PUC finds lawsuit ally in utility

The lawsuit stems from a complaint the Las Vegas Review-Journal filed over the commission's practice of refusing to give the public copies of preliminary drafts of orders for contested cases involving utility rates and other regulatory matters.

The commission votes on the preliminary drafts, often making changes. Even after voting on an order, the regulatory body has resisted the newspaper's efforts to obtain the preliminary orders.

The attorney general advised the PUC that the Nevada open meeting law requires it to provide the public with draft orders when they have been distributed to commissioners.

But the three-member state regulatory body in March sought a declaratory judgment from District Judge Mike Griffin to overturn the written opinion of the Nevada attorney general.

Nevada Power now wants the court's authorization to join the PUC in its courtroom battle.

The electric utility's motion to intervene comes as the PUC considers several major regulatory issues affecting the electric utility.

The Las Vegas-based utility needs regulatory approval in order to merge with Sierra Pacific Resources, a Reno-based electric utility. Nevada Power also filed a controversial $43 million, rate increase application in April filed about five weeks after a $45 million rate increase became effective.

State Consumer Advocate Fred Schmidt claims the new rate case violates a residential rate cap and other laws.

Nevada Power's motion to intervene in the PUC-attorney general case notes that the PUC regulates its rates, stock and bond offerings and strategic plans.

"As a party to contested cases before the commission, Nevada Power has an interest in a fair adjudication of the issues between the parties and the timing of the delivery of tentative or preliminary and final decisions of the commission," the utility argued.

"Nevada Power is vitally interested in the effect that disclosure of a tentative deliberations could have on the investing public," attorneys for the utility added.

In contrast, Southwest Gas Corp. sued the PUC in state court, seeking to gain access to regulatory records for a rate case appeal. And the attorney general's office has countered the PUC's suit with one of its own against the PUC.

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