Letter: How to conserve in face of rising electricity rates

Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002 | 8:56 a.m.

I've compiled a list of clever ways to cut down on those skyrocketing Nevada Power bills:

Use candles religiously throughout your home. Either you've become a monk or you just received your latest utility bill.

Live like the Amish and eliminate excess wattage. Convince your family to go to bed at dusk and rise with the roosters.

Forgo all indoor cooking -- get to intimately know your barbecue.

Think low-tech. Garage sale your son's energy-hogging Sony Playstation and replace the games with Candyland, checkers and Parcheesi.

Got a teenager? Place a kitchen timer outside her bathroom and threaten the sanctity of her college fund when she violates the four-minute rule with the dryer.

If it's winter, use your cat as a neck warmer. If it's summer, plan your social occasions at the freezer section of your local grocery store.

What can you do to add to the list? If all else fails and Nevada Power bills continue to chip away at whatever is left of your pitiful amount of discretionary income -- turn the power off at the source and go live in your car. Who knows -- if things continue on this path, I may just be starting a new trend.

BARB JANNATPOUR