ABQ Journal Admits: We might have made a mistake. Now we must make the best of it.

On Thursday the PRC will make a momentous decision - do they concur with the Hearing Examiners (HE) who found that Blackstone and PNM broke the law when they deliberately chose not to get prior approval before consummating their $400M stock transaction, and critically, what impact will that have on Blackstone's plan to buy our electric utility. The HE politely suggested that Blackstone and PNM should resubmit their application. We have argued that because the HE found that the stock transaction and the merger were "inextricably linked," the merger application itself must be deemed unlawful too, and dismissed as a consequence. Now it is up to the PRC to decide whether to uphold the law or not.

Leading up to that decision the PRC has been in the spotlight.

• On June 21st the Albuquerque Journal revealed that despite publicly endorsing Bernhard Capital Partners (BCP)'s buyout of NM Gas Company, the PRC Hearing Examiners in that case had reservations about whether the deal would preserve PRC oversight ability if the investors in the private equity fund buying NM Gas remain unknown, but those concerns were hidden from public view.

• Then on the 26th, after this was publicly revealed, BCP asked the PRC to remove some of the redactions. “Public disclosure also serves the public interest,” they wrote. “De-designating and un-redacting the material at issue will promote transparency without compromising any protected information.” New Energy Economy was the sole party that opposed their motion because it is not enough to remove some of the redactions. The law and public interest requires full transparency, and the PRC decision to hide the HE doubts behind a false "trade secret" designation undermines the public's right to know the truth about its own government.

  
  

  A PRC spokesperson, Patrick Rodriguez, again declined to tell the Albuquerque Journal who made the redactions to the HE recommendation. The reporter notes:

“The Commission will review the Joint Applicants’ request to remove the redactions and will issue an order after allowing time for other parties to respond,” Rodriguez said. “It’s also worth noting that the Joint Applicants initially asked for certain information to remain confidential. If they now choose to make that information public, that decision is solely theirs to make.”

Actually no. That decision is not theirs to make. That decision belongs to the regulators, who have the authority and the responsibility vested in them by the NM Constitution to determine what information can remain confidential and to regulate utilities in the public interest. It was the PRC Commissioners who overrode the HE at the start of the hearing to allow BCP to designate its investors in the NM Gas acquisition a confidential "trade secret."

• This weekend an Abq Journal editorial finally got to the heart of the matter. The op-ed, titled "Secret utility deals will erode public’s trust in the PRC," begins with this statement "We might have made a mistake.," and goes on to note that the 2020 decision to move to an appointed rather than an elected PRC missed an important thing:

  
  

  "[E]lections did bring one crucial feature: accountability."

Unfortunately that argument fell on deaf ears in 2020 when the public bought the propaganda from proponents of a Governor appointed PRC. An appointed Commission means that undue influence by utilities shifts from the relatively transparent process of elections to backchannel influence on the officials that appoint the Commissioners and set policy direction. Since the appointed commissioners took office, PNM and its affiliates have pumped nearly $318,000 into state-level races.

Appointment of utility regulators makes the path of influence more difficult to trace and reduces accountability to the public. The current situation at the PRC, at this perilous moment when private equity is seeking to grab our land and resources, is a direct reflection of that lack of transparency.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT? MAKE SURE THEY KNOW THE PUBLIC IS WATCHING!

In a victory for public advocacy, and another important example of the critical role that the press plays in our democracy, the PRC yesterday announced that in response to public pressure and media attention, it has changed its policies for public comment at open meetings. The PRC will now provide a separate time for elected officials to comment on matters before the Commission and reserve a full 30 minutes for other members of the public.

The PRC also announced that it will prioritize those who sign up to speak in advance, whether online or in person, and that it will soon schedule an additional separate hearing for public comment on the Blackstone case after many members of the public showed up at recent meetings and were unable to speak.

On Thursday the PRC will decide whether Blackstone and PNM broke the law and if they must refile their application should they wish to proceed with a merger. Can you show up?? If so, a few important things to note:

1. The location of the open meeting has been changed. It will now take place at the Capitol Building, "the Roundhouse," at 10:00AM in Room 309.

   
   

2. If you want to get a chance to speak, either in person or online, you will need to register in advance by emailing public.comment@prc.nm.gov. Comments are limited to three minutes each.

   
   

3. Even if you don't want to speak, your presence matters. Show up early, sit up front, and make sure the Commissioners know that the people of New Mexico expect the PRC to uphold the law and protect us against rapacious private equity "investors."