New Mexico Coops, Regulators and Power Supplier Clash Over Rates
Last week, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) denied a trio of requests from Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (Tri-State) for interim rate increases that would have affected 12 New Mexico coops. Tri-State provides wholesale power to 44 rural cooperatives in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska, and each coop has a representative on the Tri-State board. Three New Mexico coops – Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, Springer Electric Cooperative, Inc. and Continental Divide Electric Cooperative – filed protests with the PRC after Tri-State sought to raise its rates last year. Tri-State is disputing the PRC’s authority over its rates in court and, in the meantime, has asked for an interim rate increase, which is higher for the three coops that protested the original increase. The PRC voted unanimously last week to deny Tri-State’s interim rate hike requests. Click here for more on the controversy.
