NV Energy 2026 Integrated Resource Plan · Docket 26-05007
NV Energy is planning for massive data center growth.
What could that mean for your power bill?
NV Energy’s 2026 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), Docket #26-05007, asks regulators to approve its energy plan today, including new gas capacity, based on a forecast about tomorrow’s demand.
This page tracks the docket, explains the stakes, and gives you one place to act.
NV Energy's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) at a glance:
4,550 MW
New renewable energy proposed
5,305 MW
New battery storage proposed
1,223 MW
New gas peaker plants proposed
Mid-December
PUCN decision expected
How we power a data center determines the cost
NV Energy’s plan pairs cheaper clean energy, 4,550 MW of new renewable energy (solar and geothermal) and 5,305 MW of battery storage, with 1,223 MW of new gas capacity, split across three gas plants estimated at $1-2 billion each.
The real question is how much of those three gas plants actually get built. State regulators can limit it by requiring data centers and other large users to pay their own way, and by prioritizing the cheaper clean energy and customer-powered programs, like rooftop solar, home batteries, and demand response, that are already available today.
The speculation tax hiding inside our power bills
At least every three years, NV Energy has to tell state regulators at the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) how it plans to meet Nevada’s electricity needs for the next 20 years. This year’s plan carries more risk for ratepayers than usual, here’s why:
NV Energy filed its 2026 Integrated Resource Plan a full year ahead of schedule, and the number driving nearly every decision in it is a guess: That data centers will grow so fast they account for 64% of the utility’s total electricity sales by 2036. To serve that projected demand, NV Energy is asking the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada to approve new solar, geothermal, and battery storage, as well as three new gas plants, that combine for $5-6 billion.
Here’s the catch: If the data center boom slows down, gets built elsewhere, or simply doesn’t arrive on NV Energy’s timeline, the power plants and transmission lines built to serve it don’t disappear. Someone still pays to build and finance them. Without strong safeguards, that someone is us.
Yes, Nevada needs more power, and the solar, storage, and geothermal in this plan make sense. What we’re against is regulators rubber-stamping a forecast this speculative without first asking who bears the risk if it’s wrong, and locking customers into decades of gas plant costs to protect the utility against a guess.
NV Energy has proposed that large new customers, like data centers, help pay for the infrastructure built to serve them, rather than spreading that cost across our existing bills. But the details of how it actually works are still being decided in this docket, which is exactly why public pressure matters right now.
"Nevada customers should not bear the financial risk of infrastructure that may not be needed if projected demand does not materialize... Existing customers must not subsidize energy systems built primarily to serve large new energy users."
Consumer advocates, faith leaders, public health organizations, and environmental groups across Nevada have told the PUCN the same thing in writing: Demand forecasts driving this plan must be realistic, transparent, and contractually obligated, not based on unenforceable promises from corporate executives. Approving new gas generation without that scrutiny risks locking families into decades of fuel price volatility, and makes it harder for NV Energy to meet Nevada’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) — the bipartisan state law requiring utilities to source a growing share of their electricity from renewable energy each year.
THE 2026 IRP,
BY THE NUMBERS
41 volumes
Filed May 6, 2026: A year ahead of schedule
64%
Share of electricity sales projected to go to data centers by 2036
4,550 MW
New renewable energy proposed
5,305 MW
New battery storage proposed
1,223 MW
New gas peaker plants proposed
$1–2 billion
Estimated cost, per gas project
Mid-December
PUCN decision expected
Where the docket stands, and what’s next
The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) reviews the IRP in three phases. Each has its own filings and a hearing where the Commission takes testimony before ruling. Skimming for the next deadline? Look for the bold dates below.
TAKE ACTION
Tell Decision-Makers to Protect Nevada Ratepayers: Say No to Costly Gas Expansion
If Nevada’s decision-makers approve NV Energy’s long-term energy plan as written, we lock in new gas plants and billions in infrastructure built for a demand forecast nobody can guarantee. If they push back, state regulators can require real proof before ratepayers take on that risk, and keep the door open to cheaper, faster options like solar, battery storage, and demand response programs.
Add your name to urge Nevada’s decision-makers to scrutinize the forecast and prioritize renewables over costly gas. We shouldn’t pay for infrastructure built for someone else’s growth.
What other advocates are saying
A running, dated record of op-eds, statements, and events from NCL and our coalition partners as the docket (#26-05007) moves. For the media, this is the fastest way to see what advocates are saying and when.
Joint letter to the PUCN on NV Energy's 2026 IRP
Six organizations urge the PUCN to scrutinize demand forecasts, prioritize solar/storage/geothermal, reject new gas generation, expand customer-based programs like rooftop solar and demand response, and keep ratepayers, not existing customers, protected from costs tied to large new users like data centers.
Op-Ed: Nevada can power data centers without sacrificing children’s health
The American Lung Association makes the public-health case against new gas generation, tying the IRP's build-out decisions to asthma and air quality in Nevada communities.
Amid data center push, proposed gas plants in NV under scrutiny
Christi Cabrera-Georgeson, NCL's deputy director, tells Public News Service that regulators must shield ratepayers from the $6 billion price tag of NV Energy's proposed gas plants and push the utility toward more rooftop and community solar instead.