please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . october 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message avista utilities type public traded as nyse ava industry energy private utility founded 1889 127 years ago as washington water power headquarters spokane washington key people scott morris chairman and ceo when products electricity and natural gas revenue us 1.473 billion 1 number of employees 1 550 when citation needed utility only website avistautilities.com avista utilities is a u.s. energy company . avista generates and transmits electricity and distributes natural gas while providing energy solutions for residential commercial and industrial customers . approximately 1 550 citation needed employees provides electricity natural gas and other energy services to 359 000 electric and 320 000 natural gas customers citation needed in three western states . the service territory covers 30 000 square miles 78 000 km2 in eastern washington northern idaho and parts of southern and eastern oregon with a population of 1.5 million . 2 avista utilities is the regulated business unit of avista corp. an investor owned corporation headquartered in spokane washington . avista corp. s primary non utility subsidiary was ecova an energy and sustainability management company with over 700 citation needed expense management customers representing more than 600 000 citation needed sites . in 2014 ecova was sold to cofely a subsidiary of gdf suez . 3 the company was founded in 1889 4 as washington water power company until the board of directors approved a name change to avista corporation effective january 1 1999 . 5 at that time the company also bought naming rights for spokane s minor league baseball park avista stadium . contents 1 history 2 lawsuits 3 restatement 4 references 5 external links history edit washington water power was founded in 1889 helping the new and booming city of spokane falls to have more power . using the spokane river 6 7 the idea was that the town could use water power . trustees of the edison electric illuminating company asked for people to back them up in their project from new york to build a power station on the river . the people in new york refused saying that water power had little to no value . 10 stockholders took up the project themselves defying the people in new york and founded the company of washington water power . 8 washington water power expanded in oregon and into california by acquiring the natural gas operations of cp national from alltel in 1989 . 9 the california operations were sold to southwest gas in 2005 . 10 in 2014 avista acquired alaska electric light & power the electric utility for juneau . 11 lawsuits edit on september 27 2002 avista was sued for issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition including failing to disclose that avista was engaged in highly risky energy trading activities with enron and portland general electric . 12 on december 20 2007 avista agreed to a 9.5 million settlement . restatement edit on february 20 2002 the company had voluntarily adjusted the amount originally allocated to ipr & d and will restate its third quarter 1998 consolidated financial statements accordingly . 13 references edit form 10 k 2014 avista corporation . sec . retrieved 29 april 2015 . avista corp. 2012 shared value report . avista corp. retrieved 10 september 2012 . our history . avista corp. retrieved 13 december 2014 . avista legacy timeline . retrieved 10 september 2012 . sec filing . avista corporation . press release . january 4 1999 . retrieved june 17 2015 . spokane falls are almost dry . spokesman review . spokane washington . september 28 1904 . p. 7 . seek poser plant at rapids . spokane daily chronicle . washington . february 8 1910 . p. 2 . http www.avistautilities.com inside history pages default.aspx washington water power company company profile information business description history background information on washington water power company . retrieved 2014 12 03 . avista leaves ca ; southwest gas assumes s. tahoe utility customers . retrieved 2014 12 03 . westmoreland charles l. 2014 07 01 . avista ael & p seal the deal . juneau empire . retrieved 2014 12 03 . class action lawsuit against avista . avid technology announces revaluation of acquisition charges ; first quarter 1999 revenue expected to be approximately 6 % 10 % above prior year . external links edit avista utilities.com avista corp.com ecova.com history this article about a united states company or corporation involved in the energy industry is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title avista & oldid 667458423 categories companies listed on the new york stock exchangeenergy companies of the united statesnatural gas companies of the united statespower companies of the united statescompanies based in spokane washingtonunited states energy company stubshidden categories articles needing additional references from october 2012all articles needing additional referencesvague or ambiguous time from october 2012all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from october 2012use mdy dates from october 2014year of establishment missingall stub articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 18 june 2015 at 07 40 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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