There was probably a day when Warren Buffet was a good and honorable man. That day is long gone. via Cooler Heads Digest: "Nevada Fuel Switching Law Is Great for Warren Buffett, Terrible for Ratepayers On Monday night, the Nevada Assembly voted 53-10 to approve SB 123, legislation requiring fuel switching of 800 megawatts of electricity generation from coal to natural gas and renewables. The bill had passed the Senate in late May. SB 123 enjoyed bipartisan support from state-wide politicians including Republican Governor Brian Sandoval and Democratic U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The legislation also was strongly supported by NV Energy, the State’s largest utility. Indeed, NV Energy stands to make a huge windfall. As noted by a recent Nevada Policy Research Institute study, SB 123 contains ultra-generous rate-recovery provisions for the utility. It is no coincidence that famed investor Warren Buffett unexpectedly bought NV Energy for almost $5 billion last month. Thanks to SB 123, the utility has locked in big profits. Nevada ratepayers will be the biggest losers. The coal-fired power plants that will be shuttered prematurely due to SB 123 had already been paid for. In order to replace them, new capital intensive gas power plants and wind turbines will have to be built. Fuel costs will increase precipitously. From 2008-2012, NV Energy’s natural gas fuel cost 230% more than coal fuel on a $/mmBTU basis, according to the utility’s most recent 10k filing before the Securities and Exchange Commission."
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 14:36:32 +0000
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