amortized Cost (1)		Unrealized Gain (Loss)			Fair Value
Cash and cash equivalents	$	16,147	$	—		$	16,147
Money market funds	11,180		—			11,180
Securities available for sale:
U.S. government agency	63,633		(2,555		)	61,078
Municipal	3,497		21			3,518
Corporate fixed income – financial	3,000		—			3,000
Corporate fixed income – industrial	753		12			765
Certificates of deposit	1,000		—			1,000
Total securities available for sale	71,883		(2,522		)	69,361
Total investments and funds held for clients	$	99,210	$	(2,522	)	$	96,688

Contractual Maturities Of Securities Available For Sale

Contractual maturities of securities available for sale as of December 31, 2013 were as follows (dollars in thousands):

	Due within 1 year		After 1 but within 5 years		After 5 but within 10 years		After 10 years		Total
December 31, 2013	$	5,382	$	12,745	$	48,310	$	2,924	$	69,361

Asset Retirement Obligations

The Company has recorded the amount of estimated retirement costs collected from customers (that do not represent legal or contractual obligations) and included them as a regulatory liability on the Consolidated Balance Sheets in the following amounts as of December 31 (dollars in thousands):

	2014		2013
Regulatory liability for utility plant retirement costs	$	254,140	$	242,850

Goodwill

The changes in the carrying amount of goodwill are as follows (dollars in thousands):

	Ecova			AEL&P		Other		Accumulated Impairment Losses			Total
Balance as of January 1, 2013	$	70,713		$	—	$	12,979	$	(7,733	)	$	75,959
Adjustments	298			—		—		—			298
Balance as of the December 31, 2013	71,011			—		12,979		(7,733		)	76,257
Adjustments	112			—		—		—			112
Goodwill sold during the year	(71,123		)	—		—		—			(71,123		)
Goodwill acquired during the year	—			52,730		—		—			52,730
Balance as of the December 31, 2014	$	—		$	52,730	$	12,979	$	(7,733	)	$	57,976

Other Intangible Amortization

Amortization expense related to Intangible Assets was as follows for the years ended December 31 (dollars in thousands):

	2014		2013		2012
Intangible asset amortization	$	5,898	$	11,828	$	10,435

Accumulated Amortization Of Other Intangibles

The gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization of Intangible Assets as of December 31, 2013 were as follows (dollars in thousands):

	Estimated Useful Lives	2013
Client relationships	2 - 12 years	$	33,562
Software development costs	3 - 7 years	39,327
Other	1 - 10 years	3,321
Total intangible assets		76,210
Client relationships accumulated amortization		(12,336		)
Software development costs accumulated amortization		(21,861		)
Other accumulated amortization		(2,437		)
Total accumulated amortization		(36,634		)
Total intangible assets - net		$	39,576

Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss

Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of tax, consisted of the following as of December 31 (dollars in thousands):

	2014			2013
Unfunded benefit obligation for pensions and other postretirement benefit plans - net of taxes of $(4,247) and $(2,280), respectively	$	(7,888	)	$	(4,233	)
Unrealized gain (loss) on securities available for sale - net of taxes of $0 and $(936), respectively (1)	—			(1,586		)
Total accumulated other comprehensive loss	$	(7,888	)	$	(5,819	)

(1) This entire balance was related to Ecova, which was disposed of as of June 30, 2014.

Reclassification out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income

The following table details the reclassifications out of accumulated other comprehensive loss by component for the years ended December 31 (dollars in thousands):

	Amounts Reclassified from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss
Details about Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss Components	2014			2013			Affected Line Item in Statement of Income
Realized gains on investment securities	$	3		$	19		(a)
Realized losses on investment securities	(735		)	—			(a)
	(732		)	19			Total before tax
	272			(7		)	Tax expense (a)
	$	(460	)	$	12		Net of tax
Amortization of defined benefit pension items
Amortization of net prior service cost	$	1,094		$	(10,681	)	(b)
Amortization of net loss	83,301			(142,794		)	(b)
Adjustment due to effects of regulation	(78,773		)	149,423			(b)
	5,622			(4,052		)	Total before tax
	(1,967		)	1,418			Tax benefit
	$	3,655		$	(2,634	)	Net of tax

(a) These amounts were included as part of net income from discontinued operations for all periods presented (see Note 5 for additional details).

(b) These accumulated other comprehensive loss components are included in the computation of net periodic pension cost (see Note 10 for additional details).