Utility may change rate rules for some users

Kevin Rademacher

Friday, May 21, 2004 | 11:08 a.m.

Nevada Power Co. knows it made a mistake, and the utility is working to correct the error.

A measure intended to protect ordinary home owners from subsidizing the electric bills of those living in large luxury houses inadvertently spiked the power bill of some low-usage residents just because of the type of electric meter attached to the house.

The problem came to light last month when Anne Keaton saw the basic monthly charge in her electric bill jump from $6 a month to $50 a month because she has a heavy-duty meter, called a "three-phase" meter. Most residential customers have a single-phase meter.

The retired Las Vegas resident lives in a 2,200-square-foot home near Valley View Boulevard and Washington Avenue. She was surprised to find out that because of her meter type she was being considered a large-power customer. That's despite the fact that she uses what Nevada Power officials agreed was an average amount of power each month.

She complained to the utility, the Public Utilities Commission and the state's Bureau of Consumer Protection. Those entities have since been working to come to an agreement that would correct the apparent inequity.

In a regulatory filing Thursday, Nevada Power asked the commission to allow it to grandfather in customers with a three-phase meter who use less than 2,500 kilowatts of power a month. The filing also asked the commission to allow the utility to refund the past collections of the higher basic charge. The basic charge is the fee assessed to all customers regardless of usage.

The PUC is expected to approve Nevada Power's filing on the issue at a June hearing.

"That's just great," said Keaton, 70, who last month said she did not know how she would manage a $44 monthly increase in her power bill.

The large-customer designation was recommended three years ago by the PUC to even the scales between standard residential customers and those heavy electricity users in large luxury homes.

"(Nevada Power) followed the direction of the commission to make that more equitable," said Rebecca Wagner, a commission spokeswoman.

Carol Marin, Nevada Power's vice president for customer service, said the utility never intended for customers such as Keaton to be affected.

There are about 400 homes in the Las Vegas Valley with the three-phase meters, Nevada Power officials said.