Sierra Pacific counsel to retire this month

Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2002 | 9:50 a.m.

The man who led Sierra Pacific Resources' unsuccessful effort to get a $922 million rate increase for subsidiary Nevada Power Co. is leaving the company.

The company on Tuesday announced that William Peterson, Sierra Pacific senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, will retire Sept. 30.

Peterson, who represented Sierra Pacific before the Nevada Public Utilities Commission during tough hearings over the proposed rate hike in March, is the fifth high-ranking executive to leave the company this year.

Four men, Nevada Power President Mark Ruelle and three vice presidents, were replaced after the PUC trimmed the rate request to $485 million. Peterson has been representing the company in its legal effort to recover the rest of the rate increase.

The company announced that Las Vegas attorney Stanley C. Hunterton of the firm Hunterton and Associates will succeed Peterson as general counsel and secretary of Sierra Pacific and Nevada Power.

Sierra Pacific President Walt Higgins said in a press release that Peterson is retiring "to concentrate on personal matters."

"Bill has provided exceptional legal advice and guidance for the board, for me and for our company and we are all deeply appreciative for his long and distinguished service," Higgins said.

Peterson will continue to work with the company as an independent legal adviser, Higgins added.

Company spokesman Karl Walquist said Peterson is in Washington for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hearings and could not be located for comment.

Walquist said Peterson's retirement will not affect Sierra Pacific's ongoing battle with the Southern Nevada Water Authority over the authority's bid to purchase Nevada Power.

"It's got absolutely nothing to do with that," Walquist said Tuesday evening.

The Water Authority, Southern Nevada's largest electricity consumer, last month offered $3.2 billion for Nevada Power's assets. The total would bring about $12 in value per share to Sierra Pacific stockholders.

But company management earlier this month emphatically rejected the bid, saying that the correspondence prepared by eight national mergers and acquisitions consulting firms did not amount to a proper offer.

Vince Alberta, Water Authority spokesman, said Peterson's retirement will not affect the agency's efforts to acquire Nevada Power. The authority's consultants are in the process of fine-tuning their earlier, rejected bid.

The consultants plan to resubmit the offer, possibly as soon as this week.

"This doesn't change our position," Alberta said. "We wish him well in retirement."

Peterson, 55, has been Sierra Pacific general counsel and secretary since 1993. As of March, Peterson's annual salary and compensation was about $263,000.

Peterson, according to the company's March financial statement, also owns 88,000 shares of Sierra Pacific stock. He has seen the value of those shares tumble from about $1.5 million a year ago to about $500,000 today.

Sun reporter Steve Kanigher contributed to this story.