Even before final court and federal regulatory actions finalize last month’s El Paso Corp. natural gas settlement with four western states and various local government, utility and citizen class action attorneys, Nevada’s state consumer advocate told local news media he thinks Nevada Power Co. retail customers should gets checks for about $23 apiece for their share of the eventual settlement pay-out by the Houston-based energy firm.

Tim Hay, the state’s consumer guru in a unit of the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in the wake of the June 26 El Paso settlement completion that he wants to see the up to $48.2 million estimated to being paid to Nevada — including $16.2 million that will be paid up front in cash — distributed equally to all of Nevada Power’s customers regardless of their past energy use. He wants residential and low-income customers to get more than big businesses that declined to participate in the legal actions against El Paso.

Complicating matters is the fact that after the El Paso settlement was first announced last March, Nevada Power unilaterally filed a lawsuit against the energy supplier. Hay has not said how that legal action might affect the pending settlement cash distribution.

As part of the $1.65 billion settlement, which is primarily aimed at California, the recipient of about $1.45 billion in the deal, El Paso did not acknowledge any wrongdoing, and its spokespeople have said the final agreement awaits further court and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approvals, which are expected early next year.

In addition to the California and Nevada ($48 million) payments, El Paso would pay $23 million to the state of Washington, and $17 million to Oregon, all of which were part of the master settlement agreement signed last month.

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