CARSON CITY -- A petition to stop the sale of power-generating plants in Nevada has been filed with the Public Utilities Commission to protect consumers from rising prices.
State Consumer Advocate Tim Hay filed the petition Wednesday to slap a moratorium on the sale by Nevada's two major utilities.
Hay asked the commission to look at the sale of the facilities by Nevada Power Co. and Sierra Pacific Power Co. in light of the growing energy crisis and whether Nevadans might suffer.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Public Utilities Commission said last year the utilities must sell their generating plants as a condition of their merger.
A spokesman for Sierra Pacific Resources Inc., parent of the two utilities, said the state commission already has approved Nevada Power's sale of its 14 percent interest in the Mohave Power Plant near Laughlin to AES Corp. of Arlington, Va.
The company intends to file sale applications next month on the rest of its properties, the spokesman said.
Hay said the sale of Mohave has not been completed in California, so the commission could revisit the transaction.
Hay wants the commission to reconsider its conditions calling for the divestiture and whether it is still in the public's interest. The energy picture has changed since that was approved, he said.
The commission has 60 days to act on the applications and "the prudent approach is to call 'time out' immediately so that other proposals can be considered," Hay said, noting that the commission could delay the sale applications until it considers the policy issue.
"Once the plants are sold, there is no guarantee that Nevada consumers will benefit from low-cost electricity generated at the plants. New owners would be able to sell all the electricity they generate outside the state or back to Nevada at higher, market-based prices."
Sierra Pacific said there is a clause in each sales contract that the Nevada utilities can buy back power at 1998 rates for two years. It also notes there are signed contracts already, and it must abide by the sale conditions set by state and federal regulatory bodies.
The issue was mentioned briefly at legislative budget committees meetings in Carson City Wednesday. There have been reports a bill will be introduced to stop the sales.
But Assemblyman Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, said the state might be putting itself in a vulnerable position since the contracts were already signed.
The utilities have agreed to sell nine generating facilities for $1.7 billion. Hay wants to prevent the sale of the three coal-fired plants, which produce low-cost electricity at about 4 cents a kilowatt hour.
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