With the regional energy supply improving, Avista Utilities says it should have adequate power to serve its customers this winter.


Dick Storro, the Spokane utilitys manager of wholesale marketing, says hes comfortable with the companys energy-resource outlook based on expected demand, but still has concerns about a lack of available hydropower.


The company has adequate supply heading into winter, barring some unforeseen event at one of our power plants, Storro says.


In July and August, the company had reduced its expectations for the load on its system this coming winter, but now expects its load will be pretty close to normal, Storro says.


His comments came on the heels of a projection by the Northwest Power Planning Council that regional energy supplies will meet demand this winter thanks to the addition of new generating capacity, a 20 percent reduction in demand, and the filling of hydroelectric reservoirs to near normal levels this year despite the drought.


Still, the council says, those improvements were obtained at the cost of idling Northwest aluminum smelters, a reduction in demand for electricity because of a downturn in the regional economy, and curtailing of water spills at Columbia and Snake River dams to help fish runs.


We should be careful before we find a lot of joy in that, says John Harrison, a power council spokesman. Yeah, things are better, but not for reasons that we like.


Storro says that with stream flows low on the Clark Fork River and mid-Columbia River, the outlook for Avistas hydropower supply will continue to be bad through December. The company expects stream flows will be 80 percent of normal in the first half of next year, but that doesnt necessarily mean it will be able to generate 80 percent of its normal supply of hydropower, he says. Fish and regulatory issues determine when water can be released from impoundments on those rivers, affecting how much electricity can be generated, Storro says.


Through the first half of this year, were planning on very meager hydro conditions, he says.