Avista Utilities and other parties have reached a settlement agreement in the electric and natural gas general rate case filed with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission in April to recover increased costs of providing service to Idaho customers.

The agreement calls for electric base rates for Idaho customers to increase by an average of nearly 12 percent and natural gas base rates to increase by an average of 4.7 percent. A residential customer using an average of 977 kilowatt hours per month would see a $7.89 increase, while those using an average of 65 therms of natural gas per month would see a $4.03. If regulators sign off on the agreement, the new rates would go into effect Oct. 1.

The rate change is expected to increase annual electric revenues by $23.2 million and natural gas revenues by $3.9 million.

The agreement also calls for an increase in low income energy assistance of $115,000 per year, to $465,000 from $350,000, and for Avista’s participation in and support of any PUC customer-focused workshops on energy affordability and energy assistance programs. In addition, the agreement provides additional funding to support Idaho community action agencies to aid them in low-income outreach and education programs for energy conservation.