Customers to pay NV Energy more after numerous scandals came to light this year
LAS VEGAS – The Nevada Conservation League (NCL) is disappointed in Commissioner Tammy Cordovas’s proposed order to approve NV Energy’s requested rate by about two-thirds despite a summer that revealed a pattern of bad behavior and scandals by the utility monopoly.
This will be voted on at today’s 10 a.m. meeting.
NCL remains committed to holding utility monopolies accountable, ensuring transparency throughout the PUCN process, and educating the public on how decisions such as this impact their families and finances.
This draft order does not exist in isolation. It exists in a world where Nevadans pay some of the highest bills in the nation, in a world where energy bills are rising at twice the rate of inflation, and where Nevadans’ bills are expected to rise by 32% in 4 and a half years.
“The PUCN is tasked with the challenging job of regulating our state’s utility monopolies, which are guaranteed a profit through statute, while ensuring Nevadans pay a fair price for the energy they need. Commissioner Cordova’s order tilts the scale to benefit NV Energy, a subsidiary of the billion-dollar company Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and a company embroiled in too many scandals to count at the cost of our friends, family, neighbors, and communities. NCL looks forward to when the balance is restored and is committed to fighting for affordable, clean, local energy for Nevada,” Kristee Watson, the executive director of NCL, said.
Because the PUCN’s website is still down and the docket system remains inaccessible, the public has no way to examine the testimony or evidence behind this decision.
The proposed order was also released less than a day before the Commission must vote on the general rate case, leaving the other two commissioners almost no time to review or suggest alternatives. If the Commission does not act today, Nevada law requires that the utility’s application be approved in 210 days. NCL’s policy priority, Fuel Costs Sharing, which passed the legislature this year, extends this timeline.
NCL is grateful to the PUCN for ensuring that lobbying, political and legislative expenses, corporate events, costs of employee incentive plans, and some costs from the parent company Berkshire Hathaway Energy are “not reasonable to include in rates.”
For the third year in a row, NV Energy sought a rate hike statewide. In this rate case, NV Energy requested an additional $224 million to be paid by Nevadans on top of its existing overall annual operating revenue of $2.429 billion. This is still an increase of approximately $148 million, which translates to higher bills for Nevadans.
In her draft of the PUCN’s General Rate Case Decision (Docket # 25-02016), Cordova states, “The Commission shares the concern voiced by many ratepayers at consumer sessions and in written comments that costs for everything are increasing and that electric bills are becoming unaffordable. However, the same economic pressures that are increasing costs at the grocery store and at the doctor’s office are increasing costs for Nevada Power (NV Energy).”
But a utility monopoly, like NV Energy, is not faced with the hard decisions that too many of our fellow Nevadans are, including: how to navigate restoring their energy when it was shut off for being behind on their bill by $1, the choice between paying their energy bill or buying groceries, or living in unsafe temperatures during heatwaves at the risk of their health.
Instead, NV Energy is guaranteed a profit.
Including in the PUCN draft decision:
Approves NV Energy to start charging customers for the Greenlink transmission project costs before construction is complete, which has already doubled in cost despite the “unfortunate realization that representations made by NV Energy’s former chief executive officer to various entities, including the Nevada State Legislature and this Commission, were either misleading or factually inaccurate.” Page 7 of the General Rate Case Draft Decision.
Introduces a daily demand charge for all residential and small business customers that will go into effect in 8 months. It will be an extra line on everyone’s bill, but the change will make bills more confusing and more difficult for Nevadans to control costs. Page 8 of the General Rate Case Draft Decision.
The daily demand charge will also change how solar customers are billed, allowing NV Energy to recover “costs from customers who have rooftop solar energy systems and participate in net energy metering.” Page 9 of the General Rate Case Draft Decision.
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The Nevada Conservation League is the independent voice of Nevada’s conservation community. NCL works to maintain and enhance the natural character of Nevada and the quality of life for Nevadans through effective advocacy, the election of pro-conservation candidates, and building collaboration.