Most customers, whether a business or an individual, have no choice but to purchase electricity from NV Energy, a regulated monopoly. It’s a model that is not in any way unique to Nevada. It’s the way most places ensure electricity is delivered in a reliable and safe way.

Because of the massive amount of costly infrastructure needed to generate and transmit energy reliably, the utility is given an exclusive right to operate within a specific service territory, but only under the strict oversight of state regulators who ensure that customers are paying a fair price.

Yet in Nevada, there’s one major exception, and it’s for large, industrial customers.