State energy regulators in Nevada say Attorney General Adam Laxalt’s office went around them and ignored state law by sending a letter to a federal entity asking for cuts in electric rates after passage of a Republican-led tax overhaul bill.

In a statement to The Nevada Independent on Tuesday, Nevada Public Utilities Chairman Joe Reynolds said that the letter sent by Laxalt and state Consumer Advocate Ernest Figueroa asking federal energy regulators to cut electric rates ignored proper protocols laid out in state law.

Reynolds said that state law entrusts the PUC with “clear leadership authority” in any state communication with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

“Politics should be kept out of the ratemaking process at both the state and federal levels, and the PUCN maintains its own legal counsel separate from the Office of the Nevada Attorney General to ensure its regulatory independence,” Reynolds said in a statement. “The Office of the Nevada Attorney General did not advise, consult, or notify the PUCN before it engaged with FERC on this ratemaking issue at the federal level.”

Nevada law grants the PUC the authority to “bring an action, file a petition, or intervene” in FERC cases or in any court case or matter that “affects the development, transmission, use or cost of energy in Nevada.”

Reynolds said the commission was “ahead of the curve” in planning for the tax bill’s effects on electric rates, pointing to creation of a unique earning sharings mechanism that requires NV Energy to split any profits above a 9.7 percent rate of return 50/50 with electric customers. Several groups, including NV Energy, filed letters or notices with the commission this week asking them to take another look at assessing the full value of the tax bill, which cut corporate tax rates from 35 to 21 percent.

Typically, investor-owned utilities (such as NV Energy) are given an approved rate of return by state regulators, which allows them to recoup their costs while still making a profit to return to shareholders. Several utilities in other states, including Massachusetts, Illinois, Oregon and Washington D.C., have announced plans to lower rates following approval of the tax bill.

In a statement, Laxalt spokeswoman Monica Moazez said the attorney general signed on to the “bipartisan coalition” that signed the letter to help urge regulators to adjust rates in order to pass savings from the tax cuts onto ratepayers. Consumer advocates or representatives from various left-leaning states, including Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and California all signed onto the letter.

"Our office will continue to fight to ensure that Nevadans keep money in their pockets through lowered utility bills,” she said in an email. “The Attorney General's Office welcomes others who wish to join Attorney General Laxalt in this effort."

In a press release last week, Laxalt — who is running for governor in 2018 — announced that he and the state’s Bureau of Consumer Protection had signed on to a multi-state letter urging FERC to adjust and lower the revenue requirements for public utilities given the corporate tax cuts approved by Republicans in Congress in December.

The letter urges FERC to determine a “procedural mechanism” about utility overcollection and possibly call for voluntary reductions in rates, so that ratepayers receive the benefits of the tax legislation now as opposed to a few years down the line.

“Doing so would ensure that customers promptly receive the full economic benefit of the tax reduction,” the letter stated.

Laxalt was the only attorney general to actually sign the letter— though 18 other states signed on, most of the signers were representatives from consumer advocates or deputy attorneys general, not the state attorney general themselves.

Figueroa, who sent a separate letter to the PUC on Tuesday requesting creation of an investigatory docket to study the effects of the tax bill on all investor-owned public utilities (not just electricity), said he hadn’t heard any complaints from the commission on the letter when reached Tuesday. State law grants the state Consumer’s Advocate a broad ability to intervene in electric rate cases on any cases before the PUC or other boards that involve “the public interest or the interests of any particular class of utility customers.”

He said that state agencies typically try to work together on issues, but that the impact of the tax bill on ratepayers and utilities would continue to take up much of his time.

“It’s an issue that’s not going away,” he said.