IBEW STAGES WALK AND RALLY IN YERINGTON

On Saturday, January 16th members and retired members of IBEW Local 1245 met in Yerington, NV and staged a rally and neighborhood walk.  This was to alert the customers of NV Energy in Yerington and the surrounding Mason Valley of recent cuts in service to those customers. These cuts include closure of the Yerington business office and relocation of the Yerington line crew to Carson City. This will significantly increase response times to outages and other emergencies in Yerington and those areas that Yerington used to serve, including Tonopah which is now 3 to 4 hours drive from the nearest crew.

About 25 people participated in the walk including children of some of the local members. Of the almost 300 customers contacted, all expressed outrage and/or disbelief and most made commitments to contact state legislators and the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada. Another 600 homes were leafleted.

For the walkers themselves the experience was overwhelmingly positive with many expressing gratitude for the warm support of their neighbors. All vowed to continue efforts to reach out to business owners, farmers, ranchers, and community leaders and inform them of the severity of these cuts.

Further activities are planned for the customers in the cities of Hawthorne and Tonopah as these areas lost their offices and line crews years ago and were supported out of Yerington in recent years. These cutbacks follow NV Energy’s pattern of the last 35 years which has seen the company close business offices and eliminate line crews and troubleman positions as it seeks to abandon most of the rural areas it serves.