Editorial: Time to slow down power deregulation

Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2000 | 9:39 a.m.

The state Public Utilities Commission once again has reached an impasse over a number of issues that are important to all electric company customers. The regulatory commission has been deadlocked on 1-1 votes regarding rate hike requests and what steps to take to deregulate the electric utility industry. Although the commission is made up of three voting members, its most recent appointee, Richard McIntire, has had to abstain from voting on these cases because of conflicts of interest. McIntire previously had worked on these specific matters as the staff director for the state utilities commission, making him ineligible to vote on those individual issues.

Even though McIntire is qualified, the governor apparently didn't foresee that McIntire might be unable to vote on critical issues because of his prior work on the commission. So in an effort to break this 1-1 logjam, Guinn intends to appoint temporary commissioners to decide some of these cases. The governor should rethink this action, though. Naming temporary commissioners would be at odds with the spirit of the law that attempts to insulate commissioners from political influence. It's no coincidence that commissioners are appointed to four-year terms. Unless they resign, Nevada law states commissioners can only be removed by the governor for inefficiency, neglect or malfeasance while in office.

The Legislature gave the governor the authority to begin electric competition on March 1 if he believes the state is ready. It appears Guinn is pushing too hard to meet this date, including the drastic step of appointing temporary commissioners. But the governor should postpone the March 1 start date for electric deregulation, seeing if the commission can work out these contentious issues. State Consumer Advocate Fred Schmidt has said a delay won't give him "tremendous heartburn," and it is an opinion that Guinn should weigh carefully.