Anti-coal advocates lead protests as hearings start on PNM rate hikeBy Steve Terrell, The Santa Fe New Mexican
April 11--On a cold, cloudy Monday morning about 50 people showed up outside the PERA Building -- which houses the state Public Regulation Commission -- to demonstrate against a 15.8 percent electrical rate hike requested by the New Mexico's largest utility and continued heavy reliance on coal to generate power. Public Service Company of New Mexico proposed new rates for residential customers would generate about $123.5 million in new revenue for the company. The plan also involves a contract with Navajo Mine Coal Company LLC to supply fuel to the Four Corners Power Plant. The regulatory commission, which last year rejected an earlier rate-increase request by PNM, on Monday began a three-week public hearing process on the PNM's latest rate proposal. PNM has defended its plans for continued substantial use of coal in the near future, contending that rates would be pushed even higher without it. "The bottom line is we're not adding any more coal," a company spokeswoman said in a statement Monday. "Coal is still an affordable and reliable option. We have to minimize costs to customers." Monday's protest included a display of 123 wallets, symbolic of the
amount of new revenue for PNM under the proposal. Participants held
signs with messages such as "Stop the War Against PNM says the rate increase -- which would be its first since 2011 -- is necessary to recover more than $650 million the company has spent on improving its electrical system. But some speakers at the demonstration said the real purpose of the
proposed rate hike is to shift more of the cost of electricity from to
residential customers from commercial and industrial users. Many spoke
of the environmental impact of coal, while some talked about the
economic effect a rate increase would have on poor people. Poet and
environmental activist Sharon Argenbright, a Santa Fe nurse, spoke about installing solar panels at her home. She said it was expensive, but now she doesn't pay monthly electric bills and in fact receives monthly checks from PNM because her solar panels create more power than she uses and the excess is sold to the utility. "If a grandmother can install solar panels and create energy, why can't PNM?" she asked. Rabbi Neil Amswych of Temple Beth Shalom (and president of Santa Fe's Interfaith Leadership Alliance) is a native of England. He noted the overcast skies and said, "This would be a sunny day in England." Then he added, "It's shameful that there is more solar power in England than all of New Mexico." Talking about the need to switch from coal power to renewable energy, the rabbi said, "It's amazing PNM doesn't understand this. It's amazing the PRC doesn't understand this. ... This is about the moral good of society. We have a moral duty to protect the planet. We want the PRC to reject the PRC plan again and again and again." Mariel Nanasi, director of New Energy Economy -- the Santa Fe-based clean-energy advocacy organization that organized the demonstration -- told the crowd that while not making more substantial investments in solar energy the company paid its top five PNM executives nearly $7.5 million a year. Nanasi's compensation figure was apparently based on last year's
figures. According to the publicly traded utility company's 2016 proxy
statement, the total for the top five executives -- including base pay,
incentive pay and stock awards -- is more than $9.94 million. More than
half of that goes to PNM President and CEO PNM spokeswoman "Running an energy company requires specific skills and abilities, and the company works to attract and retain highly qualified, motivated and experienced executives," Porter said. "The board of directors uses a comprehensive method to determine executive compensation, including evaluating market competitiveness and benchmarking similar sized utilities and companies as well as review by an independent compensation consultant." Shareholders, she said, have overwhelmingly approved PNM's executive compensation plans. Incentive pay, she said, is not guaranteed but is based on company performance. Nanasi complained that the proposed coal contract "will continue to bind us to coal until 2031. It's crazy that when everyone else is leaving coal, PNM is doubling down on coal." She also said it is "crazy" that PNM's proposal includes more nuclear energy. "There's still no answer for what to do about [nuclear] waste," she said. Porter said Monday that PNM is reducing the use of coal thanks to the planned closure next year of two of the four units at San Juan Generating Station near Farmington. At one point during the speeches, Public Regulation Commissioner Espinoza last year was the only one of the five member commission who voted against PNM's plans for the San Juan plant. New Energy Economy opposed the plan because the remaining units at the aging power plant still burn coal and some of the lot capacity at the plant will come from nuclear power from Arizona. PNM also plans to use natural gas from a proposed new nearby gas plant and a relatively small percentage of solar and wind energy. Contact ___ (c)2016 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) Visit The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) at www.santafenewmexican.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
|