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

For Immediate Release

Sierra Pacific Power has awarded more than $75,000 in grants to 16 nonprofit organizations in northern Nevada to fund weatherization and energy-efficient retrofit projects at the agencies'facilities.

Representatives from the agencies received the grant checks on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 at 10:30 a.m. at the Girl Scouts of the Sierra Nevada headquarters, 605 Washington Street, Reno. Jeff Ceccarelli, president, Sierra Pacific Power Company, and Bob Balzar, director of energy efficiency and conservation, presented the awards.

The grants will fund projects like installation of windows, appliances and heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment, insulation and replacement of inefficient lighting fixtures. By reducing their energy costs, these organizations are able to devote more of their financial resources to their mission, their clients and their community.

"This program is just one of a series of programs we've developed at Sierra Pacific and at our sister company, Nevada Power, to help our customers better manage their utility costs and at the same time, help our company to decrease the total amount of energy we need to purchase on the market or produce in our own power plants,"said Balzar.

As a result of the improvements funded by this program, it is estimated that the 16 organizations receiving funding will save nearly $45,000 a year in electricity costs, collectively.

Agencies receiving grants include:

• Nevada Area Council - Boy Scouts of America -- Reno; $3,700
• Douglas County Historical Society -- Gardnerville; $5,600
• Fourth Ward School Foundation -- Virginia City; $5,000
• Friends in Service Helping -- Carson City; $2,800
• Friends of Midas -- Midas; $2,600
• Girl Scouts of the Sierra Nevada -- Reno $5,900; Elko $3,700
• Jam-On-It Basketball Academy -- Sparks; $3,000
• Northeastern Nevada Museum -- Elko; $3,130
• Northern Nevada Center for Independent Living -- Sparks; $5,000
• Parasol Community Foundation -- Incline Village; $3,000
• Planned Parenthood Mar Monte -- Reno; $4,000
• Ridge House -- Reno; $5,000
• Step 2 -- Reno; $3,320
• Temple Sinai -- Reno; $4,900
• United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra -- Reno; $7,500
• Western Folklife Center -- Elko; $7,000