FINAL REMINDER: DEBATE WATCH PARTY TONIGHT
Tonight’s the night!
Donald Trump vs. the World. Or at
least nine other GOP candidates running for the Republican presidential
nomination.
I’m cutting my vacation short at the beach just to drive
back this afternoon and be there with you.
Please join me in the Grandview Lounge at Southpoint Casino
& Resort. Doors open at 5 pm.
FREE ADMISSION!
The bar will be open and you can grab
something to eat, as well.
This will likely end up being the most watched Republican
primary debate in history. Don’t miss
it!
See it with friends…regardless of
who your favorite candidate might be at this time, including (if not
especially) those who were (unfairly) excluded from the main stage.
WE DECIDE COALITION UPDATE
The group organizing the repeal referendum for the gross
receipts portion (“Commerce Tax”) of the largest tax hike in Nevada history has
run into some additional legal challenges, so they did not file this week as
expected.
I wanted to let them file theirs first and then we’d file
our own referendum to repeal the whole enchilada later. But since our effort is guaranteed to draw a
major legal objection from the Governor and his special interests buddies no
matter what, we’re just going to go ahead and move forward next Monday.
A specific PAC (political action committee) will be set up
to file the referendum. And the PAC’s
official letter of notification will include everyone’s name who signed Citizen
Outreach’s “We Decide Coalition” online petition.
If you want your name added to this historical effort to
repeal the largest tax hike in Nevada history, this is your LAST CHANCE
to go on record and add your name for posterity…just like the Founders who
signed the Declaration of Independence.
MUTH’S TRUTHS
Power Disruption is
on Nevada’s Horizon
When it comes to “disruptors” – new players in a market that
totally upend the conventional way of doing business – I’d have to say today’s
top three are Uber for what it’s done to the taxi industry, Airbnb for what it’s
done to the lodging industry…and Donald Trump for what he’s done to the GOP.
The next major disruptor could hit the power industry.
Despite the Armageddon-like kvetching by the rooftop solar
companies about the long overdue end to taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies to
their industry, I believe the end of those subsidies will actually spark a
growth spurt in rooftop solar.
As it is, as long as someone else is helping to pay for
these systems there’s no real incentive for solar companies to lower costs. Removing their training wheels will help
force this budding industry to finally stand on its own, as it should.
That said, the fact remains that one way or the other the
solar energy boom will continue to grow.
And that will mean a growing abundance of surplus energy during the day
that someone is going to find something to do with.
It would seem that if the proverbial “price is right,” the
natural purchasers would be the highly-regulated power companies, such as our
own NV Energy. Especially since it might
preclude the necessity for building new generation facilities that will only
drive up energy costs for ratepayers.
Speaking of which, greater attention needs to be focused on
the government’s “regulatory system that turns corporate accounting on its
head” by making it profitable for electric companies to “invest” in unnecessary
or inappropriate projects.
Indeed, an April 2015 Wall Street Journal column by Rebecca
Smith pointed out that with their profits capped by government regulation, some
power companies are spending ratepayers’ money on questionable projects such
“electric car charging stations” and “replacing or repairing thousands of power
poles” that might not actually need repair or replacement.
Any government regulatory system that incentivizes such
decisions cries out for disruption.
A third brewing disruption centers on attempts by big
corporations – such as Switch, Wynn Resorts and the Las Vegas Sands in Nevada –
to purchase their electricity from sources other than NV Energy. If/when such big guys are allowed to leave,
it’ll only be a matter of time before pressure comes to bear to make such
competition available to small and medium sized companies, as well.
NV Energy is trying to forecast how they’ll deal with the
coming disruption brought by new competition and these big energy users
potentially leaving their grid. Hopefully
as they review their plan with the state they can also forecast a smooth way to
keep consumers from bearing the brunt of this disruption and any costly efforts
to bridge that gap.
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