Agencies concerned about scope of Nevada Power investigation

Kevin Rademacher

Thursday, Jan. 15, 2004 | 11:11 a.m.

Officials with the Colorado River Commission and the Southern Nevada Water Authority are confounded by Nevada Power Co.'s wide-ranging probe into their business activities.

Nevada Power confirmed on Wednesday that it is participating in a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission inquiry into energy trades involving Enron Corp. during the Western energy crisis. That inquiry includes trades between Enron, the CRC and the Water Authority.

George Caan, executive director of the CRC, emphasized that the commission has not been accused of any wrongdoing. He said the agency was drawn into the inquiry only because it sold excess power into the California market through the now-notorious Enron Corp.

The CRC supplies power to the Water Authority and sells excess power to offset costs.

Caan and Water Authority spokesman Vince Alberta said, however, that Nevada Power's probe goes beyond the scope of the FERC inquiry, which has been focused on a period between January 2000 to July 2001.

"Nevada Power as an intervener has attempted to solicit information all the way back to 1999, way outside the scope of period defined by FERC," Caan said.

The Water Authority pointed out similar concerns.

Alberta said Nevada Power has subpoenaed items from 1999-2002 and as broad as water pumping schedules, personnel files of executives, tax returns and payroll records.

He described the requests as "perplexing," adding that the Water Authority's only relationship to the case is that the CRC supplies the agency with power.

"Why they pulled us into this, I don't know," Alberta said.

He said the Water Authority will only provide information that is "just and reasonable," adding that attorneys from the agency and Nevada Power are scheduled to meet this week to dissect that definition.

Caan said the depth of the probe makes little sense. He said the FERC probe has been focused on determining possible market manipulation. The limited size of the CRC's trading activities, however, would prevent it from such manipulation.

"When we sold power, we got whatever price the market was at," Caan said. "We had no power to influence the market."

Nevada Power has had a team of Alabama attorneys in Las Vegas for several weeks examining records from the two agencies, company officials said. Beyond acknowledging the existence of the probe, Nevada Power officials would not comment on the issue.

The involvement of the local electric company has made resolving the FERC inquiry more difficult, Caan said.

"We have provided everything this office has to show that we did nothing wrong," he said. "Nevada Power's activities in this have made it more difficult to unravel this mess."