1 week Ago By LYDIA SNOW [email protected]
CARSON CITY — The Nevada Assembly passed a fuel cost-sharing bill last week with a bipartisan vote of 35-7. It next heads to the state Senate. The bill, AB 452, would allow NV Energy customers “to reclaim the full amount of money if they're overcharged by NV Energy,” Nevada Conservation League spokesperson Camalot Todd said.
“Previously, what would happen is, NV Energy was only on the hook for refunding about 90 days worth of overcharges,” she explained. A KTNV Las Vegas investigation from earlier this month found one NV Energy customer had been overcharged for six years to a total of around $1,000. The company only reimbursed about $96, which was six months’ worth, she said.
“This bill allows customers to recoup 100% of those over charges plus interest,” Todd said. “It also allows the Nevada Public Utilities Commission to have a little bit more authority or oversight of NV Energy when they rely on methane gas, which is a fuel source that is price-volatile. So, if a war or a pandemic or tariffs, something completely out of control from Nevadans, causes this fuel price to spike, Nevadans are on the hook for 100% of that spike.
” On the other hand, she said, as NV Energy is a utility monopoly without any competition, “they don't have any skin in the game to diversify their fuel source to make sure what they're providing and using to power homes is reliable and consistent in pricing.” Several attempts by email and telephone to reach NV Energy for comment were not returned. “This bill gives the PUC authority to study how fuel cost sharing could work in the state of Nevada, to make sure that NV Energy is being held accountable and is transparent in what fuels they are using.
And this comes at a time where we've seen NV Energy increase our rates,” she said. “This allows the PUC, which oversees NV Energy, to have a little bit more say on what these spikes cost. It gives Nevadans a little bit more transparency, more accountability and more oversight to this utility monopoly,” Todd explained.
In a conservation league survey, 88% of the survey group supported limiting how utilities spend customer money and increasing transparency. “Ratepayer protection is really important, because we want Nevadans to know what they're paying,” Todd said. “When you look at your NV Energy bill, what you're seeing a lot of the time is a lot of rates that aren't necessarily clear to the consumer what they're paying for.
I can pull up my energy bill and tell you that I'm not just paying for the energy that I'm using, right? I'm paying for NV’s rates. "I could be paying for a new gas plant for methane gas. I could be paying for advertising dollars for energy.
I could be paying for them to help lobby in their interest at session,” Todd said. “But I don't know, because those aren't clear, those aren't publicized in these rates. So, we want NV Energy to clearly state what the rates we are paying, that money is going towards,” she said.
“This bill specifically allows the PUC to study what fuel cost sharing would look like in Nevada,” Todd explained. “It just means that the monopoly utility NV Energy has some skin in the game when prices go up. That way, they're a little bit more incentivized to make sure that the energy sources they use in our homes are diversified.
“At the end of the day, our biggest goal is for there to be some level of transparency and accountability by NV Energy. As far as legislation goes, a lot of the people impacted by NV Energy, we don't have a choice, we have to pay our power bill,” she said. “NCL and our partners have really tried to make sure that our legislators are hearing from everyday Nevadans about how these high energy bills are impacting their health, their finances, their well-being.
I think once lawmakers have heard from people, like real-life Nevadans, they've realized that they can pass common-sense, pragmatic bills that hold NV Energy accountable but also make sure that what they're doing is transparent.” According to a recent Nevada Conservation League poll, 68% of Nevadans prefer local, clean energy to importing methane gas. While NV Energy relies on methane as a fuel source, methane is unstable in price and can be either cheap or expensive, Todd said.
“When that fuel supply line is contracted or there is a disruption, we see the cost of our bills go up.” What Nevada does have an abundance of is solar energy, she noted. “Hopefully the goal with this will be, if we discourage NV Energy from relying on an unpredictable fuel source like methane gas through the PUC, they will then choose a more reliable fuel source," Todd said.
“Solar, geothermal, those energy sources are a little bit more stable as far as prices go, which means that our bills would not fluctuate so much from month to month, and then NV Energy would have a little bit more encouragement to rely on these renewable energy sources, as opposed to methane gas,” she said. Also o n Tuesday, the Assembly voted to advance a Solar-Powered Affordable Housing measure, AB 458. Julia Hubbard, program director for Solar United Neighbors, said i n Nevada, “people are not able to install solar on individually-metered multi-family housing.
This bill changes that, so the solar can be installed and savings from those arrays can be passed on to tenants of those buildings.” “Right now in Nevada, we have some of the highest utility bills out there, so legislation like this is critical to increasing access to solar and increasing access to those types of meaningful savings,” Hubbard said. Hubbard explained how they intend to lower the prices: “it's actually just fixing legislation so that this is possible.
Right now, under Nevada law, it's not possible.” “And this works in tandem with Solar For All funding. So, the Nevada Clean Energy Fund awarded $156 million to deliver savings through providing solar to low-income households and others who qualify around Nevada.
About 20,000 households are the target and multifamily housing is part of that mix. This bill allows that to be possible,” Hubbard said. “Solar for All will also be addressing community solar,” she added.
“Libraries, schools, even other municipal buildings can apply to be a host site. Those savings can be passed on to the host but also to low-income families who would subscribe to the community solar program.” The Nevada Clean Energy Fund is putting significant effort into making solar energy more accessible, such as installing solar on more roofs and providing home energy audits, Hubbard noted.
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