Amazing how often the comment, “I thought my meter was broken,” came up at Monday night’s consumer session regarding requests by Sierra Pacific Power Company for more rate hikes.
Not all of the 200 or more people, many of them senior citizens, who attended the meeting thought that their power bills had inexplicably skyrocketed because their meters had broken. Some just thought that Sierra Pacific Power Co. workers were reading the meter wrong.
Like Mary McGalliard, 74. She’s lived in Reno for 71 years. Last year, the power bill for her home was $206. And that was when her partner was still alive, watching television ’round the clock, and when she still did cooking at home. Her partner died last year, and she expected her power bill to go down. “I’ve really cut back,” McGalliard said. But her bill rose to $298. McGalliard spoke in front of executives from Sierra Pacific, members of the Public Utilities Commission and consumer advocates from the Attorney General’s Office, but she wasn’t asking for charity.
“I don’t want help with my bill,” she said. “I don’t think most of the people here are looking for help. I was brought up to believe that if I couldn’t afford it, I shouldn’t buy it.”
But when it comes to powering a home, McGalliard and others noted that many seniors on fixed incomes are being forced to choose between paying the power bill, buying food and getting needed prescription medications.
Monday’s consumer session at Mendive Middle School in Sparks was scheduled in response to Sierra Pacific Power Company’s request in November for a general rate increase of more than $28 million.
Though the power company was pitching this rate hike as an actual 2.5 percent decrease of residential rates and a 4 percent hike for businesses, consumer advocate Bob Cooper noted that the change is being accompanied by a more than 400 percent hike in Sierra Pacific’s distribution charge. The charge, added to bills to pay for costs associated with delivering power, would rise from $3 per meter per month to $14 per meter per month.
In addition to smaller incremental monthly Sierra Pacific rate increases approved by the PUC last year, the PUC allowed Sierra Pacific a 17 percent rate hike that went into effect a year ago. Besides the recent request being discussed Monday, the company last week said it will ask for yet another 7.7 percent residential increase, or $205 million, in the coming months. In response to demands from speakers, PUC commissioner Richard McIntire promised a coming audit of the company, which hasn’t been audited in a decade.
The whole thing boggles the minds of speakers like John Engdahl, 48, of Sparks, who sank $8,000 into energy-conserving home improvements only to see his power bill go from $99 to $207 per month.
“If I went to Raley’s and spent $100 on groceries, and they said, ‘We didn’t have a great year, these groceries are going to cost you an extra $100,’ I wouldn’t be doing business with Raley’s much longer,” he said. “If I had a choice, I wouldn’t be doing business with Sierra Pacific much longer.”