Nevada Power Rates For Electricity Rise
Nevada Power rates for electricity rise
By Brendan Riley
ASSOCIATED PRESS
3/25/2004 12:00 am
State utility regulators agreed Wednesday to cut a $133.5 million general rate increase request from Las Vegas-based Nevada Power Co. to $42 million in new annual revenue.
The state Public Utilities Commission also approved all but about $4 million of a separate $169 million request from Nevada Power to cover anticipated future fuel and wholesale power prices.
Nevada Power Co. and Reno-based Sierra Pacific Power Co. are subsidiaries of Sierra Pacific Resources, Nevada’s biggest utility.
Next month, regulators will begin reviewing a proposed 9.7 percent average rate hike for Sierra Pacific Power’s 325,000 electricity customers in Northern Nevada. That would mean $8.65 more a month for the typical consumer.
The utility is seeking the increase to offset its capital costs over the past two years to keep up with the region’s growth. A decision is expected by June 1.
In Wednesday’s decision, the impact for Las Vegas-area residential customers will be between $11 and $12 more in monthly electric power bills to just over $116 a month starting April 1.
Next January, the average monthly bill is expected to drop to about $110. That’s because the utility will have completed the time frame authorized by the PUC in 2002 for recovering other deferred energy expenses.
PUC Chairman Don Soderberg said the panel made “some tough decisions on the future of electric rates in southern Nevada. We hope that with these orders and relatively stable wholesale markets, electric rates will begin a downward trend in January.”
“We also hope that these orders will put Nevada Power on the road to continued financial recovery, so that we can aggressively pursue the development of renewable resources and bring greater stability to the Southern Nevada economy.”
The $42 million general...
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