Discontinued Operations Discontinued Operations (Notes)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]

Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations, Disclosure [Text Block]

DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS

On June 30, 2014, Avista Capital, completed the sale of its interest in Ecova to Cofely USA Inc., an unrelated party to Avista Corp. The sales price was $335.0 million in cash, less the payment of debt and other customary closing adjustments. At the closing of the transaction on June 30, 2014, Ecova became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cofely USA Inc. and the Company has not had and will not have any further involvement with Ecova after such date.

The purchase price of $335.0 million, as adjusted, was divided among all the security holders of Ecova pro rata based on ownership. A portion of the proceeds from the transaction was held in escrow for a period of time to satisfy certain indemnification obligations under the merger agreement and to resolve adjustments to working capital.

All escrow amounts were released in October 2015 and the Company received its full portion of the escrow proceeds of $13.8 million. After consideration of all escrow amounts received, the sales transaction provided cash proceeds to Avista Corp., net of debt, payment to option and minority holders, income taxes and transaction expenses, of $143.7 million and resulted in a net gain of $74.8 million. Almost all of the net gain was recognized in 2014 with some true-ups during 2015.

Prior to the completion of the sales transaction, Ecova was a reportable business segment. The following table presents amounts that were included in discontinued operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015 (there were no amounts recorded in the three and nine months endedSeptember 30, 2016) (dollars in thousands):

	Three months ended September 30, 2015:		Nine months ended September 30, 2015:
Gain on sale of Ecova (1)	$	547	$	710
Transaction expenses and accelerated employee benefits	24		24
Gain on sale of Ecova, net of transaction expenses	523		686
Income before income taxes	523		686
Income tax benefit (2)	234		201
Net income from discontinued operations attributable to Avista Corp. shareholders	$	289	$	485

(1) The gain recognized during 2015 relates to the resolution of the working capital adjustment, as well as a gain associated with the favorable settlement of outstanding litigation at Ecova that was shared between the Cofely USA, Inc. and the former shareholders and option holders of Ecova.

(2) The tax expense during 2015 resulted from a state tax true-up, partially offset by tax expense associated with the gain on sale and the final true-up of 2014 federal tax payments.