The Regulatory Operations Staff ("Staff") of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada ("Commission") filed a petition seeking an advisory opinion or declaratory order regarding whether Switch, Ltd. ("Switch") is operating as a "public utility" in the state of Nevada, as that term is defined in Nevada Revised Statutes ("NRS") 704.020.

"Staff has become aware that Switch, an distribution only service customer of Nevada Power Company d/b/a NV Energy ("NV Energy") pursuant to NRS 704B, is providing what appears to be retail electric service within NV Energy's certificated service territory," Staff said

Based on discovery responses in another case concerning Southwest Gas, Staff said, "it appears to Staff that Switch is delivering electricity to its customers and charging customers for the consumption of such electricity, often at a marked-up price. In addition, it appears that Switch is also charging customers for 'cooling' of the equipment based on the amount of electricity that is used by the customer. By engaging in such actions, Staff believes that Switch is acting as a public utility in the State of Nevada, within the service territory of a certificated electric utility."

Staff alleged that a Switch "Service Level Agreement" for Southwest Gas (a Switch customer), attached as a Co-location Agreement for Southwest Gas, states that Switch offers "Power Delivery" or "Power Service Availability" and that Switch is committed to providing 100% power availability if the customer elects to deploy dual feed (A&B) power.

"The Service Orders included in the Response to Staff DR-396 contain descriptions of service that include charges to the Customer by Switch for 'Consumption-Based Power at $.09/kWh' and 'Usage-Based Cooling at $.06/kWh,'" Staff said

"Staff also was provided through discovery with the invoices supporting the contract pricing contained in the service orders, indicating the Customer was charged a $.09/kWh rate based on the amount of electricity that it consumed in the Colocation Space, and a $.06/kWh rate based on the amount of electricity that was used to cool the Colocation Space," Staff said

See Staff's petition for more details

Docket: 19-03032

Tags:
Nevada  

Comment on this story


ADVERTISEMENT
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com
TPV-SALES-EXECUTIVE -- Back Office Provider -- Other
Sr-Market-Risk-Analyst -- Wholesale Supplier/Trader -- New York - New York City Metro
Head-of-Retail-Operations -- Wholesale Supplier/Trader -- Other
Energy-Regulatory-Specialist -- Other -- Other
More Stories on RetailEnergyX.com:
Las Vegas Sun Editorial Blames 'Deregulation' For Texas Power Outages
Google Enters Agreement With NV Energy For Solar, Battery Storage
Raiders' Stadium Enters Into Electric Supply Agreement With NV Energy, Eschewing Competitive Supply
The Drew Las Vegas Withdraws Application To Take Competitive Supply
Nevada Customer's Exit From NV Energy Supply Affirmed By PUC