Editorial: Nevada Power is tone deaf

Friday, Aug. 23, 2002 | 9:09 a.m.

Nevada Power's image in the Las Vegas Valley has been battered in the past few years due to huge rate increases sought by the electric company -- and the utility suffered another self-inflicted wound Wednesday. The electric company filed a lawsuit with the Nevada Supreme Court to block a November ballot question, which would ask Clark County voters whether the Nevada Legislature should take steps to turn the utility into a nonprofit, locally controlled utility, one ostensibly run by the government.

Nevada Power contends that the advisory ballot question shouldn't be allowed, in part, because county-sponsored ballot questions are only supposed to deal with those matters that the county has authority over. But this lawsuit appears to be more a desperation move by the utility, trying to find any possible way to avoid a humiliating outcome from an advisory referendum, which given today's political climate likely would result in an overwhelming vote in favor of changing the utility's ownership.

The company's problems can be traced back to its merger a few years ago with Sierra Pacific Resources, the Reno-based electric utility that became the parent company for the Southern Nevada electric utility. The match hasn't worked out and one of the biggest problems confronted by the Reno executives has been their unfamiliarity with the Las Vegas Valley market. Apparently Sierra Pacific's executives in Reno still are tone deaf when it comes to understanding the concerns of Southern Nevadans. Nevada Power officials must be aware that the odds are slim for getting the ballot question tossed by the Supreme Court. And assuming the referendum stays on the ballot, it remains baffling why they risked further alienating Southern Nevadans by filing a lawsuit on what is only an advisory question anyway.

Some have wondered whether a ballot question is necessary since the Southern Nevada Water Authority already has submitted a bid to acquire Nevada Power, but there is no guarantee that Nevada Power ultimately will be sold to the government agency. There always is the possibility that a private company may try to buy Nevada Power, too. So both state and local policymakers should have an idea as to just how strong the public sentiment would be to turn the electric company into a nonprofit entity run by the government. Voters should have a say in our energy future, and we hope the Supreme Court promptly rejects the electric company's lawsuit.