New Mexico residents filled a ballroom on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque on Tuesday to weigh in on a private equity firm’s proposal to take over the state’s largest electric provider.
Blackstone Infrastructure’s proposed $11.5 billion merger with TXNM Energy Inc., the parent company of PNM, has proven controversial since it was first announced in 2025. Residents opposed to the acquisition have often commandeered the public comment period during New Mexico Public Regulation Commission meetings, state lawmakers have taken differing stances on it and it became an important topic leading up to the June gubernatorial primary election.
Many of the people who came out to Tuesday’s public comment hearing opposed the proposed deal — at one point, a chorus of people in the crowd got out of their seats and chanted in unison that the proceeding was a “mockery of the democratic process” — and questioned why it was still on the table at all…