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Nevada Power seeks another rate increase

ASSOCIATED PRESS January 18th, 2001

Nevada Power Co. has filed a request to raise electrical rates by $19.3 million a year — its sixth increase since July.

Under the Las Vegas-based utility’s proposal, rates would go up 1.6 percent. That would add $1.26 to the average monthly bill for customers using 1,100 kilowatt hours of electricity.

The cumulative monthly increase since a July settlement, which allowed Nevada Power to adjust rates in line with rising fuel and purchased power costs, totals nearly $8 for the average residential customer.

Sierra Pacific Power Co., the sister company of Nevada Power, also filed another monthly rate hike plan that would add about 62 cents to the average monthly residential bill.

If the request to raise rates by about $7.8 million a year takes effect, the Reno-based utility’s residential rates will have gone up by about $4.55 a month since November.

Both utilities are in the process of selling generation plants as part of the July settlement and are focusing on becoming distributors. However, the state Public Utilities Commission has been urged to stop those sales.

Despite a rate freeze approved by the 1999 Legislature as part of Nevada’s now-stalled deregulation law, the two power companies have been able to seek slight monthly increases and could continue those filings until February 2003.

The cumulative total in new annual revenue sought by Nevada Power since last fall is $105 million. For Sierra Pacific, the total is $55 million.

© 2001 Reno Gazette-Journal

http://www.rgj.com/cgi-bin/printstory.cgi?publish_date=20010118&story=979882917

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), January 18, 2001