By Michelle Baker
Activists, advocates and community leaders gathered at the Washoe County Commission Chambers on Thursday to protest NV Energy’s latest rate-increase proposal. The proposal, filed in February of this year, would increase the basic service rate — the fixed monthly rate that all residential customers pay — from $16.50 to $45.30 for residents in Northern Nevada.
NV Energy representatives said the increase is to average consumer’s monthly bills and consumers will not, in the end, will not be paying more. The increase is drawing considerable concern. A protest was held against the utility company in late April.
Carla Sanchez, a youth organizer with Make the Road Nevada, said on Thursday that her family is already struggling with the high costs of living and the impacts of inflation. She said she doesn’t know how she will budget for increasing bills.
“This [increase] isn’t just a number. It’s a decision that forces us to choose between paying for basic necessities or keeping the AC on,” she said. “Why is a system in place that punishes the average family while allowing profits to soar?”
Community members also expressed concerns about how the proposed increase will impact the push for more renewable energy, like solar power.
“One of the biggest concerns that we have is that this increase that would raise the basic service charge from $16 to $44 is that solar payers, people who have rooftop solar on their houses now, under this proposal scheme, would have to pay close to $50 to NV Energy each month, on top of whatever it is they’re paying for their rooftop solar,” the Toiyabe Chapter Director of the Sierra Club Olivia Tanager said.
“We’re here to put people over profits,” Tanager added. “We’re here to put clean energy over corporate access, and we’re here to put Nevadans over shareholder greed.”
According to a statement from NV Energy, the increase is intended to “recover the cost of investments made for customers to improve the reliability, safety and security of our infrastructure.”
According to the company’s Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) filing from February of this year, the approved rates will increase the company’s annual revenue by $94.8 million.
NV Energy is the only public utility company available for Washoe County residents, leaving ratepayers frustrated that they are responsible for covering these operational costs.
In an in-person-only consumer session at Washoe County Commission Chambers on Thursday evening, NV Energy’s Janet Wells said the proposal would help customers budget for bills that fluctuate over the year.
“In this filing, we’re also seeking to deliver more stability and predictability for customers by reconfiguring the makeup of customer bills,” she said. “Changing the basic service charge will help stabilize average customer bills, and it does not increase the amount an average customer pays monthly.”
NV Energy’s Director of Corporate Communications, Katie Nannini, said the proposal requests to increase the basic service charge while decreasing the cost of energy usage for customers.
“By increasing that [basic service] charge, we’re taking one component of the bill, so that’s the volume and the usage rate — what customers use — and moving it to the fixed fee that’s the same for all customers every month, “Nannini said. “By increasing the basic service charge, the average customer and low-income customers will not pay more.”
