AG criticizes PRC over inaction that may lead to electricity shortage

Commission’s ‘biased and narrow agendas’ could cause summer blackouts, Balderas says

Attorney General Hector Balderas criticized the state Public Regulation Commission Tuesday, contending its “inaction” has contributed to growing concern over rolling electricity blackouts this summer.

In a letter to the commissioners, Balderas wrote he is “concerned that recent decisions have produced a disturbing pattern of inaction contrary to the interests of New Mexicans.”

He added the commission has displayed “biased and narrow agendas” that have stood in the way of acting “in a timely fashion to approve additional electric generation capacity” for summer peak periods.

Public Service Company of New Mexico also has become increasingly critical of the commission as summer approaches and generating adequate electricity has become a worry.

Balderas wrote it’s his understanding the commission and PNM are considering keeping San Juan Generating Station open longer than expected, adding this “does not solve the problem or fully mitigate risks.”

The coal-fired power plant was scheduled for closure in the summer.

The commission and Balderas clashed last year over the attorney general’s early approval of a merger plan between PNM, Avangrid of Connecticut and Iberdrola of Spain. The commission ultimately rejected the merger plan, a decisions being appealed to the New Mexico Supreme Court.

Critics said Balderas failed to protect the public interest with his quick acceptance of the merger concept.

Commission Chairman Joseph Maestas of Santa Fe said Tuesday night the state needs Balderas “at the table, too, to create solutions instead of playing this blame game.”

At issue, at least in part, is the commission’s rejection in 2020 of a San Juan energy replacement plan from PNM that included natural gas and batteries.

The commission preferred a solar-energy replacement plan, but the supply chain crisis has made it impossible for contractors to build solar facilities by summer.

Maestas, who wasn’t on the commission in 2020, said if PNM leaders saw the decision at the time as a serious problem, “They should have appealed it.”

“And no one, no one, could have anticipated a pandemic that leads to supply chain issues,” Maestas said.

Balderas wrote in his letter that as the “officer statutorily charged with protecting the public interest,” he wants the commission to spring into action.

Maestas said the commission is “standing ready to solve problems. But this letter is not conducive to problem solving.”