Sierra Pacific Power Company
Contact: Karl Walquist: 775-834-3891 or
Gary Aldax: 775-834-5508
Phone: please see above

For Immediate Release

Sierra Pacific Power announced today the kickoff of its new GreenPower program that allows utility customers to support renewable energy in northern Nevada by making donations in their monthly utility bills.

Funds collected through the program will be used to install photovoltaic panels (materials made from silicon that convert energy from the sun into electricity) at Traner Middle School in Reno. Students at Traner and nearby Duncan Elementary School will study how solar panels work and learn about the benefits of renewable energy.

Sierra Pacific customers can support GreenPower by enrolling online at the company's website athttp:// sierrapacific.com/comenv/env/greenpower/join/, or by completing the coupon included with their April power bill from Sierra Pacific. The amount selected as a donation will then be added to the customer's monthly bill.

Donations made through Dec. 31, 2003, will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Sierra Pacific Resources Charitable Foundation up to $10,000.

The Desert Research Institute (DRI), the non-profit research arm of the University and Community College System of Nevada, administers the GreenPower program through the DRI Research Foundation's GreenPower Committee. Sierra Pacific does not use any funds donated to GreenPower. Every dollar contributed is sent directly to the DRI Research Foundation to fund renewable energy projects.

Each month, 100 percent of customers'tax deductible donations to GreenPower will be used by the DRI to fund projects similar to the one proposed at Traner Middle School.

In cooperation with the DRI, Sierra Pacific's sister company in Las Vegas, Nevada Power, started a GreenPower program for southern Nevada in 1998. Three Las Vegas schools are already benefiting from projects that harness the energy of the sun and wind.

Anyone interested in GreenPower can learn more about the program by visiting Sierra Pacific's booth at northern Nevada's Earth Day celebration in Idlewild Park in Reno on Sunday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Or you can call your local Sierra Pacific office to request a GreenPower brochure.