In a state that averages 250 sunny days a year, we should be swimming in cheap, abundant solar electricity. Our roofs should be covered in solar panels and low energy prices should be attracting industries of the future to Nevada. Data centers and vertical farms could diversify our economy and lift our standard of living. 

But instead of embracing this bright future, we’re allowing a for-profit, state-sanctioned monopoly to dictate what energy sources make economic sense for our citizens. NV Energy — a company owned by Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational conglomerate traded on the stock market by people who do not even reside in Nevada — gets to decide the fate of the entire residential solar market in the state.

Earlier this month, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada unanimously approved NV Energy’s new “daily demand” upcharge for residential customers. This new billing approach is a disaster for the energy future of Nevada. Charging customers based on the highest amount of energy used in any 15-minute segment throughout the day — in addition to the total volume of their consumption — actively disincentivizes residential solar panel installations and the purchase of electric vehicles.

Solar panels are at their most productive during the middle of the day when the sun is at its most intense. After sunset, they cease to produce energy altogether. This means that residential solar customers without home batteries naturally begin to consume more electricity from the grid after dark. Attempting to charge these customers for their relatively high evening energy demand completely undermines the economic benefits of installing solar panels on private properties. This will likely mean that significantly fewer people will opt for private solar panels.

The daily demand charge was justified as a way to even out the electricity demand throughout the day. Ironically, it may do the opposite. As fewer people opt for solar panels on their roofs, more energy demand will fall on the utility during our brutal summer months. Residential solar customers serve to even out demand and take load off our grid by providing their own electricity during some of the hottest times of the day. 

Electric vehicle owners will also be hit hard by this new billing structure. Those who charge at home using “Level 2” equipment that consumes large amounts of energy for limited periods of time will now be billed as though that is their normal energy usage. Most EV owners do not travel enough to need to fully charge their cars every day. Their charging sessions last two to three hours a day. 

With this new NV Energy scheme, those two to three hours will cost them an enormous amount. Existing EV owners will be incentivized to avoid charging for days at a time, and then charge for a long period in a single day, leading to even more jagged demand on NV Energy. New customers will think twice before purchasing an EV, stunting growth of clean cars and continuing to pollute our air with combustion vehicles.

NV Energy, like any for-profit company, seeks to grow and make money for its investors. Except, unlike other companies in the free market, NV Energy has no competitors and enjoys a pliant public utilities commission that does not push back hard enough against its greedy proposals to suck the money out of our residents. Gov. Joe Lombardo, who appointed a longtime lobbyist to the commission, pulled Nevada out of the U.S. Climate Alliance in 2023, sending a clear signal that renewable energy is not a priority for the state. Instead of leveraging our greatest resource — free and abundant sunshine — we are allowing the greed of a for-profit, state-sanctioned monopoly to stunt our ability to embrace a solar future.

I was proud to add solar panels to my roof three years ago, both because I felt I was making a wise economic decision and because I was doing my small part to fight climate change. I was really excited when my family purchased our first EV last year. Driving a primarily solar-powered car felt like stepping into a bright and clean sci-fi future. I take great care to charge only when my solar panels are producing energy, so as few “dirty” natural gas electrons as possible from NV Energy end up in my car.

The daily demand charge from NV Energy is a direct hit to my wallet and to the vision of a clean and equitable future. In a world where consumers like me are doing our best to embrace renewable energy, a leadership board of a greedy monopoly gets to cancel out our efforts for daring to challenge their profit margins. The livelihoods of customers are crushed into gruel that feeds the growth of NV Energy stock prices. The shareholders feast while the planet burns.

Vitaliy Kubushyn is a software engineer who lives in Las Vegas with his wife, son and dog.