LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – While Tahoe residents served by Liberty Utilities will be impacted by their search for a new energy supply, other residents may be wondering what might happen with their energy sources.

By and large, the new energy supply will not result in service interruptions, but may impact the costs of services. Advocates are also interested in more scrutiny and oversight for Liberty Utilities.

Incline Village

Incline Village receives its electricity from NV Energy, and while they won’t be experiencing interruptions, construction costs from projects like the Greenlink project are typically passed onto customers. Nevada’s Public Utility Commission permitted the utility to charge customers before construction is complete to avoid rate shock. The Greenlink project will cost an estimated $4.2 billion, and other Northern Nevada capital projects are estimated at another $3 billion.

Many of those projects are to support their pivot towards investing in data centers—another controversial stance for the energy supplier. A temporary moratorium has been placed on data centers in Reno, but these centers they’ve received inquiries from would total around 22 gigawatts of energy. Currently, NV Energy has signed on agreements for about 6 gigawatts of energy for these data centers, which, according to the Desert Research Institute, is already about 2.8 times the power capacity at Hoover Dam.

NV Energy’s Integrated Resource Plan will likely have hearings at the public utility commission in late fall.

Truckee

Truckee’s energy supply was a potential model for South Lake Tahoe, which is expected to be hit the hardest by the Liberty Utilities change in suppliers.

At least two-thirds of Truckee gets power from Truckee Donner Public Utilities District (TDPUD), which is part of a 50-member collective called the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems.

Public information and strategic affairs director Steven Poncelet told the Tribune that TDPUD purchases their power through the collective, with sources throughout Nevada, Utah, Idaho and California. None of these sources include NV Energy-owned power plants.

However, about a third of Truckee and parts of unincorporated Placer County are served by Liberty Utilities and thus would be impacted by the changes.

Tahoe City and Kings Beach

Tahoe City and Kings Beach are serviced electricity by Liberty Utilities and would be facing the same challenges that other areas served by Liberty would. While some areas are served by PG&E, they only provide natural gas services and not electricity.