PRC Commissioner has to point out to a BCP executive that a gas utility is not like a Burger King

First, reporting back from the BCP buyout of New Mexico Gas Company hearing, we wanted to share this important point made by PRC Commissioner Aguilera to BCP Executive Jeffrey Baudier: a gas utility is not like a Burger King. It has captive customers that do not have a choice about where they can purchase their gas, and therefore those ratepayers have more at stake than burger joint customers. That is why the comparative difference between the $200M acquisition premium being paid to stakeholders compared to the relatively minuscule customer benefits offered by BCP to NMGC customers matters.

Consider the fact that BCP is spending upward of $20 million to finalize this acquisition - compared to the $7 million they have committed to help low-income gas customers. Or the fact that, as Mariel clarifies in this cross examination of Dr. Talley, a merger and acquisition expert, that he is being paid $1750 an hour - nearly $100,000 thus far - to provide his expert opinion that private equity ownership of our gas company poses no increased risk to customers without any analysis of BCP's actual history as a company. Or the fact that the only synergy offered as proof that the buyout will somehow improve service to NMGC customers is the $50 million purchase of a cloud based Oracle billing system that was selected without any cost-benefit analysis. (The law requires that a utility applicant must “provide an objective quantification of benefits versus costs,” for a proposed project and the failure to provide that evidence was “contrary to the public interest.” Case No. 22-00309-UT.)That $50 million will be paid for by those captive customers, who will receive practically nothing in the transaction compared with the executives, shareholders and experts promoting the deal.

The hearing will continue throughout this week and next, and we will continue to report back.

NEXT WEEK WE NEED YOU! WE EXPECT THE WQCC TO ADDRESS THREE MOTIONS TO DISQUALIFY TAINTED COMMISSIONERS AND DISMISS WATR ALLIANCE FRACKING WASTE REUSE PETITION ON THURSDAY

In September we filed a motion with the Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) seeking to disqualify seven commissioners, vacate the Commission’s July 8 order setting a hearing on the WATR Alliance petition to allow discharge of fracking waste, and restore the public’s right to an impartial, science-based process. 

The motion documents the previously reported internal emails showing that Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office and Environment Secretary James Kenney met with other department heads before July 7th and instructed Commissioners to support the oil and gas industry’s produced-water petition before the public meeting. This coordination violates state law, constitutional due process, a violation of separation of powers (because the Legislature has mandated the rule adopted by the WQCC be based on science and the Governor's direction to get the petition "over the finish line" is contrary to the Legislature's mandate) and the Commission’s own rules requiring impartiality. We need you, the public, to show up on Thursday and remind the Commission that they are required to make decisions based on science, not politics. Click below to sign up so we can update you on the agenda when it is published.