Increases in power rates now in effect

Local power customers might have forgotten about it, but the cost of power in Southern Nevada went up Friday, by a little bit for Strip casinos and a lot more for residential customers.

According to the schedule released late Thursday by the Public Utilities Commission, the rates for the largest Strip casinos increased by 4.24 percent while single-family residential rates rose 11.84 percent. Rates for small commercial customers increased 6.42 percent and multifamily residential rates were up 9.81 percent, the PUC said.

After a general rate case decision last week, the commission estimated the expected increase for single-family residential rates but said it had not calculated rate changes for other customers. Nevertheless, it was clear that small customers would bear the brunt of the rate increase, angering some consumers.

“The casino industry is making all the money in this town. More and more people on fixed-incomes and the middle-class people are being strapped (for cash),” said Verlia Hoggard, past chairwoman of Silver Haired Legislative Forum.

“Sooner or later, there’s not going to be any middle class,” she said. “I know some people who are not going be maintaining healthy eating, because they can’t afford to live without power in the summer or the winter.”

This new rate change means the typical single-family residential customer will pay an extra $25 for 2,000 kilowatt hours of electricity this summer. That means the summertime residential bill will jump to $239.34 from $214.78.

When averaged over a year, the typical single-family residential bill will climb $16.10 a month for 1,250 kilowatt hours. That will boost the average monthly bill to $152.59 from $136.49 previously.

Nevada Power’s monthly bill includes a fee for connecting residential customers to the electric grid, which is the same no matter how much power the customer consumes. The so-called customer charge for single-family residential customers grew by 33 percent to $8 from $6.

For small commercial customers, the customer charge rose to $14 monthly from $11 monthly, a 27 percent increase.

The largest commercial customers saw their monthly connection fee cut by 38.9 percent to $3,670 from $5,100.

Analysts say commercial and other nonresidential customers have long been subsidizing residential rates, but the utility is trying to bring rates more in line with customers’ true costs.

Nevada Power spokeswoman Andrea Smith said the cost of serving the residential customers is higher than for other classes of customers.

It costs more to serve one large customer than it does many small customers, according to power observers.

“There is a subsidy,” consumer advocate Eric Witkoski said. “But I didn’t think we needed the shift as big as they did this time. Good regulatory policy is to not have rate shock and to phase this (rate shift among customers) in.”

Witkoski plans to ask the utilities commission to reconsider portions of the rate case next week.

In addition to the general rate change, several other rate cases were decided and made effective Friday.

The Bureau of Consumer Protection, commission staff and Nevada Power settled disputes over rate adjustments for the cost of settling a dispute with Enron Corp. and other wholesale power providers over termination of contracts after the Western energy crisis of 2000 and 2001.

Rate case participants also agreed to terms for compensating Nevada Power under a Nevada Supreme Court decision that increased a previous rate case adjustment. Finally, the parties agreed to the adjustment in rates for purchased power and fuel expenses.