Avista commercial electricity rates in Idaho

• Average commercial price, 20259.60¢per kWh, all commercial customers
• vs Idaho average+3.3%state commercial average 9.29¢
• Commercial customers19,5632nd largest of 8 in Idaho
• Average use4,567 kWha month per commercial customer
• Average bill$439a month per commercial customer
• Since 2015+6.0%from 9.06¢ per kWh
• Outages208 mina year per customer · US average 124

Avista is an investor-owned utility serving 9 counties in Idaho. Among the 8 Idaho utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the 2nd largest, with about 16% of the state’s commercial customers. EIA lists it as Avista Corp.

Avista commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025

In 2015 Avista billed its commercial customers an average of 9.06¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 9.60¢, so it rose 6.0% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in Idaho rose 19% over the same period. The highest year was 2024, at 10.02¢. Between 2024 and 2025 it fell 4.2%.

Average use and average bill are the utility’s commercial sales and revenue divided by its commercial customers and by twelve. The bill is an all-in figure: energy, delivery, demand and fixed charges together. A few very large customers pull both averages up, so most businesses use and pay less than the average.

Residential, commercial and industrial prices at Avista

In 2025 the average commercial price at Avista was 19% below the residential figure and 87% above the industrial one. Larger customers take power at a higher voltage and use it more steadily, so at most utilities the average falls from residential to commercial to industrial. Which class an account falls in is the utility’s decision, and the line between commercial and industrial is drawn differently from one utility to the next.

How Avista’s commercial rates are set

Avista is investor-owned, so its rates are set in cases before the Idaho Public Utilities Commission and published in a tariff, which is a public document. A commercial account is billed on a rate schedule, chosen by the size of the account and the voltage it takes power at, and a schedule usually combines a fixed monthly charge, a charge per kWh and, above a certain size, a demand charge on the highest rate of draw in the month. The schedule code is printed on the bill. There is no competitive supply market for ordinary commercial accounts in Idaho, so the levers are the schedule, the peak and the amount used.

Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at Avista

EIA counts 18,085 commercial meters at Avista in 2025, and 1 of them (less than 1%) are advanced meters (AMI), which record use at least hourly and report it to the utility at least daily. Of the rest, 18,064 are automated-reading (AMR) meters, which send a reading to the utility for billing only, and 20 are standard meters. An advanced meter is what makes interval data possible, and interval data is what shows when a building’s peak demand happens.

EIA records 35 commercial net-metered generating systems at Avista in 2025, with 1.10 MW of capacity between them: about 1.8 for every 1,000 commercial customers. Net metering credits a customer for power its own system sends to the grid; the terms are in the utility’s tariff.

How reliable is Avista’s electric service?

Avista customers went without power for an average of 208 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 1.20 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. With major storms counted the figure was 973 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.

Where Avista serves

EIA records Avista serving customers in 9 Idaho counties: Benewah, Bonner, Clearwater, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, Shoshone. A county can be shared between utilities, so this does not tell you who serves a given address. The utility that serves an address is the one named on its bill.

EIA lists Avista as its balancing authority, the body that keeps supply and demand matched minute by minute across the area.

Other utilities in Idaho

The average each billed its commercial customers in 2025. The Idaho page has the state’s own figures and every utility with 500 or more commercial customers.

• Idaho Power (9.09¢)
• Rocky Mountain Power (11.61¢)

What these figures can and cannot tell you

• They are averages over every commercial customer. A utility whose commercial customers are mostly large averages fewer cents per kWh than one serving mostly small shops, so a lower figure can mean larger customers and not a lower rate.
• They are not a rate schedule. None of these figures is a charge printed in Avista’s tariff, and nothing here works out a bill from one. The tariff index lists the utilities whose filed schedules are quoted on this site.
• They are annual and final. EIA publishes utility figures once a year. The Idaho page carries the state’s trailing 12 months, which is more recent and still preliminary.

For one building, the cost estimator gives a range by building type, size and state, and price by utility sets every utility side by side. Commercial vs residential vs industrial compares the classes in every state.

Data: every year of these figures, for this utility and every other with a page, is in one CSV, free to use with credit to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and this site. To cite this page: Avista commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.

Common questions about Avista

What is the average commercial electricity rate at Avista?

Avista billed its commercial customers in Idaho an average of 9.60¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 3.3% above the Idaho commercial average of 9.29¢. It is the utility’s commercial revenue divided by its commercial sales, so it describes the whole class and is not the rate on any one schedule.

How much is the average commercial electric bill at Avista?

About $439 a month in 2025, on average use of about 4,567 kWh a month. That is Avista’s commercial revenue divided by its 19,563 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.

Have Avista’s commercial electricity rates gone up?

The average Avista billed commercial customers rose 6.0% between 2015 and 2025, from 9.06¢ to 9.60¢ per kWh. The Idaho commercial average rose 19% over the same period.

How reliable is Avista’s electric service?

Avista customers averaged 208 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).

Does Avista use smart meters for businesses?

EIA counts 1 advanced (AMI) meters among Avista’s 18,085 commercial meters in 2025, which is less than 1%. An advanced meter records use at least hourly, which is what makes interval data and time-varying rates possible.

Is this the rate my business will pay Avista?

No. It is an average over every commercial customer, from a corner shop to a campus. What one business pays depends on its rate schedule, how much it uses and how hard it draws at its peak. The schedule code is printed on the bill, and the schedule itself is in Avista’s tariff.