Consumer advocate petitions for moratorium on power plant sales

Brendan Riley

Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2001 | 7:04 a.m.

CARSON CITY - The state's consumer advocate for utility customers petitioned Wednesday for a delay in the sale of electricity-producing power plants in Nevada.

Tim Hay asked the state Public Utilities Commission for an immediate moratorium on the power plant sales pending a PUC review to see if the sales "remain in the public interest."

Hay added that the PUC has just 60 days to approve or reject the sales by Las Vegas-based Nevada Power and Reno-based Sierra Pacific Power, so "the prudent approach is to call 'time out' immediately so that other proposals can be considered."

The sale of the power plants was a condition of the merger of Sierra Pacific and Nevada Power.

"In light of current market conditions resulting in high prices for electricity purchased at the wholesale level, we should re-examine allowing the sale of generation plants located in Nevada, especially coal-fueled generation plants that provide electricity ... at the lowest cost," Hay said.

"Once the plants are sold, there is no guarantee that Nevada consumers will benefit from the low-cost electricity generated at the plants. New owners would be able to sell all the electricity they generate outside the state or back to Nevada at higher, market-based prices."

Hay earlier urged state lawmakers to authorize the PUC to establish basic "affordability rates" tied to the cost of producing power from coal-fueled plants.

The idea, said Hay, is to make basic, low-cost service available to Nevada consumers and help protect them from the energy supply debacle that has occurred in California.

Hay added that he's looking at litigation that has developed in California as a result of utility price spikes there, and his office could join in some of those cases.

Coal-fired power plants provide about half the electricity generated in Nevada. The rest comes from gas-fired plants. Hay said he limited his "affordability rate" proposal to the coal-fired plants because coal is more stable than natural gas.