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I was on for four hours starting at 930 AM...but here is a summary.
Last week there was discussion of the proposal of Southwestern Public Service, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy serving Eastern NM and parts of West texas about how they would provide Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles in the future. (The other two Investor Owned Utilities, PNM and El Paso Electric, will file their plans later). There were several comments about the nature of the 17 stations credit card charging facilities so at today's meeting five people from the Sierra Club asked to speak (for up to three minutes on the need for easy to use credit card chargers. Two points here: League members can speak at meetings as well if they sign up at least one day in advance and two, some people like to "swipe" their cards or "insert" the chip but seem to have issues with touch-less card use. It depends on the card readers being used.
SPS will start with 17 charging stations and add more as they get experience and there are more Electric Vehicles on the road. Like the Chicken/Egg issue!!
Budget:
The PRC is applying for a supplemental budget increase of $1.4 Million on a budget of $11.9 M now. As there have been no budget increases for many years, the PRC has used the ploy of not filling budget positions to balance its budget, but of course, service has been poor as there have not been enough staff. Our Public Schools had like issue with teacher salaries which have been raised but not to the levels of TX..yet. The PRC is planning for budget increases in future years and will have legislative members to its new office in Santa Fe for presentations in the near future. Future challenges for the PRC include the transition to renewable energy from fossil fuel fired power plants and the need for more Grid or transmission lines.
Rural Universal Service:
The NM Legislature passed legislation, The Rural Telecommunications Act, which gives the NM PRC oversight on the transition from fixed line telephone service to wireless phone/broadband. Issues like: What is Digital Equity and Inclusion were not spelled out in legislation and left to the PRC. The PRC would like some clarification. Also the fund is capped at $30 M per year which does not provide much for expanding service, particularly as the legislation was written to provide reimbursement for those fixed line providers who lost customers to cell phones/broadband service.
Rural Electric Co Op service:
Most of the electric power and transmission comes from Tri State Generation and Transmission, based in CO, which provides power to many NM Rural Electric Co Ops. The NM PRC was concerned about the transition to Renewable Energy from Fossil Fuel power for the NM Co Ops. Tri State is now regulated by the FERC and also the state of CO and will provide NM with information about its move to renewables which currently is for 40% by 2025 and 50% by 2030, and probably all by 2050. Tri State prepares a 20 year plan with updates every four years and is likely to make an informal presentation the NM PRC in the next few months as well as providing its plan.
Now a few words on FERC:
Its Chairman:
hairman Richard Glick was named by President Biden to be Chairman of the Federal Regulatory Commission on January 21, 2021 and is serving a Commission term that ends June 30, 2022.
Glick was nominated to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by President Donald J. Trump in August 2017 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 2, 2017.
Before joining the Commission, he was general counsel for the
Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee,
serving as a senior policy advisor on numerous issues including
electricity and renewable energy.
Prior to that, he was vice president of government affairs for
Iberdrola’s renewable energy, electric and gas utility, and
natural gas storage businesses in the United States. He ran
the company’s Washington, DC, office and was responsible for
developing and implementing the U.S. businesses’ federal
legislative and regulatory policy advocacy strategies.
Iberdrola is the parent company of Avangrid, who is planning to buy PNM.
What does FERC do?
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, is an independent agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. FERC also reviews proposals to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and interstate natural gas pipelines as well as licensing hydropower projects. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 gave FERC additional responsibilities as outlined and updated Strategic Plan. As part of that responsibility, FERC:
There is more, but to get to the point: FERC HAS SIGNED OFF ON THE PNM/AVANGRID MERGER.
Your Observer to the NM PRC,
George Richmond
-- George M. Richmond 152 Juniper Hill Road, NE Albuquerque, NM 87122-1913 C: 505-280-2105 E: geomrich1@comcast.net