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

NV Energy is asking Lyon and Washoe County residents to be on the look out for vandals who are shooting up the power company's electric lines and equipment in remote areas between the company's Tracy Generating Station and Fernley, Nevada.

Over the past year there have been several incidents of individuals using NV Energy's power lines and equipment for target practice and causing major damage.  Most recently, vandals have damaged separate 60,000-volt and 120,000-volt lines that supply electricity to the Fernley area.  Emergency repair crews had to be called out, but were able to complete repairs and avoid a power outage.

"Vandals don't realize how dangerous their actions can be to themselves and to other individuals,"said Area Service Manager Robert Kofoed."Someone could be seriously injured or killed by these senseless acts. We take vandalism acts very seriously.  It is a matter of public safety."

Kofoed said this type of vandalism is not just inconvenient for customers when outages occur, but can also be costly to repair and take company employees away from productive work to keep the supply of electricity flowing to customers. 

He noted that when criminal acts are committed against critical infrastructure like power lines and equipment, the company works with local and federal law enforcement agencies to track down and prosecute the culprits.

Kofoed encouraged anyone who sees suspicious activity around NV Energy's electric lines or facilities to call the company's 24-hour emergency number at (775) 834-4100.  He also asks anyone seeing damaged electric equipment to immediately report it to the same emergency number.