by Lisa Snedeker Associated
Press
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.
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