IN BRIEF

Nevada Power Co. on Wednesday filed its first quarterly electric power rate adjustment, disclosing plans to boost rates by 1.16 percent starting Oct. 1.

The typical residential power bill in the Las Vegas area then will increase from $152.96 to $154.71 monthly as a result of the adjustment.

The quarterly adjustment stems from a new law that requires the electric utility to make quarterly adjustments for fuel and purchased power expenses each quarter, rather than wait until the end of a year.

The quarterly rate adjustments will benefit power customers by reducing the amount of interest expenses they pay as part of electric rates, said State Consumer Advocate Eric Witkosk.

Under the previous law, these expenses often grew into large balances before utility regulators allowed the company to raise rates at the end of a year.

As a result, Nevada Power earned millions of dollars in interest on the unpaid balance owed by customers, Witkoski said.

Witkoski expects the next rate adjustment in January to be down, rather than up.

VendingData posts wider quarterly loss

VendingData Corp., a Las Vegas-based developer, manufacturer and distributor of gaming industry security products and services, said its second-quarter net loss widened compared with a year earlier.

In a statement, the company said its net loss was $4.4 million, or 13 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30, down from net income of $3.8 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue more than doubled, to $3.5 million from $1.7 million.

VendingData in June announced a deal to give Elixir Group Ltd. 75 percent ownership of the company. Elixir Group is a division of Hong Kong-based Melco International Development Ltd.

Financial terms of the securities purchase and product participation agreement weren’t disclosed.

VendingData’s name will change to Elixir Gaming Technologies under the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter.

Former regulator takes post with R&R Partners

Don Soderberg, who resigned after 11 years as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission last month, is joining the government and public affairs team of R&R Partners, the firm announced Wednesday.

Soderberg will work with regional and national clients through R&R’s offices in Nevada, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C.

He was an attorney with Lionel Sawyer & Collins from 1988 to 1995 when then Gov. Bob Miller named him to the Public Service Commission, the predecessor of the Public Utilities Commission.

WASHINGTON

ConocoPhillips unit will pay settlement

A unit of ConocoPhillips has agreed to pay $97.5 million to settle a whistle-blower’s claims that it underpaid royalties owed for natural gas produced on federal and Indian lands over a 17-year period.

Burlington Resources, which last year became a ConocoPhillips subsidiary, agreed to the settlement to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that it “systematically under-reported the value of natural gas that it produced from onshore federal and Indian leases … (and) paid less royalties than it owed to the United States and various Indian tribes,” according to the Justice Department.

CINCINNATI

Macy’s earnings dip by 77 percent in quarter

Macy’s said Wednesday that its second-quarter earnings fell 77 percent as it continues to be hurt by costs from its takeover of a former rival, along with lower sales.

Profit declined to $74 million, or 16 cents per share, for the quarter ended Aug. 4, from $317 million, or 57 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding costs of $60 million, or 13 cents per share, from the acquisition of May Department Stores Co., Cincinnati-based Macy’s earned 29 cents per share in the latest period, compared with 33 cents in the 2006 second quarter.

Sales slipped 1.8 percent, to $5.89 billion from nearly $6 billion.

Countrywide shares plunge on report

Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, fell 13 percent, the most since the 1987 stock-market crash, after Merrill Lynch & Co. raised the possibility of bankruptcy.

“Effective insolvency” would result if creditors force Countrywide to sell assets at depressed prices or investors lose confidence in its ability to raise cash, Kenneth Bruce, a Merrill analyst in San Francisco, said in a research note.

Shareholders shouldn’t “understate the importance of liquidity,” Bruce wrote. “If liquidations occur in a weak market, then it is possible for CFC to go bankrupt.”

The Calabasas, Calif.-based company’s shares fell $3.17, or 12.96 percent, to close at $21.29 on the New York Stock Exchange.

NEW YORK

Treasurys higher amid volatility for stocks

Prices for U.S. Treasurys finished Wednesday mostly higher, after financial markets seesawed through another volatile day.

At 5 p.m. EDT, the 10-year Treasury note was up 94 cents per $1,000 in face value, or 0.09 points, from its level at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, fell to 4.72 percent from 4.73 percent.

The 30-year bond fell 0.56 points. Its yield rose to 5.03 percent from 4.99 percent.