Sierra Pacific president resigns

Wednesday, April 19, 2000 | 10:37 a.m.

Malyn Malquist, the president and chief operating officer of Nevada Power's parent company, Sierra Pacific Resources Inc., resigned Tuesday.

The No. 2 executive of the state's dominant electrical utility gave his resignation at a meeting of the company's board of directors Tuesday.

Sierra Pacific Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Niggli said the resignation came as a surprise to him. Officers who reported to Malquist will now go directly to Niggli.

"We're sorry to see Malyn go, he's been a great resource to the company," Niggli said today.

Niggli said the company has no immediate plans to replace Malquist and that the company is looking to develop a new organizational structure to accommodate the $3.1 billion acquisition of Portland General Electric, an Oregon utility.

Niggli gave no reason for Malquist's departure, telling reporters they would need to contact him directly. Malquist was unavailable for comment today.

An analyst who follows Sierra Pacific and the utilities industry said he thought Malquist may have been frustrated by the company's deteriorating relationship with regulators.

"Malyn is a very capable executive for utility and has lots of experience," said Ron Tanner, an analyst with Legg Mason Co., Baltimore. "The regulatory environment in Nevada has degraded to such a point that he probably couldn't stand it any longer."

Tanner said Malquist probably was also frustrated by being in the No. 2 position and "a little powerless in this regulatory environment.

"He's a good person and I'm sad that the regulatory environment in Nevada has declined enough that some officers are feeling demoralized," Tanner said. "This is an example of what a regulatory environment can do to a company. They can weaken the foundation of it to where good employees are leaving."

The resignation came a day after Nevada Power asked a state District Court in Carson City for an injunction to allow it to implement a $110 million rate hike following a Public Utilities Commission decision to cut rates by $9 million to $10 million a year.

Sierra Pacific's stock was down 6.25 cents to $14.31 in trading this morning after weathering last week's big stock selloff with a 4 percent loss in value.