Sierra Pacific shareholders vote to change parent company name to NV Energy Inc.
Shareholders of Sierra Pacific Resources, the holding company for the utilities formerly known as Nevada Power Co. and Sierra Pacific Power Co., voted on Wednesday to change the parent company name to NV Energy Inc.
The utility company earlier changed its subsidiaries' names to NV Energy.
About 40 shareholders, along with company employees, gathered at the Nevada Power Co. office at 6226 W. Sahara Ave. for a special meeting.
About 88 percent of the company's shares voted for the name change. The shares will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange today with the symbol NVE.
The company now called NV Energy was created through the merger of Sierra Pacific Resources of Reno and Nevada Power Co. of Las Vegas in 1999. Reno has remained the official headquarters of the utility holding company, but most of the executives now work out of the office in Las Vegas.
Sierra Pacific Power Co. traces its history back to 1899 when the Farad Hydroelectric Plant was built by the Truckee River. It was the first generating plant on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Mining companies bankrolled the project so they could pump water out of the Virginia City silver mines.
The Virginia City power system was Nevada's first and one of a handful designed by Thomas Edison.
Nevada Power Co. started producing power in Las Vegas in 1906 when the city was a small town at the end of a railway line.
At the shareholder meeting Wednesday, NV Energy Chief Executive Officer Michael Yackira announced that the company renamed the 598-megawatt Bighorn Generating Facility at Primm for Walt Higgins, former chairman and CEO.
Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.
