Draft order urges letting utility raise rates

Monday, Sept. 19, 2005 | 11:24 a.m.

A draft order in a Nevada Power Co. rate case recommends that the Las Vegas electric utility be granted permission to raise the average residential rates by $4.86 a month, or 3.8 percent.

The full three-member PUC is expected to vote on the proposal at a Wednesday meeting.

The order, authored by Public Utilities Commission Chairman Donald Soderberg, is based on a June filing the company made seeking $62 million in additional revenue to cover higher natural gas costs.

Subsequent testimony by PUC staff and the utility, however, indicate that continued increases in the gas market mean the utility would need an additional $84.8 million in revenue to cover current natural gas prices. Such an increase could mean monthly bill increases of as much as $10.

By granting just the original request, customers could eventually be required to pay an additional $13.8 million in carrying charges on the utility's unrecovered expenses.

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