Avista Corp., of Spokane, has inked new agreements with two security firms to sell up to $72.3 million of the utility's stock through late 2015.

The company filed notification with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 9 that it had entered into separate sales agency agreements with BNY Mellon Capital Markets LLC and UBS Securities LLC, both of New York.

As part of those agreements, Avista will issue up to about 2.7 million shares of its common stock, which as of the filing date was trading at $26.53 per share. On Aug. 14, the stock was trading at a slightly lower price—$26.45 per share—at market close.

Jason Lang, manager of investor relations at Avista, says the agreements essentially replace a similar contract Avista has had with BNY Mellon since December of 2009, under which it had sold about 2.9 million shares in newly issued common stock for $63.7 million.

"It's worked very well for us for the last two years," he says.

This year alone, Lang says, the company expects to issue up to $45 million in new stock.

While the majority of that stock will be sold through the securities companies, a portion of it will be sold to current stockholders through the company's dividend reinvestment program. Rather than receiving a check for the amount of each dividend, a stockholder can opt to receive additional stock in the company.

Earlier this month, Avista declared a quarterly dividend of 29 cents a share that's to be paid Sept. 14 to shareholders of record as of close of business on Aug. 23. The company offered a dividend for the same amount after the first quarter as well.

In addition to the reinvestment plan, the company issues stock to employees through its equity compensation plan and as an option in its 401(k) plan.

So far this year, he says, the company has issued $3.5 million in stock through the reinvestment program and the employee plans.

The sales agency agreements allow Avista to issue stock periodically, Lang says, as a way to raise capital. Money from a stock sale doesn't go to a specific expenditure, but rather is meant to help the company "maintain a prudent balance sheet," Lang says.

He says the company sets as parameters for the selling agents the market price at which it wants to sell stock and the amount of stock it wants to sell.

Essentially, he says, the stock agency agreement is an alternative to a public offering, the last of which Avista had in 2006. The company switched to the agency-agreement method of issuing additional stock in 2009 because it's less expensive than a public offering.

"It's real seamless," Lang says. "It's invisible to the market."

In its most recent earnings release, on Aug. 7, Avista reported second-quarter net income of $18.2 million, or 31 cents a diluted share, down from $23 million, or 39 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. At the time, Avista Chairman, President, and CEO Scott L. Morris said earnings were below expectations "largely because retail loads were lower than we anticipated."

For all of 2012, Avista is projecting that its earnings will be at the lower end of the guidance range of $1.65 to $1.85 per diluted share. Of that, Avista Utilities is expected to contribute at the lower end of the range of $1.51 to $1.66, and Avista utility-management subsidiary Ecova is projected to add 16 cents to 19 cents a share.