Las Vegas residents to see lower electric bills this July

Both NV Energy and Southwest Gas plan to lower their fuel purchase rates, which are adjusted every three months, starting in July, according to filings submitted to the Public Utilities Commission.

NV Energy said the average July bill for a single-family residential customer should be around $242 this year, which is $48 lower or 16.5 percent less than the average July 2023 bill. For multifamily residential customers, the average July bill will be around $127, which is $26 lower or 17 percent less than from the average July 2023 bill.

In general, NV Energy said customer bills have continued to go down because it has lowered its quarterly fuel rates for the last five consecutive quarters. In the July bill alone, for single-family residential customers, fuel rates are set to go down by about 12.2 percent, which accounts for $20.29 of the total bill reduction For multifamily customers, fuel rates will go down 13 percent, which accounts for $12.92 of the drop in bills.

Even though rates have gone down, not every customer has noticed. NV Energy customer and southwest Las Vegas resident, Candi Cazau, said she still thinks her electric bills are higher than they should be and hasn’t noticed any recent rate reductions.

Cazau said her bill for May was $359 and that was “higher than anticipated” even though she limited the use of her air conditioning units. Cazau’s electric bill last July was $803 and even with this new rate reduction she is expecting another summer of expensive energy bills.

The July rate reductions for NV Energy in Southern Nevada are expected to decrease the utility’s revenue by $454.7 million, the utility said.

Although the rates for the July bills are getting lower, the total amount for energy bills from June to July could increase as temperatures rise. Demand for electricity during the summer months is typically 60 percent higher than the spring months, an NV Energy spokesperson said.

Southwest Gas bills

Gas rates are also going down for Southern Nevada Southwest Gas customers starting in July.

Here is what Southwest Gas customers should expect:

■ Rates for single-family residential customers are set to go down by about 26 percent, which should decrease the monthly bill by $22.03.

■ Rates for multifamily residential customers are set to go down by about 24.6 percent, which should decrease the monthly bill by $12.06.

Overall, these Southern Nevada rate reductions should decrease Southwest Gas’ revenue by $251 million, the utility said.

Why rates are going down

The utilities are able to lower fuel purchase rates, which are calculated based on a 12-month rolling average of natural gas prices, since the national price of natural gas has seen steady declines from 2022 levels when prices spiked and remained elevated throughout 2023.

“We are pleased to see average customer bills in Southern Nevada are decreasing in line with projections shared earlier this year,” an NV Energy spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “NV Energy is continuously assessing opportunities to provide our customers with stable costs for the energy services we provide, we recognize energy is a critical service and we take pride in delivering energy at a cost that is well below the national average to our customers.”

Even with gas and electricity prices expected to lower starting in July, customers still experiencing high bills can visit NV Energy’s website to learn about its PowerShift programs and services to find ways to save energy and money.

Contact Sean Hemmersmeier at shemmersmeier@reviewjournal.com. Follow @seanhemmers34 on X.