Joint agreement reached on electric deregulation

CARSON CITY - Gov. Kenny Guinn will have the last say in throwing the switch to open Nevada's electric utility market to competition, under a legislative compromise reached late Saturday.

About two dozen legislators and lobbyists who worked on SB438 crowded into a small room as final details of the deregulation bill were worked out during a Senate-Assembly conference committee meeting.

During the meeting, key lawmakers and lobbyists for utilities, affected businesses, utility shareholders and others questioned giving the state Public Utility Commission the option of delaying the March 1, 2000, start of competition.

Giving the PUC that responsibility could produce a "bureaucratic nightmare of endless delays," said Senate Commerce and Labor Chairman Randolph Townsend, R-Reno.

"The expertise of the commission is important, but the governor is the elected official who should have the responsibility to implement the date," said Townsend.

The concerns prompted the conference panel to revise the bill to give the governor final say in deciding whether to delay the day the market opens.

Delaying the opening of the utility market could cost businesses, such as casinos, lots of money because it could delay the opportunity to negotiate for lower rates, business lobbyists complained.

Casino lobbyist Harvey Whittemore argued that the sooner deregulation begins, the better his clients would be served.

"We could be caught up in a regulatory morass of delaying another month, another month, another month," he said.

Both the Senate and Assembly are expected to adopt the conference committee report, sending the measure to the governor for his signature.

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