Letter: Deregulation is not working

Tuesday, July 18, 2000 | 9:42 a.m.

I thought electric deregulation was supposed to be the answer to our power supply needs and that the Public Utilities Commission was the knight on the white horse who would save us all.

I've always been pretty happy with the price and quality of service I received from Nevada Power Co. But since the PUC and some of the big casinos pushed to deregulate the industry, it seems like things are falling apart.

Why did anyone think that replacing an electric system that was the envy of the world and provided Nevada with some of the lowest rates in the nation with one in which government and quasi-government agencies would do the planning would result in anything other than chaos?

This isn't deregulation; it's a system that replaces planning by electric utilities with planning by government, which seldom works well, because it's driven by politics rather than reason.

If we're going to have shortages and increased electric bills, I think we should seriously reconsider this entire deregulation scheme. After all, if it ain't broke, why fix it?

LEE R. BISHOP