PRC members vote against reconsidering PNM solar plan

The state Public Regulation Commission on Wednesday voted against reconsidering a plan by New Mexico’s largest utility for buying solar energy despite a hearing officer’s decision that called the plan “unfair and uncompetitive.”

By a 3-2 vote, the commission dismissed a request by New Energy Economy to overturn a Nov. 15 decision to accept the plan by Public Service Company of New Mexico to buy 50 megawatts of power from Affordable Solar Inc. for $44.63 per megawatt hour.

Just hours after Wednesday’s vote, another group that opposed the solar plan, New Mexico Industrial Energy Consumers, filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court.

New Energy’s executive director, Mariel Nanasi, argued that PNM last year received bids from other companies as low as $41.63 per megawatt hour. She also pointed out that the commission earlier this year approved a plan in which PNM contracted with Affordable Solar for the planned Facebook facility in Valencia County with a ceiling price of only $39.85 per megawatt hour.

Commissioners Sandy Jones, D-Williamsburg, Linda Lovejoy, D-Crownpoint, and Patrick Lyons, R-Cuervo, voted to uphold the previous decision. Commissioners Valerie Espinoza, D-Santa Fe, and Cynthia Hall, D-Albuquerque, voted to overturn. This was a reversal for Lyons, who voted against the plan Nov. 15, and Hall, who had previously voted in favor. Nanasi said PNM’s plan will “kill solar energy business competition” in the state.

A PNM spokesman said after the initial vote that the solar plan “will continue to benefit customers, local renewable energy companies and local communities for years to come.”