PUC member asks for probe of Nevada Power billing practice

Tuesday, May 9, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The new practice by Nevada Power Co. to have customers who pay by debit or credit card charged extra is coming under scrutiny by the state Public Utilities Commission.

Commissioner Judy Sheldrew said today she asked the full PUC to open an investigation in to the newly announced plans by the utility in Las Vegas. "I'm not sure where the benefit to the ratepayer is," she said.

The request will come before the PUC at its meeting Thursday.

Nevada Power announced last month that it has hired a private company, BillMatrix, to process bills paid by ATM or credit cards and electronic checks. Customers who use this method of payment will be hit with a $4.95 charge for the cards and $1.95 for the electronic checks.

The utility says this will save the company $200,000 a year. And only about 2 percent of the more than 500,000 customers use this payment method.

Nevada Power does not receive any part of the surcharge collected. The utility said it had a few calls from customers who were concerned but they were confused. Some thought the fee was imposed on automatic bank deductions for payments. It is not.

Sheldrew said she was "surprised" that Nevada Power is changing its billing practices. "I need to understand a lot more thoroughly what Nevada Power is doing," she said. "An investigation is the best way to proceed."

She said she wants to find out if the money to be saved by Nevada Power is already in the rate tariff. Otherwise, is the company being reimbursed for processing these types of transactions now?

"They may be saving money and the ratepayer is paying $5," Sheldrew said. "I'm not sure that is equitable. That's quite a bit of benefit."