In one of the first volleys of what promises to be a bitter and expensive campaign, a group opposing a ballot measure to open up Nevada’s electricity markets to competition sent out a rate comparison chart and argued Nevada’s rates are lower than any other states that have deregulated their utilities.

A table sent out by the Coalition to Defeat Question 3 shows Nevada’s electricity costs average 8.38 cents per kilowatt hour, lower than the U.S. average of 10.27 and below that of states such as Pennsylvania and Texas that have deregulated their markets. The data is sourced to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“Question 3 would force Nevada to dismantle its existing regulated electricity system — one of the most reliable and affordable in the nation — and replace it with a new, unknown system established primarily by the Legislature and the courts,” the group said in a release. “Question 3 would cost Nevada consumers and taxpayers billions.”

The release is one of the first strikes from the group, which is backed by NV Energy and has vowed to spend up to $30 million defeating the Energy Choice Initiative on the ballot. NV Energy had been neutral when the proposed constitutional amendment was up for the first of two votes in 2016, and it passed with an overwhelming 72 percent of the vote.

Rob Roy, CEO of the data center company Switch that’s the main backer of Question 3, has portrayed NV Energy as intransigent in the face of a changing energy landscape and accuses the utility of going on a “fear branding” campaign about the initiative. He believes the ballot measure will usher in lower electricity costs than NV Energy, as a state-regulated monopoly, offers consumers.

“It is virtually impossible for a new thoughtfully re-regulated system to cost the people of Nevada more for energy services than the monopoly has been extracting for years,” Roy told The Nevada Independent in an interview last week. “It’s impossible that we would ever do anything so bad that it matches what’s there today. People should be afraid of the status quo. It’s really expensive and it’s much more expensive than we realize.”

2/2/18 at 12:38 p.m. — This story was updated to correct a typo in Rob Roy's name.