Staff for the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission are asking commissioners to authorize a formal investigation into the state’s largest electric provider after widespread customer complaints of exceedingly expensive bills.
In a five-page filing to the commission Tuesday, staffers on the entity’s Public Interest Advocacy team wrote that electric provider PNM in July began estimating residential customer bills, rather than obtaining readings from meters, in the Alamogordo and Ruidoso areas because of a meter reader shortage. The practice quickly spread statewide, they wrote.
The commission subsequently held a September town hall meeting in Alamogordo, where some residents complained that their monthly bills had gone as high as $1,700. Last month, the New Mexico Department of Justice announced it had received several complaints from residents across the state who saw their monthly bills skyrocket from their usual range of $150 to $200…