Letter: Municipal power authority good for Clark County

Monday, July 8, 2002 | 8:50 a.m.

Regarding the recent articles and commentary on creating a municipal power authority for Clark County:

I am a retired power engineering manager from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which is the largest municipal power department in America. A vote by Clark County residents on a possibility of creating municipal power authority is a good decision by the commission.

One false argument against a municipal utility is that there will be a loss of property tax revenues. This will only happen if the municipal authority is not properly created. LADWP annually pays the city of Los Angeles an in-lieu fee for property taxes and this is how a Clark County municipal power authority should be chartered.

Nevada Power's business model was poor and helped cause the excessive power costs that they want to pass on to their customers. I realize that the Nevada Legislature helped complicate the pending crisis by following California in a deregulation of the power industry and requiring Nevada Power to sell off its electric generation stations, which has proven to be poor policy.

In the California energy crisis, LADWP was a power seller because of the ownership and control of electric generating stations in the West. The electric power needs of Clark County need to be assured by ownership and control of the electric generating stations for the summer peak periods, when the cost of power is the highest on the third-party market.

HENRY DZIEGIEL