Latest news with #PublicRegulationCommission
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
NM utilities explain plans to turn off power in high fire risk, a new reality facing New Mexicans
Photos of damage caused by the McBride Fire in 2022 included in a lawsuit filed against PNM and its vegetation management contractor. The Public Regulation Commission on Thursday held a day-long workshop, hearing from utilities who discussed their strategies and justifications for "public safety power shutoffs" amid increased risk of wildfire and litigation for utility-caused wildfires. (Photo from lawsuit documents) People across the state should increasingly prepare to lose power the next time high winds and dry conditions combine to raise wildfire risk in their communities. That was the message big and small electrical providers from all corners of New Mexico told the state's utility regulator during a day-long hearing Thursday in Santa Fe. The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission held its first of four workshops, stemming out of the historic 2022 wildfire season, focused primarily on 'public safety power shutoffs.' Citing increased fire risk and also the specter of bankruptcy from class-action lawsuits, investor-owned utilities and small cooperatives said shutting off power when conditions require it is a crucial way to protect utilities and, therefore, ratepayers from huge expenses related to wildfires. PNM, the state's biggest electrical provider, did its first-ever power shutoff April 17 in Las Vegas, citing high winds and ongoing drought. The power shutoff affected about 2,300 customers and occurred during a particularly windy day in the Northern New Mexico town of about 12,000 people. PRC commissioners sought to hear from utilities and state and local officials about the toll of recent wildfires, their criteria for future shutoffs and also how they're approaching communicating with local governments and the public. PNM cuts off power to Las Vegas due to high wind and wildfire risk 'These disasters not only cause massive losses for people and businesses, but for utilities as well,' PRC chair Gabriel Aguilera said in his opening remarks. 'We've increasingly seen utilities facing lawsuits with insurance companies covering only a fraction of the damages, or in some cases, none at all.' Speakers presented on behalf of small cooperatives in Mora, San Miguel and Taos Counties, as well as investor-owned utilities like PNM and SPS. PNM is currently facing a lawsuit from hundreds of victims of the McBride Fire in Ruidoso in 2022. A tree falling into one of PNM's utility lines caused that fire, though the parties disagree on whether it was a result of the utility's negligence. Singleton Schreiber, one of the nation's biggest law firms bringing wildfire lawsuits, alleges the utility and its contractor negligently allowed the tree to be tall enough and close enough to the power line to cause a fire on a windy day. PNM has denied any liability, citing public reports that said a 'tree spanning approximately 50 feet tall that was outside of our right-of-way had contacted a powerline due to unanticipated wind gusts of over 90 miles per hour,' spokesperson Eric Chavez has said. Before the McBride Fire lawsuit, the Jemez Mountain Electrical Cooperative ultimately had to pay $25 million for its role in the 2011 Las Conchas Fire. It sought rate hikes to cover the cost and also could only get between $2 million and $3 million in insurance coverage afterward. It's not just small cooperatives that face existential lawsuits for wildfires: Major utility PG&E filed for bankruptcy after being implicated in a series of fires in California in 2017 and 2018, ultimately being ordered to pay a $13.5 billion settlement. The Legislature this year considered, but ultimately didn't pass, a bill that would have limited liability to electrical cooperatives to $2 million, so long as the PRC approved a wildfire mitigation plan the utility provided in advance. Claims office pays men more than women for food lost in state's biggest wildfire Cutting off power to prevent a wildfire carries its own costs. In Las Vegas, some families with elderly or sick relatives who relied on electric medical equipment had to scramble to find alternate power sources. And during the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire, long power outages meant many people in rural areas lost stores of food in their garage freezers. Henri Hammond-Paul, Santa Fe's director of community health and safety, said at the meeting that utilities need to communicate with local officials and the public as much as possible, including warnings well in advance of a shutoff. He noted that the cost of closing Santa Fe schools, in particular, due to a pre-emptive power shutoff could mean 16,000 students going without lunch. 'I understand that there is a lot of liability on utilities. There is a different type of liability and risk for cities, because even if we're not the ones who are going to be sued, necessarily, for an incident, we are accountable and we are seen as responsible,' he said. The PRC workshop was only to spur dialogue on the multi-faceted issue of the power shutoffs, members said, though Aguilera suggested the commission was considering crafting a rule that could require standards, public notice timelines and, 'at a high level, minimum requirements' for utilities before they shut power off. Watch the six-hour special PRC meeting here. The next three workshops are scheduled for July 17, Sept. 15 and Oct. 23.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Solar roller-coaster': Why is community solar having a hard time getting off the ground?
It's always a 'solar roller-coaster,' said Dylan Connelly, director of commercial and community solar for Affordable Solar. In February, Affordable Solar broke ground on the state's first community solar project in Valencia County. It's been a long haul; speaking at a Friday panel at the Electrify New Mexico 2025 Conference, Connelly joked he's had two children in the time between Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's signing the Community Solar Act into law in 2021 and breaking ground on the project earlier this year. At the same panel, state Public Regulation Commission chief of staff Cholla Khoury acknowledged the delays. 'Getting [shovels] in the ground was slow,' Khoury said. 'I think as we move forward, that pace is going to pick up.' Subscribers to community solar projects don't own solar panels themselves. But they pay into the projects, which put the energy produced into the local energy grid. When subscribers get their utility bills, they include a credit taken off. New Mexico's program aims to reach low-income residents, with a certain percentage of subscribers required to be low income. The PRC estimates subscribers could reduce electric bills by an average of up to 30%. But it's been slow going. Connelly said there's a bottleneck as community solar projects are reviewed and go through the permitting process. Appeals over the community program itself have also stymied project starts. A November update on the status of the program stated that, at the time, no projects had broken ground, despite an 'overwhelming response' to the program — and the fact that the PRC had already approved dozens of projects for the first round of the program. Disputes over the rules and costs of the program were one factor that's slowed the program; in January, the state Supreme Court rejected appeals to the community solar rules filed by electric utilities. But that's not the only obstacle. Beth Beloff, founder and president of the Coalition of Sustainable Communities, said 'a lot of the world changed' in the four years since the legislation was adopted. Supply chain issues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, market uncertainty and the interest rate environment have all made it more challenging. 'But we have a resilient community solar environment,' Beloff said Friday.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov Lujan Grisham signs electric grid, solar power and cannabis-enforcement bills into law
Gov. Lujan Grisham signed more than 40 more bills on April 8 ahead of an April 11 deadline. (Photo by Danielle Prokop/Source NM) Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed 41 more bills into law Tuesday, including several to boost New Mexico's ability to install solar panels in small communities and allow utilities to seek rate changes for technology to improve electricity transmission. She has until April 11 to sign or veto legislation. House Bill 128 establishes a $20 million dollar fund to provide grants for solar energy and battery storage for tribal, rural and low-income schools, municipalities and counties. 'This fund is an investment in our infrastructure, our economy, and our future,' Sen. Harold Pope (D-Albuquerque) one of the bill's sponsors, said in a statement. 'It fills crucial funding gaps for rural and underserved areas, ensuring that all communities — no matter their zip code — can implement solar projects that cut energy costs, lower emissions, and enhance our resilience during fires, blackouts, and intense storms. I'm proud that we passed it.' House Bill 93 will allow larger electric utilities to incorporate advanced grid technology projects into their grid modernization plans, and incorporate those plans into the ratemaking process before the Public Regulation Commission. Co-sponsor Kristina Ortez (D-Taos) told Source the alternative: building more transmission lines can be '100 times to 1,000 times more expensive' than using technologies that boost lines capacity to carry more electricity, and state law allows electricity companies to pass on those costs to customers. 'Advanced grid technologies are way cheaper for ratepayers,' Ortez said. 'These utilities now have incentives to try to make their existing lines more efficient rather than building a whole new one.' HB93 is limited to investor-owned utilities, such as Public Service Company of New Mexico Xcel Energy and El Paso Electric, and does not impact smaller electric cooperatives, she noted. The governor also signed : House Bill 10, which establishes a new enforcement division under the state's Regulation and Licensing Bureau to enforce state cannabis laws; House Bill 63, which proposes changes to the public school funding formula to generate more money for low-income, English-language learning students and students in seventh through 12th grades; andSenate Bill 19, which requires that members of university governing boards undergo 10 hours of training on ethics, student services and best practices. Four of the bills she enacted related to water treatment for ongoing climate impacts, addressing so-called 'forever chemicals' contamination and pollution control. Here's a full list of the bills the governor signed: House Bill 56: Medicaid Reimbursements for Birth Centers House Bill: Prohibit Discrimination Against 340B Entities House Bill 117: Death Certificate by Physician Assistant House Bill 171: Pharmacy Custodial Care Facilities House Bill 178: Nursing Practice Changes Senate Bill 120: No Behavioral Health Cost Sharing Senate Bill 122: Expand Prescription Drug Donation Program Senate Bill 249: Health Care Provider Gross Receipts House Bill 93: Advanced Grid Technology Plans House Bill 128: NMFA Local Solar Access Fund House Bill 137: Strategic Water Supply Act House Bill 140: 'Hazardous Waste Constituent' Definition House Bill 212: Per- & Poly-Flouroalkyl Protection Act House Bill 240: Drinking Water System Grants & Loans House Bill 295: Tax On Property Owned by NM RETA Senate Bill 21: Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act House Bill 19: Trade Ports Development Act House Bill 368: High Wage Jobs Tax Credit 'Threshold Job' House Bill 456: Architect & Engineering Services & Construction House Bill 63: Public School Funding Formula Changes House Bill 69: Loan Forgiveness Multiplier Act House Bill 89: Graduate Scholarship Act Changes House Bill 336: Certain Retirees Returning to Work Senate Bill 19: Boards Of Regents Training Requirements Senate Bill 146: Educational Opportunity for Military Children House Bill 10: RLD Cannabis Enforcement House Bill 24: Community Governance Attorneys Changes House Bill 113: Animal Welfare Program and Trust Fund House Bill 158: Military Base Planning & Impact Act House Bill 296: Public Accountant Licensure Requirements House Bill 398: HMO & Contract Provider Exam Time Lines House Bill 468: Retiring of State Flags Senate Bill 88: Medicaid Trust Fund & State Supported Fund Senate Bill 92: Horse Racing & Jockey Insurance Fund Senate Bill 126: Increase Rural Service Fund Allocations Senate Bill 159: Independent Theater Beer & Wine Licenses Senate Bill 221: Additional Unfair Insurance Claims Practice Senate Bill 267: Housing Application Fees Senate Bill 280: NMMI In Capital Outlay Act Senate Bill 290: Raise Marriage License Fees Senate Bill 357: Essential Services Development Act
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
PNM customers saw a steep increase in power outages in 2024
Customers of New Mexico's largest electric utility experienced a sharp increase in power outages last year following a steady rise in service disruptions over the past decade, a new report shows. Public Service Company of New Mexico's power reliability report is the first one the utility has submitted to state regulators since the Public Regulation Commission passed a rule last year requiring annual reporting of outages. PNM says its overall system reliability is still 99.85% — lower than in recent years but above nationwide averages. It saw increases last year in most of the metrics by which it measures system reliability, including the total cumulative number of outage minutes and outage frequency. PNM customers went without power for an average cumulative total of about 4.6 hours in 2024 — more than double the year before, at 1.8 hours, and the highest number the utility has counted in the last 10 years by far. Excluding what utilities call "major event days," characterized by long power interruptions, usually caused by major weather events, the average cumulative outage time per customer was just over two hours, or 124 minutes, compared to an average of about 1.5 hours the year before. PNM counted six major event days in 2024, which is the highest number the utility has ever counted in one year, said Omni Warner, the company's vice president of operations and engineering. Those included two days of disastrous fires in and around Ruidoso, severe thunderstorms from a heavy monsoon season and an early snowstorm in Santa Fe and Albuquerque in November. The New Mexican in October reported an increase in power outages for PNM customers last year, including several widespread power outages in the Santa Fe area over the summer. Warner said much of the increase could be attributed to storms during the "very active" monsoon season, with the wind, rain and lightning damaging the utility's infrastructure. Cumulative outage times for PNM customers in the the Santa Fe area nearly doubled in 2024 from the year before, and outage frequency increased as well, but average restoration times decreased, according to the report. Each PNM customer saw about 1.3 outages on average, or about one outage per customer with major event days excluded. The outage frequency in 2024 was the second highest in the last 10 years, next to 2018. The system overall saw a minor drop in average restoration time — with major event days excluded — from 127 minutes in 2023 to 123.5 minutes in 2024. The restoration time has increased over the last 10 years. The top cause of power outages for PNM in 2024 — according to the report — was equipment failures, such as cable faults, which caused about 44% of outages. "Our original cabling, years ago, that we put in the ground was direct buried cable," Warner said. "It's served our customers very well for 40 years, but some of that cabling is starting to fail. When we replace the cabling, we place it in a conduit so it has more resiliency. It also allows us to replace cable faster, so we have a lot of that mapped on our system. We've been aggressively replacing cable." He referred to a few particularly large power outages in Santa Fe in 2024 that came when entire substations tripped offline. He said damages to the utility's infrastructure came from lightning strikes, which destroyed switch gears and other equipment; crews worked through the night to make repairs. Lightning strikes caused 9.2% of outages in 2024. Much of the utility's infrastructure is aging, Warner acknowledged, and the utility is working to ramp up replacement and modernization of many parts of the grid, which he said will increase reliability. Public Regulation Commissioner Patrick O'Connell said Friday the requirement for system reliability reporting is aimed at increasing transparency, "to help focus on whether investments are being made where they're needed the most." The reports are meant to provide a foundation by which ramped-up investments can be measured, he said. "Without the information it's hard to know," he said. "It will be very helpful to have this kind of information when we're looking at grid modernization and some other upcoming investments."
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
PNM customers saw a steep increase in power outages in 2024
Customers of New Mexico's largest electric utility experienced a sharp increase in power outages last year following a steady rise in service disruptions over the past decade, a new report shows. Public Service Company of New Mexico's power reliability report is the first one the utility has submitted to state regulators since the Public Regulation Commission passed a rule last year requiring annual reporting of outages. PNM says its overall system reliability is still 99.85% — lower than in recent years but above nationwide averages. It saw increases last year in most of the metrics by which it measures system reliability, including the total cumulative number of outage minutes and outage frequency. PNM customers went without power for an average cumulative total of about 4.6 hours in 2024 — more than double the year before, at 1.8 hours, and the highest number the utility has counted in the last 10 years by far. Excluding what utilities call "major event days," characterized by long power interruptions, usually caused by major weather events, the average cumulative outage time per customer was just over two hours, or 124 minutes, compared to an average of about 1.5 hours the year before. PNM counted six major event days in 2024, which is the highest number the utility has ever counted in one year, said Omni Warner, the company's vice president of operations and engineering. Those included two days of disastrous fires in and around Ruidoso, severe thunderstorms from a heavy monsoon season and an early snowstorm in Santa Fe and Albuquerque in November. The New Mexican in October reported an increase in power outages for PNM customers last year, including several widespread power outages in the Santa Fe area over the summer. Warner said much of the increase could be attributed to storms during the "very active" monsoon season, with the wind, rain and lightning damaging the utility's infrastructure. Cumulative outage times for PNM customers in the the Santa Fe area nearly doubled in 2024 from the year before, and outage frequency increased as well, but average restoration times decreased, according to the report. Each PNM customer saw about 1.3 outages on average, or about one outage per customer with major event days excluded. The outage frequency in 2024 was the second highest in the last 10 years, next to 2018. The system overall saw a minor drop in average restoration time — with major event days excluded — from 127 minutes in 2023 to 123.5 minutes in 2024. The restoration time has increased over the last 10 years. The top cause of power outages for PNM in 2024 — according to the report — was equipment failures, such as cable faults, which caused about 44% of outages. "Our original cabling, years ago, that we put in the ground was direct buried cable," Warner said. "It's served our customers very well for 40 years, but some of that cabling is starting to fail. When we replace the cabling, we place it in a conduit so it has more resiliency. It also allows us to replace cable faster, so we have a lot of that mapped on our system. We've been aggressively replacing cable." He referred to a few particularly large power outages in Santa Fe in 2024 that came when entire substations tripped offline. He said damages to the utility's infrastructure came from lightning strikes, which destroyed switch gears and other equipment; crews worked through the night to make repairs. Lightning strikes caused 9.2% of outages in 2024. Much of the utility's infrastructure is aging, Warner acknowledged, and the utility is working to ramp up replacement and modernization of many parts of the grid, which he said will increase reliability. Public Regulation Commissioner Patrick O'Connell said Friday the requirement for system reliability reporting is aimed at increasing transparency, "to help focus on whether investments are being made where they're needed the most." The reports are meant to provide a foundation by which ramped-up investments can be measured, he said. "Without the information it's hard to know," he said. "It will be very helpful to have this kind of information when we're looking at grid modernization and some other upcoming investments."
