PNM Wants a Rate Increase...Again
Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 01:45PM 
Now that the 5-year moratorium on increasing electricity rates has ended, PNM has filed for one rate increase after the next. The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) approved a $33 million rate increase for PNM in April – then tripled the award to around $100 million after PNM protested that the increase was too small. This week, the utility filed a request for another $123 million on top of that, which will raise residential electricity bills by another 23.5 percent next year if approved.
In addition to the rate increases granted by the PRC, PNM was awarded the right to raise its rates as needed to cover increases in their fuel costs.
Ratepayers should not only expect PNM’s new rate request to be granted, they should expect similar rate increases every year for awhile as PNM works to recover the $1.3 billion it plans to spend on its system over then next five years.
Reader Comments (1)
PNM demands more money, regardless of service to the community or commitment to the sustainable energy we actually need. Wall Street, bless them, "needs" endless billions of dollars as a reward for obscene greed, feckless disregard for the well-being of actual live people, and probable criminal activity. Ah, the glories of unregulated so-called free markets! While we're at it, I DEMAND a decent living as a female, part-Native American, economically disadvantaged scholar. Woops--forgot---THAT'S "entitlement"------something all Americans should abhore!
Until we simply and quietly reject a social system that is based almost entirely on wealth as a measure of worth, success, and moral value, we will continue to be screwed by that system. Those who have most of our economic resources will continue to plunder and blunder, but we do not have to buy into it, to coin a pun. If we recreate a genuine community right here, we can find simple, quiet power in inventing and reinventing ways to feed ourselves and power our computers. It is not easy; it is not idealistic---there will be problems along the way. We'll have to struggle to keep the genuine values alive. I believe it can be done, however; in fact, I believe that if we want to maintain our essential humanity, we have no other choice.