By: Dana Gentry-June 22, 2026 1:49 pm
When NV Energy asked the Nevada Public Utilities Commission to delay implementation of a controversial peak demand charge, which was scheduled to take effect April 1 in Southern Nevada, the utility maintained it needed more time to educate customers.
“By delaying implementation, the Company is prioritizing customer understanding, transparency and readiness,” NV Energy’s filing with the PUC said of the charge, which will be based on a customer’s 15-minute period of highest use each day.
PUC staff objected, noting NV Energy had already asserted last year it would educate the public and “has not explained why it could not provide that additional education before the original implementation”
The utility said it believes “it can enhance the customer experience by improving customer tools and providing information and resources” such as personalized reports, and promised to provide customers with a comparison in May based on usage in April, and another in August, based on July usage. The implementation date was kicked back to Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, those May comparisons were not included in bills sent to customers.
“The comparison tool is not available yet,” NV Energy spokeswoman Katie Jo Collier said via email.
Collier did not say when the comparison tool would surface. Customers, she said, “will soon receive communications showing their biggest energy uses and how their bill would compare under the new billing structure, along with online tools and tips to better understand and manage energy use.”
It’s unknown when customers can expect that information.
“If this new charge is too complicated for the utility company to calculate our bills after nine months, how could ratepayers ever expect to reasonably predict our own bills?” asked Jackie Spicer of the Nevada Environmental Justice Coalition.
Attorney General Aaron Ford’s Bureau of Consumer Protection sued to derail the demand charge but a judge ruled last month in favor of the PUC and NV Energy. The BCP is appealing.
Ford’s office and Consumer Advocate Ernest Figueroa did not respond to the Current’s request for comment on NV Energy’s failure to deliver on its promise to regulators.
