Thursday, March 18, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.
Two-and-a-half hours after the electricity to her home was turned off, Stephanie Wood drove to a Nevada Power office and paid their $100 bill -- but she and her family didn't live to see the power turned back on.
She paid the bill just before 4 p.m., which was too late to get a company technician to go to the home and turn on the electricity that day. When a technician went to the home the next day, paramedics were already there.
Wood, 35, her husband Joel "Kelly" Wood, 34, and 13-year-old daughter Kaela Christiansen died sometime either late Feb. 4, the day their power was turned off, or early the next day. They were killed by carbon monoxide from a portable generator in the garage they were using to power a television until their electricity was turned back on.
The deaths prompted the state's Public Utilities Commission to investigate Nevada Power's actions in the case. The PUC issued a report Wednesday stating Nevada Power complied with all state rules and regulations when shutting off power to the Wood's home.
The report also described the interaction between the power company and the Woods, which one neighbor said shows how a series of apparently avoidable situations all contributed to the accidental death of a Las Vegas family.
"Obviously it's a lot of bad luck involved. It's something that was so easily preventable," said Bill Smith, the Woods' next-door neighbor.
According to the PUC report, the Wood family didn't pay their December power bill of $100.17, which prompted Nevada Power to mail them a notice warning that unless the bill was paid by Feb. 3 their power would be shut off. The company mailed a similar second warning on Jan. 27.
But it's unlikely the Woods ever saw those notices.
The PUC report said that for reasons unclear to them, the Woods had not picked up their mail for several months. The U.S. Postal Service told the PUC the family stopped emptying their mailbox in late November or early December. The letter carrier tried to tell the family they could pick up their mail at the post office, but the mail was never picked up, the report said.
Around Jan. 10 the letter carrier gave a message to Kaela, who said she would pass it on to her parents, that unless they picked up their mail it would be returned to the senders.
Then on Jan. 16, the post office began returning the Woods' mail. Nevada Power officials told PUC staff that the company records do not show the notices were returned.
PUC spokeswoman Rebecca Wagner said if the notices had been returned, Nevada Power should have tried to call the family or send a company representative to speak with them in person.
The Woods had been receiving their power bills over the Internet "for some time," the PUC report said.
During the previous 12 months the Woods paid their bill electronically six times, and in cash at the company's office six times.
"Customers who are billed electronically do not receive bills in the mail," the report said. "Instead, the customer receives an electronic facsimile. Bills delivered electronically do clearly state the due date."
But the report said customers using the online billing program do not receive electronic termination notices. The mailed notices are what is required.
The bill was still unpaid on Feb. 3, and at 1:24 p.m. Feb. 4 the electricity to the Woods' home at 8809 Spinning Wheel Ave. was shut off.
Nevada Power spokeswoman Sonya Headen said maybe the family first realized exactly when they would lose their power when it was turned off.
Stephanie Wood went to a power company office and paid what was owed after the power was turned off. The payment was posted to the account at 3:59 p.m., and Headen said payments are posted immediately after they are received.
"Because the payment was made late in the day, service could not be restored that day. An order was generated to restore service the next day," the report said. "A Nevada Power field technician arrived at the service address at approximately 11:30 a.m. By that time, emergency personnel were already at the scene."
Headen said it would be unfair for her to speculate on what could have happened if the payment had come any earlier. She said that in general payments are recorded immediately and would prevent any service termination that hadn't already happened.
"Although proper notification was given it doesn't take away from this tragic incident," Headen said.
Wagner said she has not heard any discussion of possible changes to how shutting off someone's power should be handled in light of what she said "is absolutely a tragedy."
But the Woods' next-door neighbors said something needs to be changed.
"There should be some other way of dealing with it, especially if there are kids in the household," Smith said.
His wife, Mary, said: "It just seems like such a drastic step to shut off someone's power.
"It's such a sad thing, three lives for $100."
Bill Smith said he is also struck by how easily the deaths could have been avoided.
"Any number of variables could have changed it. How easily it could have been prevented if the garage was open a crack, if there was a shutoff on the generator," he said. "We still walk outside and expect to see those dogs outside."
The Woods' three dogs, two cats and chinchilla also died from the carbon monoxide poisoning.
"They were very nice people," Mary Smith said. "And the daughter, I would always see her waiting for the bus when I walked the dog in the morning."
Bill Smith said hopefully the tragedy will prevent others from falling victim to carbon monoxide poisoning.
"I went down and bought a carbon monoxide detector the next day," he said.
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