LAS VEGAS, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Walter M. Higgins, chairman
and CEO of Sierra Pacific Resources (NYSE: SRP), today announced that Michael
W. Yackira has been named executive vice president and chief financial
officer, effective immediately.
    Yackira, 52, has been executive vice president, strategy and policy, since
joining Sierra Pacific Resources in January 2003.
    "During the year he has been with us, Michael has demonstrated a range and
depth of management and financial experience that makes him the ideal person
to assume the CFO position of our company," Higgins said.  "Michael has an
extensive financial background in our industry, having formerly served as CFO
of FPL Group, one of the largest electric utility holding companies in the
United States."
    Among a number of management positions Yackira held during his 11 years
with FPL Group, he also was senior vice president, finance and CFO of Florida
Power & Light Co.
    Yackira, who is headquartered in Las Vegas, will continue to report to
Higgins, who had temporarily assumed the company's CFO responsibilities when
the former CFO, Richard Atkinson, resigned earlier this month to accept a
position with a non-utility company in Oregon.
    In addition to his CFO responsibilities, Yackira will continue to oversee
the company's regulatory affairs.  Yackira holds a BS degree in accounting
from the City University of New York's Lehman College and is a Certified
Public Accountant.  In addition to his electric utility industry experience,
he has held senior financial positions in other industries, including CFO of
Mars, Inc., vice president of finance of St. Joe Petroleum, Inc., and a number
of executive and officer positions with subsidiaries of GTE Corporation.

    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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