LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – After NV Energy announced it would no longer be supplying power to Liberty Utilities by next year, leaving Tahoe residents without a clear future with energy, the concern and uproar has only grown. Here’s a recap of where things currently stand.

Why NV Energy made an ultimatum

Since 2009, NV Energy has supplied Liberty Utilities with 75% of its power, in part due to the challenges of creating energy infrastructure that would connect Tahoe with the rest of California. However, according to a spokesperson from NV Energy, “It has been understood that Liberty Utilities would eventually secure its own transmission access and energy supply so it could serve customers independently.”

Over the decades that Liberty was using NV Energy, they made several bids regarding transmission (showing their interest in potentially seeking suppliers outside of NV Energy), while NV Energy offered extensions to their agreement. In late 2025, NV Energy agreed to extend their supply until 2027 to prevent hiccups in service.

Liberty Utilities, which provides energy to the entire Tahoe region, was told to seek a new energy supplier by the time NV Energy’s Greenlink system came online in May 2027, though NV Energy extended their timeline to 2028. The project, which spans Las Vegas to Yerington, will be accessible to Liberty Utilities and will allow them to connect to suppliers in other states like Utah and Idaho. Liberty intends to start the request for proposal process this summer.

Though Liberty is a California-based utility, local president Eric Schwarzrock said building a transmission line over the Sierras could be both expensive and inefficient, rather than using the current facilities.

Greenlink, however, comes with its own caveats for the residents of Nevada. Northern Nevada is a growing data center hotspot, and the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center will have data centers from Google, Apple and Microsoft. The complex is roughly three times the size of San Francisco. NV Energy’s 2024 Integrated Resource Plan shows major energy demands from data centers.

Data centers

A report from the Desert Research Institute (DRI) analyzing the data center projects outlined by NV Energy shows that the water and energy costs of these data centers could have a massive effect. The water needed annually to cool 12 data centers is equivalent to the water needed annually for more than 27,600 U.S. households.

NV Energy’s own estimates also show the energy demand for these 12 data centers at 5,900 megawatts. DRI states that this is about 2.8 times the capacity of Hoover Dam. Nearby South Tahoe Public Utilities District (STPUD) uses 3 megawatts per year for their services.

Northern Nevada currently houses more than 40 data centers. The Toiyabe chapter of the Sierra Club recently demanded a moratorium on data centers at Reno’s city council meeting, which passed 6-1. Councilmembers previously unanimously agreed to tighten regulations on data centers, especially around specificity in their location, community benefits agreements and requirements around energy and water impacts.

Worries in Tahoe

Since the announcement, Tahoe residents have expressed concerns about Liberty’s treatment—a long-standing complaint that has only been exacerbated by these recent developments.

Liberty Utilities has filed for several rate increases that have hurt residents’ pockets, closed a walk-in center and installed SMART meters that had several people concerned about their safety and efficacy.

Even prior to the announcement, the city council of South Lake Tahoe agreed to file a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) regarding the closure of the walk-in center.

Now, the city has looked at Pioneer Community Energy, which currently serves Placer County and El Dorado County, and will be expanding to the counties of Sutter, Colusa, Butte, Glenn, Nevada and Tuolumne. At a recent El Dorado Board of Supervisors meeting, they also agreed to create an ad hoc committee for those discussions with Pioneer.

TAHOE SPARK, a local organization run by north shore resident and supervisor on the California Energy Commission Danielle Hughes, is also raising the alarm. Alongside Molly Armanino of Tahoe Climate Change Network, the two organizations are calling for exploration of public utility options, especially because they expressed concerns on the lack of oversight from California and the high profit margins of the company.

Even STPUD board director Nick Exline expressed that Liberty’s rates felt unfair for ratepayers and STPUD. During the unveiling of the solar array that would help power STPUD’s facilities, he said, “We want to work together so Tahoe can bring forth its own energy future.”

While residents are calling for clean, renewable energy at cheaper rates, Schwarzrock says those are the same goals Liberty has. He told the Tribune that they were prioritizing both affordability and renewable options. Schwarzrock was also confident about the bid, given the unique peak season of Tahoe, which starts in winter rather than the more typical region peak in the summer.

State Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil continues to seek input on power in Tahoe, and the CPUC has not decided to open proceedings on Liberty, though they are still continuing Liberty’s previous proceedings on their general rate case filing.

Residents are still anxious about the future, especially after seeing what they consider unpredictable or excessive changes to their energy bills. Energy outages, especially in the winter, can be outright deadly in the worst conditions—so as the fate of Tahoe’s energy source remains unclear, unrest continues to build.

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Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley. Learn more at https://fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/cafellows/.