Energy Prices Threaten Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- With its mammoth, beckoning signs and marquees, the hotels and casinos along the Las Vegas Strip are ground zero for eye-blasting, mind-dazzling displays of light.

All that glitter is coming at an increasingly high price as energy costs throughout the West threaten to short-circuit the state's top industry.

The amount of electricity used by a mega-resort with 3,000 rooms would power 9,000 three-bedroom homes, said Lauran Watson, an executive for Las Vegas-based Nevada Power Co. At peak demand, one of those resorts uses more megawatts than a large hospital.

MGM Mirage, the largest owner of hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, has budgeted $39 million for power costs this year compared with last year's $33 million, an 18 percent increase, said Bobby Baldwin, president of the company's Mirage division. And even that might not be enough, he says.

Glenn Schaeffer, Mandalay Resort Group president, predicts his company could see its electricity and natural gas costs rise as much as 30 percent within a year.

The higher costs could translate into trouble on Wall Street.

"The California energy crisis, as well as rising power costs in Nevada, remain a potential risk to earnings," said Jason Ader, a casino analyst for Bear Stearns & Co.

As gambling corporations continue to absorb double-digit rate increases, many look for ways to boost efficiency without sacrificing sparkle. "We are in the bright-lights business," Schaeffer said. "People want the lights turned on."

This month, Nevada's major casinos announced plans to cut power usage by 20 percent in light of the power crisis plaguing the western United States. "As the No. 1 industry in Nevada, we know citizens look to us for leadership in difficult times," said Bill Bible, president of the Nevada Resort Association.

Bible said some Nevada casinos already have installed smart thermostats to monitor the use of heating and air conditioning in guest rooms.

The MGM Grand, Las Vegas' counterpart to MGM Grand Detroit casino, recently remodeled its 5,000 guest rooms and suites to feature low-watt fluorescent bulbs that use less than half as much energy. Casino-floor lighting also has changed, says spokeswoman Kristin Koca.

Treasure Island's hotel-casino parking garage is switching to sodium bulbs that use 30 percent less energy but provide the same light, Koca said.

Don Gold, a sales representative for Lights of America, says he is working with a number of Strip hotel-casinos to convert room and hallway lights. "A 100-watt incandescent bulb uses 100 watts of energy," he said. "A 100-watt fluorescent bulb is brighter, yet only uses 25 watts. So the 75-percent savings in energy and dollars is a considerable amount in hotel-casinos that are 24-7."

But Schaeffer says conservation can go only so far. "You've got to leave the lights and the slot machines on," he said. "You can do things here and there, but there's no escaping rising prices."

The clear light bulbs that light up the Las Vegas skyline are the least efficient source of light, says Firmin Berta, lighting consultant for Nevada Power.

The sign in front of the Sahara, for example, has about 7,250, 25-watt incandescent lamps. At the MGM Grand, 6,000 bulbs create a $75-million spectacle in former rocker Rick Springfield's nightly production, "EFX Alive."

Just one video poker machine uses 154 watts as gamblers try to deal themselves a winning hand. That number more than doubles during payout, said Jen Edison of Mikohn Gaming Corp. The average casino has more than 2,000 such machines.

As the hotel-casinos continue to gobble up power, utilities keep raising rates. The state Public Utilities Commission has approved a $311-million rate hike for Nevada Power and Reno-based Sierra Pacific Power Co.

"One of the hotels will stop using their water fountains, another their volcanoes, others will help by running their backup generators," Nevada Power spokeswoman Sonya Headen said. "It's the last resort."

If the lights of Las Vegas and Reno dim, it could spell economic doom for the state: fewer tourists, lower gaming receipts, perhaps layoffs.