LAS VEGAS, Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Nevada Power, a subsidiary of Sierra
Pacific Resources (NYSE: SRP) announced today that the Company has joined
WestConnect.
    WestConnect is a group of southwest transmission-providing utilities, both
FERC jurisdictional and non-FERC jurisdictional, that has agreed to work
collaboratively to assess stakeholder and market needs and to investigate and
analyze cost-effective enhancements to the western wholesale electricity
market.  WestConnect is committed to coordinating its work with other regional
industry efforts to achieve as much consistency as possible in the Western
Interconnection.
    "Nevada Power's participation is a big plus for our group," said Charles
Reinhold, WestConnect project manager.  "Southern Nevada is a key part of the
electricity market in the southwest."
    "Nevada Power is pleased to be a WestConnect member and we look forward to
working with market participants to develop a more effective and robust
transmission system in the Southwest," said Carolyn Barbash, transmission
executive for Nevada Power.
    There are eleven southwest utilities that are members of WestConnect.
They include: Arizona Public Service Company, El Paso Electric Company,
Imperial Irrigation District, Nevada Power Company, Public Service Company of
Colorado, Public Service Company of New Mexico, Salt River Project, Southwest
Transmission Cooperative, Inc., Tri-State Generation & Transmission
Association, Inc., Tucson Electric Power Company and Western Area Power
Administration.

    About WestConnect:
    Building on the highly successful launch of wesTTrans, a western gridwide
Open Access Sametime Information Systems (OASIS), WestConnect continues to
find ways to improve the western wholesale electricity markets through a more
efficient transmission system.  Towards that end, WestConnect is actively
pursuing enhancements to the regional planning process within its footprint
and is, investigating other potential market improvements, including
opportunities for enhanced reserves and regulation sharing among the
WestConnect participants.  WestConnect continues to coordinate its activities
with other transmission operating entities in the West.

    About Sierra Pacific Resources:
    Headquartered in Nevada, Sierra Pacific Resources is a holding company
whose principal subsidiaries are Nevada Power Company, the electric utility
for most of southern Nevada, and Sierra Pacific Power Company, the electric
utility for most of northern Nevada and the Lake Tahoe area of California.
Sierra Pacific Power Company also distributes natural gas in the Reno-Sparks
area of northern Nevada.  Other subsidiaries include the Tuscarora Gas
Pipeline Company, which owns 50 percent interest in an interstate natural gas
transmission partnership and several unregulated energy services companies.

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