Another Natural Gas Rate Hike In Nevada! Enough! | Esther S - NewsBreak Original

Another Natural Gas Rate Hike In Nevada! Enough! | Esther S | NewsBreak Original

It is being reported that starting in April, Nevadans can expect yet another rise in home heating/natural gas prices …. this will be almost a 20% increase! We are now told that this is is the third consecutive time that these rates hikes have been implemented. Isn't it supposed to be "three strikes and you're out"?

Okay, granted that Southwest Gas can use the additional revenue (projected to be an added $143 million from the state as a whole), but all at one time? When looking back at what my household paid during this same period in 2022, we’ve already absorbed a sizable increase.

How much more are we willing to pay for natural gas for our homes? Maybe we should consider ourselves "fortunate". We live in a condo building. It is said that multi-family residences will see an increase, on average, of 1.7 percent less than single family homes. Woohoo! We've hit the jackpot.

Seriously though, the gas company wants us to think that it is only affecting our bill by "a couple of dollars" or "a few dollars" per month ... per household. Well, if that were true and that's all it was, then I suppose we could justify it. But they don't just raise the rates annually. As mentioned above, this will now be the fourth consecutive raise in the last twelve months, and no end in sight.

And lucky us, our electric company, NV Energy, is also announcing upcoming rate hikes. So I guess if we want to cook our food, heat our water, warm ourselves in winter and cool ourselves in the heat of summer, we just pay it. Is there another choice?

Well, we live in Southern Nevada where there is probably more annual sunshine than almost anywhere else in the nation. Yes, there are solar plants in the deserts around Las Vegas. But unless we choose to continue being manipulated by the gas and electric utility companies, we need to move forward on additional alternative forms of energy, and lots more of it. And it needs to be sooner rather than later.