SANTA FE – Today, I motioned that my fellow commissioners approve an order presented by the Office of General Counsel to the Public Regulation Commission (PRC).
That order effectively grants the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) additional time to settle matters regarding an ownership restructuring agreement as well as the utility’s coal supply contract, and sets into motion a final timeline for PNM to submit contracts to the PRC.
As I stated in today’s open meeting, it is time to send a very stern message to PNM. PRC Staff and this Commission have worked very hard in keeping with a standard time schedule to avoid unnecessary delays, and the piecemeal documents provided by PNM still are not producing the most important information up to this point.
The time has come for things to move along, and today the PRC sent that message to PNM. Today’s order states that PNM now has until July 1 to submit their contracts for this Commission and Staff to review. If needed, PNM may request – by June 3 – that deadline be extended to August 1, but no later.
PNM has created a huge campaign wherein every Commissioner’s office has been flooded with e-mails after PNM has raised the hopes of those living in northwest New Mexico, when in fact it has been PNM who has failed to adhere to a standard timeline. PNM’s failure to produce important documents has forced this Commission and Staff to work time and again to get the utility to comply with standard requests.
This is the last opportunity for PNM to gain the approval of this Commission and Staff regarding their plan for the San Juan Generating Station and their coal contracts. If anyone is going to pull the plug on the plan, it’s not going to be this Commission, it’s going to be PNM. The power is in their hands.