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

For Immediate Release

Effective Monday, January 19, Sierra Pacific Power Company's Tonopah office will be open for walk-in customers from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays only. However, customers may still contact Sierra Pacific anytime by calling (800) 962-0396.

Customers can also still start, stop, transfer service, make payment arrangements and discuss billing issues by telephone from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Customers can still pay their electric bills locally at Scolari's Food& Drug, 95 Air Force Road in Tonopah, or they can take advantage of the company's new online billing service, which is available to all customers in Nevada. For details about online billing, visit the company's web site at www.sierrapacific.com.

As telephone and internet options for customers have increased, walk-in volume in many of Sierra Pacific's district offices - including Tonopah - 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. There are no workforce reductions planned as part of this cost-saving measure.