Living in Las Vegas

In the middle of the worst recession in my lifetime, NV Energy feels entitled to ask to raise residential power rates a whopping 16.7%!  About 100 residents attended the public hearing today at the Las Vegas Convention Center to ask NV Energy how they could raise power rates during this time of economic hardship.

Some people angrily pointed out the high salaries of NV Energy executives.  Others suggested NV Energy work to reduce its debt or delay the coal-fired power plant in Ely  NV Energy executives said they are aware the timing is bad, but the improvements will eventually be good for consumers and that they have no choice in asking for the  increase right now.

CEO, Michael Yackira, said he does not expect NV Energy to get the full increase it is asking for but that they will get something in between what their request is and what the Public Utilities Commission recommends.

There are three more hearings scheduled to be held at the offices of Public Utilities Commission until the final decision is made in May.  Fortunately it looks like we will at least get a break for the summer and the rate increase will not take place until September.  It’s just so frustrating when I have been working so hard to lower our other bills that now this power bill rate increase is probably going to cancel out that savings!

Here is a rare picture of The Strip with most of the lights off.  I didn’t actually get a chance to go down there myself but it would have been fun to go just for GP.  I bet it was crazy if you were flying in and everything was all dark! 

Anyway, Earth Hour was created by the World Wildlife Fund with the intention to raise awareness about climate change.  Las Vegas was a Flagship City for Earth Hour and one of about 2,5oo cities around the world that dimmed it’s lights on March 28, 2009 at 8:30 p.m. to show its support.  Lights stayed on at City Center and of course headlights and some hotel rooms remained on, but other than that it was dark on The Strip.

The casinos on the Las Vegas Strip do not turn their lights down too often, but there have been a few occasions. In 1992 the lights were dimmed during the filming of “Honey I Blew Up the Kids”.  In 2004 for the death of president Ronald Regan . Also, for the deaths of Elvis and the members of The Rat Pack the lights were dimmed.

Check out Earth Hour Las Vegas for more info about Las Vegas’ participation and what you can do to help.

Some days it is seriously just too hot to do anything.  It’s been above 100 for weeks now.  There was a little rain last week.  But rain out here barely counts.  Even if the day starts cloudy you can never tell for sure if it will rain or not.  When it storms it lasts for maybe a half hour in the afternoon and then it’s right back to sunny and hot.  What a tease!

So it ended up being movie marathon day at my house and the kids watched four movies. I took a nap in the afternoon.  It was too hot to open the blinds, too hot to open the door and definitely too hot to go anywhere.  Ironically enough, it’s even too hot to go swimming.  The concrete is scorching, the kids get burned and the water is usually lukewarm.

Ok, so I know I am complaining, but the 10 day forecast shows only one day under 100!

Fortunately, Nevada Power has some great tips to help save on your power bill.  Most of the suggestions seem pretty simple to do.  You can get rebates for buying energy efficient appliances.  I have also heard you can have someone from Nevada Power come to your house and help you figure out ways to conserve energy.  They even have a whole website for kids called Energy Efficiency World.  Very cute!

I did learn something surprising to me.  According to the National Weather Service, heat kills more people every year than any other type of weather, including hurricanes and tornadoes.  So, hey, all the more reason to stay inside and enjoy a few more lazy summer days, don’t want to take any chances.