A bill draft in front of the state Legislature would require Nevada utilities -- including for the first time cooperatives like Valley Electric Association -- to include renewable energy in their portfolios.

The bill would require 25 percent of the cooperative's energy portfolio to be from renewable sources, VEA Chief Executive Officer Tom Husted said.

The latest quote for purchasing renewable power was 15 cents per kilowatt hour, he said, or twice the normal rate.

Board member Shelia Rau said part of that percentage can be in the form of conservation, which the cooperative has stressed in recent programs.

VEA has also advocated renewable energy on a micro scale, in the form of solar water heaters for individual homes instead of building large solar power plants -- what Husted called "assisting with generation one tiny unit at a time."

"There's no doubt in my mind we're going to get hit with ... renewable portfolio standards," Husted told the board Friday.

VEA Finance Director Brian Fickett unveiled one way to comply with the mandate, hooking up all the members to solar hot water heaters as part of the stimulus package. That would earn the cooperative solar renewable energy credits.

"We're kicking around the idea of getting as many solar water heaters in as many homes as we can in our service territory," Fickett said.

The solar hot water heaters installed in 10 homes as part of a VEA pilot project cost $6,000 apiece. Fickett said crews could install 18 units per day, 4,667 per year, hooking up everyone in three years, but at an astronomical cost of $84 million.

Husted said they used the purchase price of one individual solar hot water heater, not the bulk rate, to begin calculations from a worse-case scenario.

Rau said she'd like to see some concrete numbers, adding, "That scares the heck out of me. I think we can get that down if you're buying that many units."

A study released last September by Cliburn and Associates estimated 14 percent of a residential electric bill went to water heating. The consultants said with a 75 to 85 percent solar fraction in this part of the country, solar-powered water heating could reduce customer bills from 10.5 percent to 12 percent, a figure seen as being on the low side due to problems with the VEA study. The cost of a solar-powered water heater system could be paid off in six years with reduced energy bills, their report noted.

"If you figure where our economy is and job growth, this would require a lot of people to get this program going," Fickett said.

The cooperative would be able to obtain CREBs, or clean renewable energy bonds, he said.

"With the new stimulus package, they allocated another few million dollars to the CREBs program," Fickett said.

The cooperative, to qualify, would "have to get their ducks in a row" and draft a business plan, he said.

"There's no question in my mind each home in this community should have a solar water heater," Husted said.

Fickett said the systems carry a 25-year warranty. While admitting they could get cheaper solar hot water heaters -- real estate agent Donna Lamm said one could be bought for as little as $1,500 -- Husted said the system used in the pilot program had featuures like freeze protection and storage capability.

In other matters, Husted said utility executives were taken by surprise over a Feb. 4 announcement by Gov. Jim Gibbons about a Nevada State Transmission Authority.

A press release issued by the governor's office suggests establishing a nonprofit corporation to market tax-exempt private activity bonds to finance the construction of power transmission lines to harness Nevada's renewable energy potential. Private companies have expressed an interest in building transmission lines, the governor said.

"If the state of Nevada gets into building and operating transmission lines simply to operate renewables, it raises a lot of concerns," Husted said. "Are we going to be in a position to compete?"

Husted said utility company CEOs met with the governor before and never heard talk about this initiative.

"One thing utilities in Nevada are in agreement with is renewable power has very different characteristics from central station power," Husted said. "Our thoughts are that because there's so many potential renewable energy projects in the state, we're going to be the guinea pigs."

VEA needs to develop a strategic, corporate business plan including the concept of a "smart grid," Husted said. There also needs to be a cooperative policy on renewable energy, he said.

In other matters, attorney Curt Ledford applauded a draft bill requiring documentation on people donating metal and toughening penalties for metal thefts. Like many utilities, VEA has been plagued by vandals stealing copper and other metals.

People selling metals to scrap yards would have to show identification. Yard owners would have to give reports to law enforcement officials.

"If the wire says Valley Electric on it, you have to ask how you got it," Ledford said.