Sierra Pacific Power Company
Contact: Gary Aldax
Phone: (775) 834-5508

For Immediate Release

Sierra Pacific Power is closing its Lovelock office to walk- in customers on Monday, October 27. However, the personnel responsible for making emergency repairs to electrical equipment in the Lovelock region will remain in the area.

Customer service for Lovelock residents should not be adversely affected by the move, since customers will still be able to start, stop, transfer service, make payment arrangements and discuss billing issues by telephone. Customers can still pay their electric bills locally at Check Traders, 1110 Cornell Ave., Lovelock, or they can take advantage of the company'snew online billing service, which is available to customers who live in Nevada.

An electric troubleman will continue to be based in Lovelock and will be responsible for responding to local service calls and problems.

Recent personnel changes in the office offered an opportunity for the company to evaluate the cost effectiveness of maintaining the office. As telephone and Internet options for customers have increased, walk-in volume at the Lovelock office has traditionally been extremely low.

This measure will allow the company to reduce operating costs with very little change in customer service, explained Gretchen Djukanovich, manager of the company's Customer Contact Department. In addition, local builders currently go to the Fallon or Winnemucca offices for assistance with planning for new electrical facilities.

Sierra Pacific's low-income energy assistance program, SAFE, will now be administered by the Pershing County Clerk Treasurer's office.

For customer service questions or to report an outage, customers currently served by the Lovelock office, should call 1-800-962-0408, starting October 27.