September 16, 2025
LAS VEGAS — The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada today approved a plan by Nevada Power Company, NV Energy’s southern subsidiary, to radically restructure residential power bills. The plan, which will take effect in April 2026, will impose a mandatory demand charge on residential customers, making it more difficult for families and small businesses to understand and manage their power bills. When in effect, NV Energy will be the only investor-owned utility in the nation employing a mandatory demand charge on residential bills.
This convoluted charge will largely be a black box for most residential customers, even those who try to understand their bills and manage their energy use. NV Energy did not adequately present how the new demand charge will impact customers in its proposal.
Nevadans are already struggling to pay their electricity bills. A 2024 study from Lending Tree found that Nevada residents have the ninth highest electricity costs in the nation, with 21.4% unable to afford their bill. In addition to the other charges that customers already pay, the daily demand charge will be added to residential bills based on their highest energy use during the day, measured in 15-minute increments, regardless of the time of day — making power bills difficult to understand and manage.
Most customers do not have the tools necessary to avoid or mitigate a high daily demand charge and data from NV Energy is not available in real time. Customers will be incentivized to avoid energy spikes, like running two appliances at once, rather than shifting their energy use to cleaner times of the day, thus muddying their ability to save money and reduce emissions.
Many Nevadans are already struggling to make ends meet, let alone deciphering increasingly convoluted utility bills. A mandatory residential demand charge is a blunt instrument for designing bills, not well understood by customers, and one that will set back smart rate design and decarbonization efforts in Nevada.
Western Resource Advocates intervened in the case and Emily Walsh, Nevada clean energy policy advisor, filed testimony opposing the Nevada Power Company plan. WRA is disappointed in the approval of the proposal.
