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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Tables)
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Summary of Ratio of Depreciation to Average Depreciable Property and Average Service Lives for Utility Plan in Service For utility operations, the ratio of depreciation provisions to average depreciable property was as follows for the years ended December 31:

 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2019

 

Avista Utilities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ratio of depreciation to average depreciable property

 

 

3.54

%

 

 

3.43

%

 

 

3.28

%

Alaska Electric Light and Power Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ratio of depreciation to average depreciable property

 

 

2.77

%

 

 

2.77

%

 

 

2.48

%

 

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

 

 

26

 

 

 

42

 

Hydroelectric production

 

 

81

 

 

 

42

 

Electric transmission

 

 

50

 

 

 

43

 

Electric distribution

 

 

39

 

 

 

40

 

Natural gas distribution property

 

 

44

 

 

N/A

 

Other shorter-lived general plant

 

 

8

 

 

 

18

 

The gross balances of the major classifications of property, plant and equipment are detailed in the following table as of December 31 (dollars in thousands):

 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

Avista Utilities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Electric production

 

$

1,494,371

 

 

$

1,457,497

 

Electric transmission

 

 

945,624

 

 

 

862,987

 

Electric distribution

 

 

2,093,937

 

 

 

1,978,868

 

Electric construction work-in-progress (CWIP) and other

 

 

424,733

 

 

 

384,372

 

Electric total

 

 

4,958,665

 

 

 

4,683,724

 

Natural gas underground storage

 

 

55,684

 

 

 

53,351

 

Natural gas distribution

 

 

1,356,477

 

 

 

1,282,563

 

Natural gas CWIP and other

 

 

87,852

 

 

 

83,644

 

Natural gas total

 

 

1,500,013

 

 

 

1,419,558

 

Common plant (including CWIP)

 

 

740,339

 

 

 

712,609

 

Total Avista Utilities

 

 

7,199,017

 

 

 

6,815,891

 

AEL&P:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Electric production

 

 

106,094

 

 

 

105,076

 

Electric transmission

 

 

22,691

 

 

 

22,419

 

Electric distribution

 

 

27,138

 

 

 

25,814

 

Electric CWIP and other

 

 

7,319

 

 

 

6,677

 

Electric total

 

 

163,242

 

 

 

159,986

 

Common plant

 

 

9,726

 

 

 

9,687

 

Total AEL&P

 

 

172,968

 

 

 

169,673

 

Total gross utility property

 

 

7,371,985

 

 

 

6,985,564

 

Other (1)

 

 

17,818

 

 

 

16,394

 

Total

 

$

7,389,803

 

 

$

7,001,958

 
(1)
Included in other property and investments-net and other non-current assets on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Accumulated depreciation was $2.3 million as of December 31, 2021 and $2.2 million as of December 31, 2020 for the other businesses. 
Summary of Effective AFUDC Rate

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

 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2019

 

Avista Utilities

 

 

7.19

%

 

 

7.25

%

 

 

7.39

%

Alaska Electric Light and Power Company

 

 

8.90

%

 

 

8.04

%

 

 

8.96

%
Stock-Based Compensation

The Company recorded stock-based compensation expense (included in other operating expenses) and income tax benefits in the Consolidated Statements of Income of the following amounts for the years ended December 31 (dollars in thousands):

 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2019

 

Stock-based compensation expense

 

$

4,713

 

 

$

5,846

 

 

$

11,353

 

Income tax benefits

 

 

990

 

 

 

1,228

 

 

 

2,384

 

Excess tax expenses on settled share-based employee
   payments

 

 

(909

)

 

 

(165

)

 

 

(612

)

The following table summarizes the number of grants, vested and unvested shares, earned shares (based on market metrics), and other pertinent information related to the Company's stock compensation awards for the years ended December 31:

 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2019

 

Restricted Shares

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shares granted during the year

 

 

62,594

 

 

 

45,540

 

 

 

50,061

 

Shares vested during the year

 

 

34,854

 

 

 

56,203

 

 

 

48,228

 

Unvested shares at end of year

 

 

96,127

 

 

 

71,706

 

 

 

93,351

 

Unrecognized compensation expense at end of year
   (in thousands)

 

$

2,215

 

 

$

2,003

 

 

$

2,054

 

TSR Awards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TSR shares granted during the year

 

 

64,910

 

 

 

47,848

 

 

 

99,214

 

TSR shares vested during the year

 

 

77,174

 

 

 

71,299

 

 

 

106,858

 

TSR shares earned based on market metrics

 

 

58,652

 

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Unvested TSR shares at end of year

 

 

107,854

 

 

 

122,133

 

 

 

178,035

 

Unrecognized compensation expense at end of year
   (in thousands)

 

$

2,653

 

 

$

2,296

 

 

$

3,377

 

CEPS Awards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CEPS shares granted during the year

 

 

64,910

 

 

 

47,848

 

 

 

49,609

 

CEPS shares vested during the year

 

 

38,590

 

 

 

35,622

 

 

 

53,454

 

CEPS shares earned based on market metrics

 

 

26,627

 

 

 

63,763

 

 

 

106,908

 

Unvested CEPS shares at end of year

 

 

107,854

 

 

 

83,464

 

 

 

88,990

 

Unrecognized compensation expense at end of year
   (in thousands)

 

$

1,223

 

 

$

1,090

 

 

$

2,401

 
Other Expense (Income) - Net

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

 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2019

 

Interest income

 

$

(1,943

)

 

$

(1,952

)

 

$

(2,587

)

Interest on regulatory deferrals

 

 

(1,206

)

 

 

(1,222

)

 

 

(1,460

)

Equity-related AFUDC

 

 

(7,004

)

 

 

(6,970

)

 

 

(6,585

)

Non-service portion of pension and other postretirement benefit
   expenses

 

 

1,386

 

 

 

6,433

 

 

 

8,899

 

Earnings on investments

 

 

(21,402

)

 

 

(905

)

 

 

(14,299

)

Other expense (income)

 

 

(3,129

)

 

 

(201

)

 

 

1,104

 

Total

 

$

(33,298

)

 

$

(4,817

)

 

$

(14,928

)
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):

 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

 

2019

 

Allowance as of the beginning of the year

 

$

11,387

 

 

$

2,419

 

 

$

5,233

 

Additions expensed during the year (1)

 

 

9,279

 

 

 

11,280

 

 

 

460

 

Net deductions (2)

 

 

(10,201

)

 

 

(2,312

)

 

 

(3,274

)

Allowance as of the end of the year

 

$

10,465

 

 

$

11,387

 

 

$

2,419

 
(1)
Increases in 2021 and 2020 related to COVID-19 bad debt expense in excess of the amount recovered through rates.
(2)
Increase in 2021 relates to COVID forgiveness program.
Estimated Retirement Costs Collected from Customers 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 non-current regulatory liability on the Consolidated Balance Sheets in the following amounts as of December 31 (dollars in thousands):

 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

Regulatory liability for utility plant retirement costs

 

$

350,190

 

 

$

325,832

 
Summary of Changes in Carrying Amount of Goodwill

There were no changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during 2020 and 2021, and the balance was as follows (dollars in thousands):

 

 

 

AEL&P

 

 

Accumulated Impairment Losses

 

 

Total

 

Balance as of December 31, 2020 and 2021

 

$

52,426

 

 

$

-

 

 

$

52,426

 
Summary of Appropriated Retained Earnings Amount Included in Retained Earnings

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

 

 

 

2021

 

 

2020

 

Appropriated retained earnings

 

$

53,620

 

 

$

47,473