He believes new leaders at the federal agency have sent a clear message to would-be market manipulators that "they will not stand for it." "There's just too much sensitivity to the headline risk."Īlso, he said, "There won't be blackouts because, politically, FERC just won't let it happen."ĭon Soderberg, chairman of Nevada's Public Utilities Commission, is counting on healthy supplies and FERC. "It's not in anybody's stomach to do that kind of thing," he said. Generators might charge Nevada Power more, but the industry as a whole won't turn its back on Las Vegas, said Gary Ackerman, head of the Western Power Trading Forum. Unlike two years ago, there is more electricity available in the West, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has capped prices throughout the region. There are reasons for optimism statewide, many say. No matter what happens in Las Vegas, the crisis is unlikely to touch Reno and Lake Tahoe, which are served by Sierra Pacific Power, Nevada Power's sister company.Įven though both have the same corporate parent, their grids are not closely linked, and the north state utility has higher rates, more supplies of its own and fewer regulatory issues. "I would hope there are no blackouts, but if things stay exactly as they are today, I would not be surprised if there are some," Boss said. Nevadans don't yet realize the potential seriousness of the problem, said Steve Boss, president of the Nevada Energy Buyers Network, a group trying to help big consumers quickly make their own power deals.
BLACK OUT LAS VEGAS HOW TO
They believe ways can be found to keep power on - but just in case, they have begun talking with emergency officials about how to alert the public if the casino capital is about to go dark. State officials, energy generators and Nevada Power all say blackouts are highly unlikely. NERC's track record on energy forecasts is not the best - last year it predicted California would face 15 hours of blackouts a week, all summer. and southern Nevada being willing to pay the price," Gallagher said. "It becomes an issue of others being willing to sell. There should be plenty of power to sell to Nevada, and lots of room on transmission lines to ship electricity there, but that might not be enough to avert blackouts, he said. is about 25 percent short, and it is unusually late for a utility to be so far shy of serving its peak summer needs. The worry in southern Nevada, said Tim Gallagher, NERC's manager of technical services, is that it has not lined up enough power in advance to serve its customers. California should have no problems, it said.
The industry group, which sets standards for running the nation's interconnected electric systems, has earmarked southern Nevada and southwestern Connecticut as two potential trouble spots this year. Whether the lights stay on in perpetually lit Las Vegas will depend on economics, the North American Electric Reliability Council indicated Wednesday in its nationwide summer forecast. When the same things unfolded in California, generators balked at selling electricity or steeply raised prices and blamed it on "credit risk." The worsening spiral was part of what triggered rolling blackouts in January 2001 and forced the state to step in to buy electricity. It has just told many suppliers it will no longer pay them in full. Just the way California's crisis began building nearly two years ago, a cash-strapped utility is in a standoff with state regulators who won't let it charge as much as it wants. Las Vegas - Rolling blackouts could strike Las Vegas this summer, national grid experts predicted Wednesday, in what could be an uncanny replay of California in 2000.
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