Media Contact: Faye I. Andersen  775-834-4822

For the third year in a row, Sierra Pacific Power Company announced that it set another record in 2005 for the number of electric and natural gas meters installed in one year.  Company employees set 11,404 new electric meters on new homes and business in 2005, a 1.5 percent increase over the previous year. 

A total of 5,765 new natural gas meters were also set during 2005, an increase of almost 2 percent over the number of gas meters set the previous year. 

Northern Nevada continues to be one of the fastest growing areas in the nation and installation of new utility meters is indicative of the number of new homes and businesses constructed in the area. 

The company said it also continues to reduce the cost per new meter installation, which is less today than it was five years ago, according to Jeff Ceccarelli, President of Sierra Pacific Power.  As an example, Ceccarelli said the company hooks up a new electric meter and service today for $1,575, which is $886 less than it cost in 2000. 

"We've also reduced the amount of time from several months to a few weeks, between the time builders apply for new meters and the actual installation,"he said.  Ceccarelli attributes the reduction in time and price to employees'excellent work practices, new technology and increased communications between builders and the company. 

Electric and natural gas meters installed on homes and businesses register the amount of a customer's energy consumption. 

Headquartered in Reno, Nevada, Sierra Pacific Power Company is the principal utility for most of northern Nevada and the Lake Tahoe area of California.  Sierra Pacific Power also distributes natural gas in the Reno-Sparks area of northern Nevada.  It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sierra Pacific Resources, which also is the holding company for Nevada Power Company, the electric utility for southern Nevada.  Other subsidiaries of Sierra Pacific Resources include the Tuscarora Gas Pipeline Company, which owns 50 percent interest in an interstate natural gas transmission partnership.