Weather events not only cost Clark Public Utilities ratepayers $30 million in January, but caused the utility to lose $20 million in 2023 and $11 million in 2022 — due to the heat waves. Our weather is running 10 degrees over normal already. It’s reasonable to expect the same thing this summer. Less snowpack and higher average temperatures mean we can’t just rely on hydropower.
It’s not just the weather but the utility’s decision to depend on the market when we see extraordinary events. We need to develop other generation sources now. An aggressive, perpetual community solar effort — with generation on the east side of the mountains — is an important solution. Rather than buy this resource through bonds and financing, adding to the cost, empowering Clark Public Utilities customers to finance it means they’ll get all the benefits, and we’ll have the generation we need at a cost we can afford.
Clark Public Utilities has proposals to make this happen, but to date seems uninterested in pursuing. It’s time for their membership — customers — to tell them to act on those proposals and field a strategy to meet our future successfully. Depending on the market is not a strategy for success.
