Sierra Pacific files for rate hike

Sierra Pacific Power Co. has filed for a $25.7 million electricity rate hike to cover rising costs of fuel and purchased power.

The increase, if approved by the state Public Utilities Commission, would boost the typical Sierra Pacific residential customer's monthly bill by about $2.

The filing follows an agreement in July between utilities and big power users that allows Sierra Pacific and Nevada Power Co., both subsidiaries of Reno-based Sierra Pacific Resources, to seek rate hikes to cover the costs of fuel and purchased power in preparation of a deregulated market.

But Democratic legislative leaders have urged Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn not to set deregulation in motion until residential electricity customers are protected from rising bills.

Guinn has said he's studying the legality of the July agreement in light of the 1999 deregulation law that capped residential rates for three years.

''I don't want to do something that violates the law,'' Guinn said after meeting Wednesday with PUC Chairman Don Soderberg.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins and Assembly Assistant Majority Leader Barbara Buckley have questioned whether the PUC can ignore the rate cap.

Under the July agreement, they say there's a possibility of monthly rate hikes that could add up to huge increases in residential rates over the next 30 months.

If the rate freeze in the 1999 deregulation measure is being ignored, they add that the entire deregulation plan should be reviewed by Nevada lawmakers who will convene their 2001 session in February.

Besides the Democratic legislative leaders' request for a delay, Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, has submitted a bill proposal that would reverse deregulation.