Pop/Rock icon Neil Diamond continues to be one of the most popular, successful singer/songwriters in the history of popular music. On April 7, Diamond will embark on a worldwide tour beginning in Fresno, CA. However, If you want to get technical, it was really last year that marked the 50th anniversary of Diamond entering the pop charts with his first four hits in 1966: 1) Solitary Man, 2) Cherry Cherry, 3) I’ve Got the[…]
Nevada and many other states were well on the way to breaking up the electricity monopolies 15 years ago until the Enron market manipulation debacle that led to blackouts and price spikes scared lawmakers off. A free market was not the problem, it was criminal collusion and fraud. Now, Nevadans have another chance to let free markets set the price of electricity instead of monopoly power companies and public utility regulators. Question 3 on the statewide November ballot, if passed, would[…]
I never could figure out why, when NV Energy jacked up the rates charged to residential solar panel owners because they were somehow being subsidized by non-panel owners, the rates for non-panel owners were not concomitantly reduced and yet the move was somehow going to be revenue neutral. Two reports out this week say NV Energy’s subsidy contention is bogus, and, in fact, solar panel owners are providing a net benefit to power customers in general. A report from The Brookings[…]
The Nevada Public Utilities Commission has decided to screw over the suckers who were enticed by the state to install solar panels on their rooftops — at considerable expense — over 12 years instead of four, jacking up connection fees and lowering credits for uploaded power every three years until 2028, instead of every year until 2020. The decision dismisses calls to grandfather rates for current owners of rooftop panels who purchased them under the presumption that state policy was to[…]
Sometimes the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Two years ago the Governor’s Office of Economic Development doled out $1.2 million to entice rooftop solar panel installer SolarCity to open an office in Nevada and create jobs. This past week the governor-appointed Public Utilities Commission became the Governor’s Office of Economic Dismemberment, issuing rules that make SolarCity’s business model no longer viable in Nevada. The next day the company announced it is shutting down most operations and[…]
By Victor Joecks Nevada Policy Research Institute Since the Legislative Session ended, there’s been a lot of attention paid to lawmakers who supported the largest tax increase in Nevada history. Taxpayers are rightfully outraged at politicians who promised to “keep taxes low,” but then passed the largest tax increase in state history, including a modified version of the defeated margin tax. Unfortunately, tax hikes are not the only way legislators raise costs for everyday Nevadans. Although it takes years to[…]
By Parker Philpot Las Vegas can boast of having the brightest array of neon lights to be found anywhere, but the biggest, brightest news on the Strip involves the sun and the world’s largest array of convention center rooftop solar panels now in place atop the MGM Resort International’s Mandalay Bay. In a highly anticipated, economical move that moves the city forward — technologically speaking, regarding solar energy — MGM Resorts International and Mandalay Bay executives recently stood together at the media[…]
