NV Energy offers to issue $32.6M in refunds for overcharging customers

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — NV Energy said Thursday that it’s offering to issue $32.6 million in refunds for overcharging customers.

The utility company says it filed a proposal with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) over incorrectly classifying multi-family premises as single-family dwellings.

Between 2017 and 2024, the misclassifications led to about 60,000 customers being overcharged by more than $17 million, staffers with the PUCN alleged earlier this year. The company also misapplied a rule to cap refunds for some customers at six months.

In its filing, NV Energy said it acknowledges that “significant process errors” caused more than 42,800 multifamily homes to be misidentified.

“We regret the impact this error has caused our customers,” Brandon Barkhuff, president and CEO of NV Energy, said in a statement Thursday. “It’s important that we learn from this mistake and seek continuous improvement. We are committed to ensuring our systems and processes reflect accuracy and accountability moving forward and are implementing better procedures and controls to prevent this from happening again.”

The previous CEO, Doug Cannon, resigned from his role just days after the PUCN received the allegations.

Should the PUCN approve the refund proposal, bill credits will be issued to active accounts and checks will be mailed to former customers. The payments will be retroactive to June 23, 2017, and include interest.

NV Energy will not seek reimbursement from customers who underpaid because of the error.

The utility says it will hire a third party “to independently review and assess the completeness and accuracy of the Company’s conclusions.”

NV Energy provides electricity to more than 1.4 million customers in the Silver State, according to its website. It also delivers natural gas for 187,000 customers in the Reno-Sparks area.