June 1, 2000
Sierra Pacific Resources
Contact: Karl Walquist / Bob Sagan
Phone: (775) 834-3891 / (775) 834-4834

For Immediate Release

Las Vegas, Nev.Â- The Board of Directors of Sierra Pacific Resources (NYSE: SRP) meeting today in Las Vegas named Steve Rigazio president of Nevada Power Co., a subsidiary of the utility holding company. Rigazio will be responsible for operations, customer service and bottom line results for Nevada Power, which serves approximately 567,000 electric customers in Las Vegas and southern Nevada.

Michael Niggli, chairman and chief executive officer of Sierra Pacific Resources, will continue to serve as the president of the company's other utility subsidiary, Sierra Pacific Power Company.

"This is the first step toward building a corporate structure that will include three distinct operating subsidiaries, as well as a service company, which will be required following completion of our acquisition of Portland General Electric," Niggli said.

Rigazio, 45, joined Nevada Power in 1984 after serving as a financial analyst and policy advisor to the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada. He has held numerous management positions in the rates, regulatory affairs and system planning departments. In 1991, he was named vice president of planning and later named vice president of finance and planning and chief financial officer. His most recent position was as senior vice president of energy delivery.

Headquartered in Reno, Nev., Sierra Pacific Resources is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries are Nevada Power, the electric utility for southern Nevada, and Sierra Pacific Power Co., the electric utility for most of northern Nevada and the Lake Tahoe area of California, and a natural gas and water distributor in the Reno - Sparks area. Other subsidiaries include the Tuscarora Gas Pipeline Co., which owns 50 percent interest in an interstate natural gas transmission partnership and Sierra Pacific Communications, a telecommunications company.