By Kevin Hendricks
Alamogordo residents asked state regulators last week to test PNM’s meters. Now the regulators’ own staff wants to do exactly that.
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission’s Public Interest Advocacy Staff filed a petition Tuesday asking commissioners to authorize a formal investigation into PNM’s estimated and delayed bills this summer. Staff wants independent testing of a sample of meters in Alamogordo and Ruidoso, where the problem started and hit hardest.
The investigation would cover four questions:
- What caused the meter-reader shortage?
- Were customers overcharged?
- Did PNM follow state rules?
- How can regulators prevent a repeat?
Staff also wants to file monthly status reports and a final public report.
“These impacted communities deserve a full accounting,” the petition states.
Staff wrote that PNM has cooperated fully so far. In an August meeting, PNM told staff the shortage stemmed partly from a shift to temporary meter readers ahead of its move to automated meters, along with unexpected turnover. The utility suspended late fees and disconnections and offered payment plans. By mid-September, it had resumed normal meter reading in Alamogordo, Ruidoso, Albuquerque, Bernalillo and Santa Fe.
Staff said it cannot yet explain why some customers received unusually high bills in the month after an estimated or delayed bill.
Staff proposed that PNM pay for the meter testing. It also suggested choosing the sample with help from PNM Customers United, a local advocacy group that attended the Sept. 29 Alamogordo town hall. Commissioners must vote to authorize the investigation.
Follow the case or file a complaint:
Petition and filings: PRCe360 portal, docket No. 26-0000176
PRC Consumer Relations: https://www.prc.nm.gov/consumer-relations/
Written comments: PRC.Records@prc.nm.gov
Watch the Alamogordo town hall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zo6AwiWqFA