Before they retired, Ron Borst of Spanish Springs and Steve Curl of Reno spent many cold nights fixing generators and checking out power lines while customers were fast asleep in their beds. Enduring the region’s worst weather conditions, often for several days in a row, the former linemen for NV Energy worked for years to make their customers happy and earn a decent living for their families.

But now that they’re in retirement, the benefits they thought they would enjoy are being snatched away from them.

Ron and his wife, Vickie, and Curl and his wife, Abbie, all retired NV Energy employees, received letters three weeks ago informing them that NV Energy is capping the company’s contributions to their retiree medical plans. Factoring in inflation to their budgets, both couples say they cannot afford the cuts.

“They (paid) 80 percent of our medical premium and we pay 20 percent and this, of course, is a ratcheting amount that gets higher and higher as time goes for medical insurance premiums,” Ron, 65, said. “It was under the union contract, under the collective bargaining agreement. They agreed to it and we agreed to it and now they’ve decided that they don’t want to play anymore. They want to skin us, plain and simple.”

NV Energy spokesman Karl Walquist said the company is asking retirees to contribute more to their health care coverage due to the rising costs of health care premiums.

Benefits are not being cut entirely, he said, adding that, "Retirees will still have excellent medical coverage."

According to the letter, signed by NV Energy president and CEO Michael Yackira, starting in 2010 NV Energy will set an annual contribution ceiling to retirees’ health care plans based on 2009 company contributions. Retirees have the option of keeping their current plan while paying any costs above the ceiling. Alternatively, they can choose a different plan that offers a lower or zero monthly retiree contribution, in which the retiree may pay higher out-of-pocket costs including deductibles, co-insurance or co-payment.

Compensating for higher retiree health care is not a problem unique to NV Energy, according to the company.

"It's the same thing that's happening to companies across the U.S.," Walquist said.

In 1998, employees who retired prior to that year had their health insurance premiums covered 100 percent. With the consent of the retirees, that changed a few years ago to the 80/20 plan, which only few current retirees have now, according to Steve and Ron, who retired in October 2007 and November 2006 respectively.

“They’re not going to wait until these people die,” Steve, 57, said of changing the retirees' plan.

“They’re going to speed it up,” Ron added.

Vickie, 63, said when the new packages were handed out at a meeting on Oct. 15 at John Ascuaga's Nugget, retirees had many questions about what the company would do with the money that would not be provided to the retirees.

Benefits are paid for by the Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association trust. NV Energy established the VEBA trust to pay the medical costs of certain retirees. A letter of agreement regarding post-retirement medical coverage by IBEW Local 1245, which was amended in March 2007, states that NV Energy committed to funding the VEBA trust for eight years, beginning in January 2007. The trust is fully funded through Jan. 1, 2015, the annual funding of which is in the range of $10 million to $15 million.

Although the utilities pay the retiree benefits, according to Sean Sever, a spokesman for the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), funds going in to the VEBA trust ultimately come from ratepayers.

“It’s already been approved by the PUC and we wanted to know why they are reneging on their promises and signed agreement,” said Vickie, who retired from NV Energy in Dec. 31, 2006 after being denied a cost-of-living increase.

Ron and Steve spent 20 and 36 years respectively with NV Energy in jobs where they were at high risk for electrical shocks and other injuries. This isn’t the first time they’ve had to take cuts in their plans.

“In the years of renegotiating, we gave up a lot of things to get the benefits we got, such as retirement and medical,” Steve said, estimating he worked 70 hours a week with all the overtime. “It took years.”

"NV Energy is simply asking retirees to share in the costs of future increases to medical benefit plans," Walquist said. "Nothing is being cut or eliminated."

The situation has become so tense that it has affected morale among NV Energy's current employees, Abbie and Steve said.

“A lot of the younger (active employees) I’ve talked to, there’s no reason for them to stay,” he said. “The older ones are stuck there because they’ve got so many years. A lot of people were dedicated. They used to answer the phone. A lot of people quit doing that for good reason.”

To garner support, the retirees group will host a rally on Nov. 7 at 11 a.m. at the Washoe County Senior Services center at 1155 E. Ninth St. in Reno. Although he hasn’t seen the official list, Ron anticipated leaders from political and faith-based groups to speak at the rally.

“(We want) to have some exposure through the media and let the company know we’re not going to take this lying down,” Ron said.

The group estimated that hundreds of retirees would be affected by the change.