NV Energy outlines wildfire-prevention measures, PSOM public-notification gaps raised

NV Energy representatives told the Douglas County Board of Commissioners on June 26 that the utility is expanding wildfire-prevention and detection work in Douglas County, including selective undergrounding, pole replacement or wrapping, increased vegetation management, expanded camera-based detection and changes to distribution circuit settings during “fire season” to reduce ignition risk.

The presentation, led by Tim Hill, senior emergency management administrator, and Zaina Randall, Nevada Energy vice president of electric delivery, reviewed the utility’s Natural Disaster Protection Plan required by Senate Bill 329 (2019) and described how the company decides to preemptively de-energize lines during elevated wildfire risk. “When we see that the risk is too high to deliver energy safely, we'll turn the power off in that area until those conditions improve,” Randall said.

The discussion matters because preemptive outages can reduce wildfire ignitions tied to overhead equipment, but they also increase outage frequency and duration for customers. Commissioners and residents pressed NV Energy for clearer advance notice and better outreach to people who depend on electricity for life-supporting medical equipment.

NV Energy described three broad lines of work: prevention (hardening lines and selective undergrounding), detection (networked wildfire cameras with AI monitoring plus meteorologists and wildfire officers), and protection (fire-season relay settings, the Public Safety Outage Management or PSOM program, and emergency de-energization near active fires).

On hardening, NV Energy said it has completed several line rebuilds in Douglas County in 2024 — a 3.5-mile rebuild near Genoa, a 4-mile rebuild near Kingsbury and three miles of copper-wire removal — and plans more work this summer including undergrounding segments on Clear Creek and Jacks Valley/Big Sky Trail. The company said it tests pole wraps and has field-demonstrated materials before larger rollouts.

On detection, the utility reported new wildfire cameras in Minden and 24/7 AI monitoring to detect smoke or heat signatures. NV Energy also described an in-house team that includes two meteorologists and wildfire-management officers dedicated to monitoring conditions.

On protection, company staff described three operational tools: - Fire-season settings (relay and reclosing settings that make circuits trip and remain open more quickly to minimize arc energy), - PSOM (pre-identified de-energization zones, or PDZs, where the company will issue a PSOM watch/warning and de-energize for forecasted dangerous conditions), and - Emergency de-energization (isolation of infrastructure near an active, uncontrolled wildfire).

“Because of our system settings and our proactive outages, and because of our emergency de-energizations, we're going to have more power outages,” Tim Hill said. “But we're keeping the community safer by doing so.”

Commissioners and residents asked how and when customers are notified. NV Energy said it pushes notices through customer MyAccount preferences (automated calls, texts or email) and shares PIO messages with Douglas County emergency management to amplify messages on local channels. The company described a sequence: internal monitoring one week out, a PSOM watch 48–72 hours out, and a PSOM warning about 24 hours before de-energization when the forecast is stable. NV Energy acknowledged forecasts sometimes change quickly and said it will provide updates as soon as concerns are identified.

Several commissioners urged NV Energy to expand community outreach to explain how residents can register for direct alerts and prepare for outages. Commissioner Dan Gardner and others described local residents who rely on medical equipment and asked NV Energy to enroll them in the utility’s Green Cross customer program, which allows customers who self‑identify with medical equipment needs to receive personal phone calls rather than automated messages.

On recent outages, NV Energy said outages stemmed from multiple causes: PSOM activations during high‑risk weather, emergency de-energization for fires such as the recent Connor fire, and equipment failures — including several large outages caused by birds at the Buckeye substation earlier in the year. NV Energy said it has removed nests, added deterrents and ordered a laser bird‑deterrent system for the Buckeye substation while designing a long‑term substation rebuild at the Buckeye site, expected in service in 2029.

Commissioners pressed the utility on undergrounding criteria. NV Energy said priority for undergrounding is high‑fire‑risk locations and feasibility/cost; granite, permitting and environmental issues in the Tahoe Basin can make undergrounding expensive or impractical. The company also said it uses covered conductor and other alternatives where full undergrounding is not feasible.

Commissioner questions also touched on whether outages in some neighborhoods are PSOM‑related, whether new development is creating capacity shortfalls (NV Energy said the outages were not caused by new construction and that capacity to serve new projects remains available, albeit sometimes requiring additional infrastructure), what the utility is doing to improve reliability beyond fire mitigation (new substations, transformers and circuits), and whether electric-vehicle charging will stress local distribution (NV Energy said it monitors loads and is planning transmission and generation projects to accommodate growth).

Residents requested programs to help pay for home backup power and raised net-metering and battery‑incentive questions. NV Energy said it will pass the net‑metering question to its specialized group for further consideration.

Why this matters: Nevada utilities are increasingly using preemptive outages to reduce wildfire risk; the trade‑off is reduced short‑term reliability for greater public safety. Douglas County officials pressed NV Energy to expand outreach and clarified that Green Cross lists within the county and county health districts had not previously aligned, a gap the utility said it is working to close.

What’s next: NV Energy said it will continue community presentations and coordination with county emergency management; commissioners asked county staff and the utility to expand public outreach about signing up for alerts and preparing medically vulnerable residents for outages.

Speakers quoted in this story are employees of NV Energy and elected commissioners and are recorded in the meeting transcript. NV Energy representatives at the meeting included Chloe Chisholm, Tim Hill and Zaina (Zana) Randall. Commissioners participating included Charla Hales (chair), Dan Gardner, Robert Tarkanian, David Tolbert and Wes Rice.

Ending note: The utility presentation underscored the practical trade‑offs local officials face between reliability and safety during increasingly severe fire seasons, and the meeting closed with commissioners urging faster, clearer notification and more community outreach about preparation and registration for medically vulnerable customers.