Avista history

The company built its first power station on the river in 1890 and soon bought out the city's competing electric companies.

In 1891, the not-to-be-dissuaded Edison Electric stockholders, who decided to take their own destiny in their hands, purchased a controlling interest in Edison Electric, trumping the financial backers in New York who disregarded the value of the project that forced their retreat.

In 1892 Washington Water Power purchased a park called Twickenham Park on the banks of the Spokane River.

In 1895, the company was forced to default on its bonds.

In 1898, the committee made a startling recommendation: Stockholders would be required to turn in "either 40 percent of their stock or cash in the amount of $10 per share" (Blewett, 9). It was a tough dose of medicine, but it worked.

Extensive Expansion Beginning in 1900

In 1901 it built its first transmission line outside of Spokane, to the neighboring railyard town of Hillyard.

The problem was exacerbated by the fact that a competing streetcar line, the Spokane Traction Co., had sprung up in 1902 and split the market.

In 1903, WWP constructed a 117-mile transmission line--the longest high-voltage line in the world at the time--to provide power to mining operations in northern Idaho.

In fact, WWP's streetcar ridership had peaked back in 1910 at more than 24 million passengers and then went into a slow and inexorable decline.

It had an installed capacity of 32,000 kilowatts, which "increased WWP's system capacity by almost 50 percent" (Blewett, 22). The Long Lake Dam, just a few miles upstream, was even more massive -- its 170-foot-high spillways were the highest in the world when it was completed in 1915.

The situation became so bad in 1922 that the two lines were forced to merge and became Spokane United Railways, with WWP the primary owner.

WWP's acquisitive appetite put it into the position to link with the systems of the Puget Sound Power and Light Company in western Washington and the Montana Power Company in 1923, which enabled each of the three utilities to lend assistance to the others in case of an emergency.

In 1928 WWP was acquired by the American Power & Light Co., a subsidiary of the Electric Bond and Share Co. (EBASCO), a large national utility holding company created by General Electric.

Washington Water Power eventually sold the park in 1929.

By 1930 WWP had purchased dozens of rural and small-town electric distribution companies.

The decline continued and the final streetcar rolled through Spokane in 1936, ending WWP's foray into public transportation.

Meanwhile, in 1940, the private-power industry recognized WWP with its most prestigious award, the Charles A. Coffin Award, in part for leading the fight against public utility districts.

To meet the growing demand, WWP officials planned another major construction project, applying in 1950 for a license from the Federal Power Commission to build a dam at Cabinet Gorge on the Clark Fork River in Montana.

In 1952 WWP was victorious and finally, after decades of "financial direction from New York," separated itself from American Power & Light and became "free at last" (Blewett, 43). WWP joined the New York Stock Exchange as a publicly traded investor-owned company on September 25, 1952.

Management wanted to add natural gas assets to the utility's portfolio, a source of energy first delivered to the Pacific Northwest in 1955.

WWP acquired the facilities of Spokane Natural Gas through a 1958 merger.

The first of these three projects, which ranked as the utility's largest power-producing facility in the 21st century, was brought on line in 1959.

In 1960, the utility acquired the Spokane Industrial Park, becoming a landlord for a facility that housed dozens of businesses.

Both investments fulfilled the expectations of their worth: At its peak the streetcar system served nearly 25 million passengers annually; Natatorium Park remained a WWP property until 1968.

In 1977, the company formed Itron, a company involved in developing technology used in meter-reading equipment.

In 1989 the company celebrated its 100th anniversary.

By the end of 1996, WWP planned to begin brokering electricity in the southeastern United States, the first step toward developing into a utility involved in markets throughout North America.

In 1997, the company formed Avista Energy, a nationally oriented energy trading and marketing subsidiary.

At the start of 1999, WWP adopted the name used by its new subsidiaries and changed its official corporate title to Avista Corporation.

In 2000, Gary G. Ely was named president, chief executive officer, and chairman of Avista, earning the top three posts after spending 33 years working for the utility.

The company partnered in a natural-gas facility in Oregon that went into operation in 2003.

The California operations were sold to Southwest Gas in 2005.

Avista (formerly Washington Water Power) Upper Falls Power Plant, Spokane, April 17, 2006

A new history began July 1, 2014, when AEL&P -- as part of Alaska Energy and Resources Company -- was acquired by Avista Corp., of Spokane, Wash.

In November 2015, Avista suffered the worst disaster in its history when a windstorm knocked out power to 180,000 customers leaving some in Spokane without power for 10 days.

The company remained a key member of the Northwest Power Pool as of 2016.

In 2017, Ontario-based electrical utility Hydro One agreed to purchase Avista.

27, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today a home listed on the National Register of Historic Places was brought into the 21st century when Avista installed the very first smart electric meter in the Millwood community near Spokane.