NM list PING!
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Posted on 06/01/2010 5:23:00 PM PDT by MamaDearest
The Public Service Co. of New Mexico filed a request June 1 with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to raise electric rates by 21.2 percent.
If approved, the rate hike would take place in two phases. Average customers would pay 15.3 percent more starting in April 2011, and another 5.8 percent starting Jan. 1, 2012. The rate hike would help PNM pay for $575 million in investments in its electric system, such as the expansion of substations and power lines, and upgrades to five power plants, said PNM Resources President and CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn in a news release.
“PNM is obligated to provide reliable electric service, and this rate proposal is designed to capture approximately $237 million of investment we’ve made to improve the system,” Vincent-Collawn said. “In addition, we plan to make infrastructure investments of approximately $338 million by the end of 2011. Those investments were and are necessary.” The rate hikes also would encompass non-capital investments, including increases to cover fuel costs and higher employee benefits.
However, the request does not cover the cost of adding 80 megawatts of solar power to the grid, which the utility proposed in a revised renewable energy procurement plan that it filed with the PRC last January. Instead, the company will seek to recover those costs in April 2012 through a rate rider, Vincent-Collawn said.
If granted, the increase would be the third hike approved for PNM since 2008. The PRC approved a 6.3 percent increase in April 2008, and a 9.7 percent hike in May 2009.
Still, even with the new rates, Vincent-Collawn said customers’ bills would remain more than 25 percent below the national average.
Unlike the two previous increases, the new proposal is based on foward-looking cost projections. In the previous cases, PNM based its requests on cost-of-service calculations for about two years prior to its filing.
The Legislature approved a bill last year that allows utilities to replace historical calculations with future estimates in rate cases. PNM says that will reinforce the company’s financial stability, ultimately improving its ability to obtain credit at a lower cost.
This is pre-plans by democrats for Cap and Trade wherein utility rates have been promised to skyrocket. People out of work, economy in the toilet, but full steam ahead to expand, upgrade and go green (probably the same color customers will be when this financial hardship begins to affect them).
The Unions will not be denied....
You have it correct Mama. This will help them cope with the oncoming greenhouse gas regs pushed by Richardson. We will know within the next couple of hours whether the best candidate to challenge the Dems for control of the NM executive branch will have won today’s primary.
NM list PING!
(The NM list is available on my FR homepage for anyone to use. Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)
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