PNM must step up and fix the system

Over the past several years, a large section of Enchanted Hills and surrounding areas have suffered frequent power outages due to failures in sections of PNM’s underground electrical feeder cable. Each time PNM responds and makes temporary repairs.

In the first 10 years I lived in my Enchanted Hills neighborhood, my neighbors and I experienced two — just two — power outages. One had to do with a car hitting a utility pole, the other when a hot air balloon hit some overhead lines and a section of the grid had to be shut down (for) a rescue.

In the past three to four years, residents in the area have suffered through an ever-increasing number of power outages, which have affected thousands of homes and people, the last one occurring on Sunday morning Sept. 10. This last PNM power outage was the result of equipment failure in a substation. Each time PNM sends a crew to repair the problem. Often the power is out for hours. If one inquires after an outage, PNM says that they have “solved” the problem, until, of course, the next power outage occurs.

In talking to different repair crews, I have been told that the cause of these frequent electrical cable failures is the original installation and the fact that not the best material was installed. Repeatedly I have been told the real fix is to replace the entire cable run with a new feed using modern installation methods. Whether that is fact or not, I don’t know. What I do know is the number of power outages in this area is increasing over time and this is unacceptable.

PNM is quick to attempt to raise rates for their residential customers, but very short in their efforts to permanently stop these all-too-frequent power outages for their customers in Enchanted Hills and surrounding neighborhoods. I am only one homeowner, so PNM can turn a deaf ear to my complaints. Perhaps if all us residents who are affected by these all-too-frequent power outages banded together, we might have the “power” to force PNM into taking action to make permanent repairs to the electrical feeder cables that power our homes and businesses.

Better yet, it is time for the city of Rio Rancho to stand up for its residents in the affected areas and tell PNM: Make a permanent fix to the problem or we will sue you on behalf of our residents.