The latest left-wing fantasy in New Mexico: make PNM a government utility

Fresh off their defeat of the PNM/Avangrid merger (an effort on which we didn’t disagree with them), the radicals at New Energy Economy are pushing a far more concerning plan. They want to make ALL utilities government-run. A group of more than a dozen far-left legislators (list on page 5 of the document above) has petitioned the Public Regulation Commission to “study” the issue.

Reading through the proposal it is no surprise that this is part of a push to hasten the abandonment of “traditional” energy sources in favor of unreliable wind and solar. As frustrating as PNM’s government-regulated monopoly model may be, the thought of these people running a utility is even more frightening.

Ironically, as is so often the case with government-ownership of ANYTHING, the real question is WHO owns it. Right here in New Mexico the City of Farmington owns and manages its own utility. That is the entity pushing to keep the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station open and use  carbon capture technology to do it.

There is nothing to be done at this point. If this proposal is adopted, the PRC will study the issue. Nonetheless, the LAST thing New Mexico needs is a new area of our economy for the State to manage, especially along the lines proposed by the most radical “environmentalists.”

Perhaps the PRC should ALSO undertake a study of what a free market utility market might look like, especially one untethered from the Energy Transition Act.