Sierra Pacific Gets D Grade With 2.7 GW Gas Plan by 2035

For climate and energy professionals, the D grade is a red flag that even states with strengthened renewable standards can backslide when rapid load growth is met with natural gas. Northern Nevada is becoming an AI data center corridor, and Sierra Pacific's plan to build 2.7 GW of gas by 2035 would lock in emissions for decades just as the state should be accelerating its 2020 RPS commitment.

Sierra Club's sixth Dirty Truth Report, released Tuesday, September 22, 2026, assigns NV Energy's northern Nevada subsidiary Sierra Pacific Power Company a D grade—the utility's worst mark since the environmental group began the scorecard five years ago. The report evaluates utilities on coal retirements, gas expansion plans, and renewable energy additions, and the northern Nevada utility's low grade reflects a striking reversal from years of positive scores.

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Southern Nevada customers have already experienced ratepayer harm: Nevada Power, the utility's southern subsidiary, was recently forced to pay back Southern Nevadans after overcharging customers by $65 million over two decades.

The central driver is the rapid arrival of AI data centers in northern Nevada. According to the report, Sierra Pacific plans to build more than 2.7 GW of new natural gas capacity by 2035, four times the amount it was planning just last year. NV Energy's latest filing shows data centers currently account for only 5 percent of the utility's sales, but that share is projected to reach 64 percent by 2046. That load growth is pushing the utility toward gas rather than cleaner alternatives, despite the state having previously built or procured sufficient clean energy.

NV Energy has proposed protections intended to ensure data centers cover their costs and shield ratepayers from cost shifting, but the report notes those protections are not yet in place. Testimony from the Bureau of Consumer Protection, cited by Sierra Club, indicates major gaps remain in the proposal. Southern Nevada customers have already experienced ratepayer harm: Nevada Power, the utility's southern subsidiary, was recently forced to pay back Southern Nevadans after overcharging customers by $65 million over two decades.

The grade card findings are particularly consequential because in 2020 Nevadans voted to strengthen the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard, requiring utilities to meet higher renewable energy obligations. The Sierra Club's analysis frames the current gas buildout as a threat to those gains. The utility's two territories—Sierra Pacific Power Company in the north and Nevada Power in the south—serve nearly every residential customer in the state, so the decisions made in both territories have statewide consequences for emissions, rates, and grid reliability.

The report's methodology includes coal retirement, gas planning, and renewable additions, but the D for Sierra Pacific is driven primarily by the gas planning component. In the north, the D comes because gas additions are moving faster than renewable additions. In the south, Nevada Power's overcharging history adds a credibility problem. Together they illustrate a utility system where decarbonization progress and consumer protection are not keeping step with load growth.

The story is as much about financial risk as it is about climate. If data center load is guaranteed by hastily negotiated contracts, regulated utility shareholders could benefit while residential customers bear the costs of overbuilt gas capacity and stranded assets. The $65 million overcharging settlement at Nevada Power demonstrates how lapses in utility cost recovery can take decades to correct. A planned gas expansion of this size, combined with an incomplete cost protection framework, increases the likelihood of similarly delayed and costly errors.