Contract rate cut sought

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Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2001 | 9:57 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Sierra Pacific Resources Inc., owner of Nevada Power Co. in Las Vegas, is asking U.S. regulators to force Duke Energy Corp. to lower rates in power contracts covering five years, saying they resulted from a "dysfunctional market."

The prices Sierra Pacific agreed to pay Duke's power-selling unit from 2002 through 2006 are in some cases four times higher than market prices in September, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should set new prices for the contracts, Reno-based Sierra Pacific said.

When Sierra Pacific signed long-term power contracts with Duke, between Dec. 7, 2000, and June 20, the amounts it agreed to pay were less than market prices, which had soared during that period because of a power shortage in California. Western power prices have fallen since June, when the commission limited the amount sellers could charge.