Nevada signs energy-saving contract
NEVADA - Nevada has contracted with a Dallas-based firm that finds ways to cut utility bills and save its clients millions of dollars — for an average 30 percent cut of the savings.
Members of the state Board of Examiners, chaired by Gov. Jim Gibbons, voted to sign a contract for up to $10 million with LPB Energy Consulting, headed by Matthew Berke. The contract runs through August 2012.
State Treasurer Kate Marshall presented the plan to the board, saying there are no up-front costs or long-term liabilities for the state. LPB's fee is based on actual energy cost savings — and without savings there is no fee.
Berke said LPB has similar contracts in several states, including Texas, Massachusetts, Utah, Mississippi and Maine. In Nevada, all state agencies plus the university and court systems, Legislative Counsel Bureau and political subdivisions can try the LPB service.
LPB centralizes data on utility bills and generates reports that pinpoint ways of cutting energy costs. Berke said the state could wind up saving several million dollars on utility costs over the term of the contract.
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B.C. Hydro misled regulator: report
VICTORIA - B.C. Hydro misled the province’s independent regulator about an expensive technology program, thereby avoiding scrutiny on how it spent millions of dollars in public money, according to a report by the B.C. Utilities Commission.
The Crown power corporation gave inaccurate testimony to regulators about the software it had chosen, called SAP, for an information technology project that has cost $197 million, said the report.
“The way the SAP decision was made prevented its appropriate scrutiny by B.C. Hydro’s board of directors and the BCUC,” the commission found.
“B.C. Hydro’s CEO and CFO and its (audit and risk management board committee) members…
