Columnist Jon Ralston: Ignorance on issue is shocking

Friday, Feb. 1, 2002 | 4:12 a.m.

If so, then the converse is being proved almost daily on the issue of Nevada Power's nearly $1 billion rate increase: The level of ignorance is only matched by the lack of leadership.

No issue is more on the minds of the public. Yucca Mountain is a distant possibility; power bills come every month. And as the raging wails echo through various hearings, the politicians are either giving voice to the anger or remaining mum.

At a time when reason should trump political opportunity, when an issue is so serious and has such long-term ramifications, the political class is either too eager to pander or too cowardly to speak out.

Of course people are furious that their rates are going up. But why won't any of the legislators, or Gov. Kenny Guinn, try to explain to the furious populace why this is happening?

Why? Because it's incredibly complex. And it's much easier to bludgeon the power company. Richard Bryan found that out when he first ran for governor. And now others hope to capitalize on it, too.

But at what long-term cost? A bankrupt utility? An unreliable power supply? The lights going out? Maybe.

Did the company buy more power than it needed to keep the lights on? Yes -- the company's own documents show it was selling almost as much power as it was buying last summer. But what does that mean? Could it have been avoided?

Could the power company executives have just been incompetent, and if not, what was their motivation? Tough questions. But how many of the pols actually even care about the answers, tried to learn before they spoke or even give a whit about the consequences of their actions?

Only one elected official -- I have found literally only one -- has been brave enough to put himself at risk. In a recent interview with InBusiness Las Vegas, Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid said he has "some empathy for Nevada Power. I know this isn't what some people want to hear, but the fact is ... Nevada Power, I think, was very far-sighted in making sure that we did not have the Strip go black."

Reid, sounding prescient long before Nevada Power's announcement last week that it wanted to stretch out the increase over six rather than three years, suggested that the state "is going to have to step in and cut (Nevada Power) some slack. The way the law now reads, they have three years to recoup that. I think if they could stretch that out over five or 10 years, the impact would not be a 20 percent impact on the public but maybe a 7 or 8 percent impact ... I simply can't jump on the bandwagon and say Nevada Power was awful in what they did."

Reid, showing he actually has taken the time to learn about the issue, went on to talk about how the federal government's price caps had "prevented (Nevada Power) from recouping their costs, and they were forced to buy power far more expensively than they could sell it. That doesn't seem fair to me."

Contrast that with the slew of politicians who have spouted off and the local governments who have intervened in the case even though they have no power to do anything. Their constituents, the Nevada Power customers, are ably represented by Consumer Advocate Tim Hay, who is presenting a strong case in the media against much of the increase and who surely will hold his own when the hearings commence.

Most opportunistic has been Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera, who has been at every public hearing (hello, TV cameras) and even conducted his own forum, where he surely earned points for his race for Congress. Herrera is giving a blueprint for how to exploit the valley's No. 1 issue.

His opponent, Jon Porter, having discovered a congressional race cloaking device, has, to his credit, met with company types to try to learn about the issue. Of course, he should know a lot because he and his colleagues voted for the bill that allowed the company to seek the so-called deferred energy rate increase to recover costs for their power purchases. And if any of them say they didn't know this increase was coming, they are either lying or didn't know what they were voting for last session.

I can see the spot now: "Dario Herrera did everything he could to stop Nevada Power. But Jon Porter voted for the bill that gave the company the power to raise your rates."

Anything's possible with this issue. And unless Porter is willing to challenge and debate Herrera on the rate increase, he deserves what he gets. And unless someone besides Harry Reid is willing to stand up, not to defend Nevada Power but to call for a ratcheting back of the rhetoric and some patience, everyone will get what they have earned by substituting ignorance for learning and opportunism for leadership.07