Consumer group applauds offer, but still has concerns

Friday, Aug. 23, 2002 | 9:22 a.m.

A consumer group applauded Southern Nevada Water Authority's $3.2 billion offer to buy Nevada Power Co., but some people feared that senior citizens and low-income families will still have to pay higher power bills.

About 30 people came to the Flamingo Library Thursday night to hear Public Utility Commission Chairman Don Soderberg at the Consumers for the Protection of the People town hall meeting.

Both Michael Lavine, president of the consumers group, and Soderberg said the power-point presentation by investment banker Morgan Stanley and Co. to the water authority's board Thursday morning was intriguing.

"We would like to see more," Lavine said of the water authority's pledge that power bills could drop 20 percent across the board. He formed the group more than a year ago to address the threat of soaring power rates and summer blackouts. The group is proposing a consumer oversight panel over local utilities.

Any change in who sells power could take months or years, because agencies such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as well as the state Public Service Commission would have to review it, Soderberg said.

"I have not seen the details of the Southern Nevada Water Authority proposal," he said.

Denise Kelly, representing more than 600 retired federal employees, wanted to know what happened to consumer-friendly rates that Nevada Power once offered to residents. Using electricity to wash clothes or dishes, she said, was cheaper after dark.

"It doesn't matter what time I do my laundry, you're going to sock it to me," Kelly said.

Soderberg said such rate schemes don't save consumers much money. However, the commission is reviewing ways that Nevada Power could offer residential customers that would save on their monthly bills. "It's still under consideration by the PUC," he said.

Caren Levinson, an Assembly candidate, said she is concerned for senior citizens on fixed incomes as electric rates keep rising.

Jesse Harris, an American Independent Party Assembly candidate, said if people really wanted to cut their power bills, homeowners could install windmills or solar power units. The water authority isn't a solution, he said, it is just more government interference.