Nevada Power plans program on energy efficiency

Thursday, Oct. 10, 2002 | 8:24 a.m.

Nevada Power will spend more than $9 million next year to promote energy efficiency in Southern Nevada, the company and regulatory officials announced Wednesday.

The state Public Utilities Commission approved the expanded energy-efficiency program for consumers and businesses. The program could save residential consumers hundreds on the purchase of new, energy-efficient appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners.

Bob Balzar, Nevada Power energy efficiency director, said the program's details are still being worked out, but beginning next year customers would receive rebates after the purchase of the appliances.

Purchase of an energy-efficient refrigerator, for example, could provide a $50 to $100 rebate. An air-conditioning upgrade could bring $400 to $500, he said.

Nevada Power and its parent company, Sierra Pacific Resources, worked with occasional opponents to develop the energy program. The attorney general's Bureau of Consumer Protection, an agency that has resisted rate increases and supports a proposal to make Nevada Power a public agency, joined the company and other organizations to promote the efficiency program.

Balzar said the program does not directly reflect the ongoing debates affecting the company.

"It speaks more to the commitment that the company has to make sure the customers have the right tools to use energy correctly and efficiently," he said.

Sierra Pacific will spend $2 million for similar rebate programs in Northern Nevada.

Former Nevada Consumer Advocate Jon Wellinghoff, now counsel for the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies, said the agreement does more than simply save money for energy consumers.

"This collaborative effort breaks new ground in establishing programs that will directly address summer peak energy use and thereby reduce adverse impacts on the environment, both locally in the Southwest and globally," Wellinghoff said. "It sets the stage for expanded energy efficiency programs that will provide even greater environmental benefits in the future."