Monday, Jan. 2, 2006 | 7:05 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- A new regulation changing when utilities can shut off electricity or natural gas service to non-paying customers during extreme heat or cold has failed its first test.
The Legislative Committee to Review Regulations on Wednesday refused to approve the new rule proposed by the state Public Utilities Commission.
Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said an elderly person living in a "small box" where the temperature hit 106 degrees could have his or her power or natural gas terminated for non-payment of the bill.
She said the proposed regulation would subject more people to energy cutoffs during extremely hot or cold days.
Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, said he was "uncomfortable" with the proposed regulation. So the committee sent it, without recommendation, to the full Legislative Commission. The commission has not set a date for its next meeting.
The present regulation prohibits electric or natural gas companies from closing down service to customers who are $50 or less in arrears of paying the bill if the outside temperature is forecast to be 105 degrees or higher or 15 degrees or below.
New standards adopted by the utilities commission divides the state into south and north and revises when non-paying natural gas or power users may be shut down.
The state commission worked with utilities, the consumer advocate and other groups in coming up with the proposed regulation.
The proposed regulation says natural gas or electricity cannot be terminated in Southern Nevada if the forecasted outside temperatures is 110 or higher, compared to the present 105.
Richard Hinckley, general counsel for the PUC, told the legislative committee that in the prior three years, the temperature has been over 105 or higher for 40 days per year in Clark County. It was over 110 degrees in Southern Nevada only 12 days per year.
But Hinckley said there are special rules for vulnerable groups. A "vulnerable" customer is one who has been receiving either state or federal energy assistance for the preceding 13 months, is disabled or over the age of 62 or is a minor disabled child who is affected by temperature extremes.
The power or natural gas cannot be shut down for a vulnerable customer who has lived in a mobile home constructed before Jan. 1, 2000, when the temperature hits 100 degrees or higher. For other vulnerable customers the energy cannot be terminated when the temperature hits 103 degrees or more.
And for all other customers, the utilities cannot shut down service for non-payment of bills if the forecasted temperature skyrockets to 110 degrees or more in Southern Nevada. These delinquent customers cannot lose their service now if the temperature is 105 degrees.
The proposed regulation says the utilities cannot shut off power or gas in Southern Nevada if the temperature dips to 30 degrees or lower for vulnerable customers and 25 degrees or lower for the rest of the users.
In Northern Nevada, the utilities would be prohibited in shutting down service for non-payment of a bill if the temperature was 95 degrees or higher for vulnerable customers and 100 degrees for all other customers. Termination of service would be postponed when the outside temperature was 20 degrees or lower for vulnerable customers and 15 degrees for all other customers.
State Consumer Advocate Eric Witkowski said his office supported the regulation. But nobody expected the price of natural gas and electricity to skyrocket. "That has caused us concern," he said.
He said the proposed regulation was a good start and his office would continue to gather information.
If the committee had approved the regulation, it would not have required approval by the bi-partisan Legislative Commission.
Cy Ryan can be reached at (775) 687-5032 or at [email protected].
archive
