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VIEWS Wednesday, February 7, 2001 3:06 PM

Energy conservation may not be comfortable, but necessary

Editorial

Turn down the thermostat. Turn off some lights. Don't leave the computer on overnight.

Hmm... This energy crisis is starting to make us uncomfortable.

Not just in the what-could-the-future-hold department, but also in the it's-cold-in-the-house department.

Gov. Kenny Guinn on Monday suggested what everybody who has received a gas or electricity bill already knew. Time to conserve.

Certainly, it's a wise policy any time of the year. Americans, given half the chance, will waste energy whenever possible. On the other hand, there are always plenty of parents wandering around the house turning off lights and saying, "Close the door behind you."

So, we think energy conservation is a good idea. It's just that, once again, we have to ask: Why are we the ones paying the price?

It's been a mild winter so far in Nevada, and there hasn't been any great increase in power usage outside of Las Vegas, where the population grows rapidly and conspicuous consumption is a way of life.

So energy supplies shift to the Midwest and Northeast, where winter has been colder than average, and to California, where growth in demand has outstripped the creation of new supplies over the past five years.

Prices rise in the marketplace, and Nevadans are told to wear a sweater. Hardly seems fair, does it?

That brings us to the second part of Guinn's message. Nevada has to move swiftly to take care of its own power needs. Relying on the national market makes state control, such as the Public Utilities Commission, an exercise in futility.

If gas and power companies simply can come to the PUC with evidence that wholesale rates have risen, and therefore a "pass-through" increase is needed, then what authority does the PUC really have?

Power to the people. That's all we ask. Oh, and at a reasonable price as well.

-- Swissrose (cellier@azstarnet.com), February 09, 2001