Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford issued the following statement in response to Lombardo’s PUCN and NV Energy holding just one public hearing on the demand charge today, in the middle of the workday, and not making it accessible to Nevadans:

“To every Nevadan worried about having to come up with hundreds of extra dollars to pay Joe Lombardo’s demand charge — know that I have your back. I’m currently fighting in court to end Lombardo’s price hike. I know what it’s like to feel your heart sink as your bills soar, and I know that working Nevadans are already stressed out to the max with gas, groceries, and health care costs at an all-time high in the Lombardo-Trump economy. I’m running for Governor to stop Nevadans from feeling that stress, which has become all too familiar under Lombardo’s failed leadership.”

Background:

• Today, Joe Lombardo’s handpicked utility commissioners held their one and only public meeting on Lombardo’s demand charge price hike that will raise energy bills by hundreds of dollars a year – at 1:30pm on a Tuesday, the middle of the work day, and are refusing to live-stream it. 

• Despite Lombardo appointees attempting to keep working people in the dark about the demand charge, Nevadans showed up in full force and spoke out about how outrageous it is for Lombardo and big utility companies to force a massive energy bill increase on working families who are already struggling to get by in this cost-of-living crisis.

• The demand charge proposed by NV Energy and approved by Joe Lombardo appointees would levy an additional fee on ratepayers tied to their 15 highest minutes of energy usage per day, raising household energy bills by hundreds of dollars a year – an untenable burden on working families already struggling to make ends meet in the failing Lombardo-Trump economy.

• While Ford fights to protect Nevadans from higher energy bills and from getting ripped off by big utility companies, Joe Lombardo rakes in campaign contributions from those very companies. 

• Lombardo took in a whopping $40,000 from utility companies since the start of 2025 – over five times the median amount these utilities gave to other candidates – after Lombardo appointed pro-utility commissioners to the PUCN. Lombardo’s commissioners then voted to raise Nevadans’ energy bills by hundreds of dollars a year with their demand charge price hike.

• Ford is running for Governor of Nevada to continue fighting for working families instead of big companies like Joe Lombardo. His ‘Affordable Nevada’ energy plan details how he will work to make affordable clean energy available to Nevadans by investing in solar energy, cutting red tape to get new energy projects off the ground faster, and requiring data centers to pay for their energy usage and grid modernization.

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