Warren Buffett buys NV Energy days before a rate hike for customers announced
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway will acquire NV Energy – the company that keeps the lights on in much of Nevada.
The sale was announced last week and is expected to close during the first quarter of next year.
Buffett, the CEO of MidAmerican’s parent Berkshire Hathaway, will pay stockholders $23.75 a share if the deal is approved, a price they haven’t seen since 1999. Buffett needs approval from shareholders and state and federal officials to complete the deal.
Tuesday RGI reports that NV Energy’s residential power and natural gas customers would see rate increases starting in January under the utility’s three-year general rate case filed Monday with the state Public Utilities Commission.
The increases, which include a profit and must be approved by regulators, would add $1.48 per month to the average single-family residence power bill across Northern Nevada and $3.96 to the typical monthly bill for natural gas customers in Reno-Sparks. Commercial customers in Northern Nevada would see an average 2.81 percent decline in electricity rates under the filing.
In a press release this weekend, Buffett conveyed excitement over the deal: “This is a great fit for Berkshire Hathaway, and we are pleased to make a long-term investment in Nevada’s economy. Through MidAmerican, we have found in NV Energy a great company with similar values, outstanding assets, and a superb management team.”
Not everyone was thrilled with the news when it broke. Investors buy companies to make money, not necessarily to benefit customers, writes J. Patrick Coolican. a Las Vegas Sun columnist.
“When it comes to their revenues, it’s a pretty simple equation: More money for them means less money for us, the ratepayers,” Mr. Coolican wrote. “And that’s not just you and me in our homes and apartments. It’s also businesses that have less money to hire people because they pay more for electricity.”
Does that mean a better chance for energy deregulation for Nevada as a whole
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How do you get a headline and photo caption that rates will “double” when the article text says $1.48 per month on a typical residential power bill?? Are you suggesting that a typical residence in northern Nevada currently pays $1.48 per month in electricity charges? Otherwise your headline writer or your math teacher needs to take a second look.