Credit Agreement - Additional Information (Details) - Avista Utilities [Member] $ in Millions	Apr. 06, 2020 USD ($)
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Maximum borrowing capacity credit agreement	$ 100
Credit agreement, base rate	1.25%
Credit agreement, expiration date	Apr. 05, 2021
Credit agreement, covenant interest rate	65.00%
Credit agreement amount borrowed	$ 100

Debt instrument covenant interest rate during period.

No definition available.

Name:	ava_DebtInstrumentCovenantInterestRateDuringPeriod
Namespace Prefix:	ava_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Maximum Borrowing Capacity Credit Agreement

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ava_MaximumBorrowingCapacityCreditAgreement
Namespace Prefix:	ava_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Percentage points added to the reference rate to compute the variable rate on the debt instrument.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentBasisSpreadOnVariableRate1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Date the credit facility terminates, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityExpirationDate1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of borrowings from a bank classified as other, maturing within one year or operating cycle, if longer.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19(a)(1))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120391452&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.7-03.16)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120400017&loc=d3e572229-122910

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShortTermBankLoansAndNotesPayable
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShortTermDebtLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=ava_AvistaUtilitiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: