Costs of renewable energy will be disclosed after PUC ruling

Consumers should soon see how much local power utility NV Energy has agreed to pay for green electricity in several new power-purchase agreements.

NV Energy had asked that the deals' terms, including the purchase prices, be kept confidential as trade secrets, but the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada said Wednesday that the contracts' costs essentially become public record once the utility files them with the agency for approval.

The commission gave NV Energy four days to refile the contracts with the pricing information included and unredacted. The commission will hold a separate hearing later on whether NV Energy must disclose other, nonpricing terms in the agreements.

Nevada law requires that NV Energy get 25 percent of its electricity from alternative sources by 2025. The company's latest integrated-resource plan, which specifies how the utility will find and finance its electricity for the next 20 years, includes several renewable-power plants totaling more than 400 megawatts of electricity.

But renewable power is typically more expensive than electricity from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.

Numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show the price of retail electricity in Nevada averaged 12.99 cents per kilowatt hour in February.

By contrast, the Solar Electricity Index, from San Francisco consulting firm Solarbuzz, reported an average price in June of 34.74 cents per kilowatt hour for sun-generated energy. The index is based on a monthly survey of 70 to 80 companies that sell solar-electric products.

At issue in the resource plan are agreements NV Energy has made with SolarReserve, for its Tonopah Solar Energy thermal project; Pattern Energy Group, for its Spring Valley Wind project; Ormat Technologies, for its McGinness Hills project; Ormat Technologies, for its Hot Sulphur Springs 2 project; Ram Power Corp., for its Clayton Valley 1 project; NextLight Renewable Power, for its Silver State Solar project; and Waste Management, for its landfill gas-power project in Lockwood Landfill.

The Review-Journal asked the commission on June 8 to unseal the power-purchase agreements because the paper believes the consumers who will pay for the contracts through their electric rates have a right to know the cost of the contracts before commissioners approve them.

Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and state consumer advocate Eric Witkoski sided with the newspaper.

NV Energy acknowledged an "important and compelling interest" in the disclosure of renewable-energy purchases because those costs "directly and immediately" affect power rates consumers will pay. But the power company wants the Review-Journal to focus on the costs of existing agreements, rather than look at the expenses detailed in agreements currently before the commission. That's because the pending deals are in the development stage, so they don't affect the current, actual cost of providing service, company officials said.

But commission Chairman Sam Thompson, the presiding officer in NV Energy's integrated-resource case, said Wednesday that approving the contracts without revealing the costs to ratepayers who'll foot the bill would be like "driving up to a gas station and seeing black tape over the price on the pump."

Commissioner Rebecca Wagner agreed that the contracts' pricing details, once filed, become public record, but she urged the Review-Journal to weigh the agreements' costs against the benefits of green power. Those advantages include cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions, enhanced energy independence from out-of-state or foreign power sources and boosts in economic diversification.

Plus, NV Energy spends nearly $1 billion a year on nonrenewable generation, she added, and other factors ranging from utility salaries to company car fleets also affect the rates consumers pay for electricity. She said she hoped reporting on the topic wouldn't single out or excessively blame green-energy costs as an impetus for higher power rates.

Wagner also said forcing disclosure of the agreements could "open a can of worms," as utilities begin to revisit the amount and type of confidential information they include in their power-purchase agreements.

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.