Avista has paused negotiations over energy service for a proposed 500-megawatt data center while it works on a broader planning process with government agencies and gathers more stakeholder input.
The decision comes after community concern intensified around Avista’s earlier memorandum of understanding with the developer. Company leaders said the pause reflects the need for more coordination before any service agreement moves ahead.
Avista said any large data center request must clear multiple steps before power can be provided: engineering studies, system upgrades, regulatory review and final approval by state regulators. The company also said existing customers will not be asked to cover the cost of serving the new load.
The utility emphasized that large projects must produce net benefits for customers and that reliability requirements must be met before service begins. It also said the new scale of data center demand has created planning issues that were not present in earlier large-load discussions.
Avista serves 429,000 electric customers and 386,000 natural gas customers across a 34,000-square-mile territory in eastern Washington, northern Idaho and parts of Oregon. As a result of these announcements, the company's shares have moved 1.0% on the market, and are now trading at a price of $42.43. If you want to know more, read the company's complete 8-K report here.
