New Mexico Regulators Advance Probe Into Utility Overbilling Complaints
New Mexico utility regulators voted unanimously on Thursday to advance an investigation into complaints that the state’s largest electric provider excessively overcharged residents during the summer, Source NM reported. Staffers for the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission recommended the formal inquiry in early October after customers in Alamogordo and Ruidoso reported skyrocketing bills caused by estimated meter readings rather than actual measurements, a problem driven largely by a worker shortage.
At a town hall meeting in Alamogordo in September, residents told regulators that their monthly utility costs jumped from the usual $150 or $200 range to as high as $1,700. During Thursday’s meeting in Las Cruces, the three members of the Public Regulation Commission considered a draft order authorizing the probe. Instead of approving or denying the document outright, commissioners voted to refine the language to give investigators precise direction on the scope of the inquiry.
Commissioners Target Alamogordo and Ruidoso in Overbilling Probe
The three commissioners agreed that the order should specifically target Alamogordo and Ruidoso while leaving investigators free to determine whether similar overbillings occurred in other parts of the state. They directed Commissioner Greg Nibert to revise the text to mandate that investigators share the results of any meter tests directly with the commission.
“I’m hopeful that the issue is not widespread, but I want the investigation to proceed to determine if it is,” Nibert said during the Thursday session, according to Source NM. The Public Regulation Commission had initially received a recommendation from its Public Interest Advocacy team urging the agency to open an investigation into the billing practices of the Public Service Company of New Mexico.
Customer Complaints Prompt Attorney General Inquiry
The spike in summer electricity bills also drew the attention of state law enforcement. In September, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sent a letter to Don Tarry, the CEO of PNM and its parent company, alerting him to complaints submitted to the New Mexico Department of Justice.
Torrez included copies of several resident grievances in his correspondence, including a note from an Otero County married couple who received a bill exceeding $1,000. “Though we completely understand staffing issues, an electric bill of over $1,000, when we have not had one over $200 in the last year, is absurd,” the couple wrote, noting that the utility failed to read their meter in July.
When the Public Interest Advocacy team urged the commission to open an investigation in October, a PNM spokesperson told Source NM that company officials “welcome the opportunity to provide the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission with information about what occurred, how customers were affected and the actions PNM has taken in response.”
Questions Regarding Statewide Billing Practices Remain Open
While the three-member commission approved the framework for the staff investigation on Thursday, regulators have not yet set a definitive timeline for investigators to conclude their review or release final findings. It remains unclear whether the estimated meter readings and subsequent high bills affected customers outside of Otero and Lincoln counties, a question the expanded scope of the commission’s order is designed to answer.
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