46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003

RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES; AMENDING AND ENACTING SECTIONS OF THE PUBLIC UTILITY ACT.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 62-3-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 96, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"62-3-3. DEFINITIONS.--Unless otherwise specified, when used in the Public Utility Act:

A. "affiliated interest" means a person who directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls or is controlled by or is under common control with a public utility. Control includes instances where a person is an officer, director, partner, trustee or person of similar status or function or owns directly or indirectly or has a beneficial interest in ten percent or more of any class of securities of a person;

B. "commission" means the public regulation commission;

C. "commissioner" means a member of the commission;

D. "municipality" means a municipal corporation organized under the laws of the state, and H-class counties;

E. "person" means an individual, firm, partnership, company, rural electric cooperative organized under Laws 1937, Chapter 100 or the Rural Electric Cooperative Act, corporation or lessee, trustee or receiver appointed by any court. "Person" does not mean a class A county as described in Section 4-36-10 NMSA 1978 or a class B county as described in Section 4-36-8 NMSA 1978. "Person" does not mean a municipality as defined in this section unless the municipality has elected to come within the terms of the Public Utility Act as provided in Section 62-6-5 NMSA 1978. In the absence of voluntary election by a municipality to come within the provisions of the Public Utility Act, the municipality shall be expressly excluded from the operation of that act and from the operation of all its provisions, and no such municipality shall for any purpose be considered a public utility;

F. "securities" means stock, stock certificates, bonds, notes, debentures, mortgages or deeds of trust or [other] similar evidences of indebtedness issued, executed or assumed by a utility;

G. "public utility" or "utility" means every person not engaged solely in interstate business and, except as stated in Sections 62-3-4 and 62-3-4.1 NMSA 1978, that may own, operate, lease or control:

(1) any plant, property or facility for the generation, transmission or distribution, sale or furnishing to or for the public of electricity for light, heat or power or other uses;

(2) any plant, property or facility for the manufacture, storage, distribution, sale or furnishing to or for the public of natural or manufactured gas or mixed or liquefied petroleum gas for light, heat or power or other uses; but the term "public utility" or "utility" shall not include any plant, property or facility used for or in connection with the business of the manufacture, storage, distribution, sale or furnishing of liquefied petroleum gas in enclosed containers or tank truck for use by others than consumers who receive their supply through any pipeline system operating under municipal authority or franchise and distributing to the public;

(3) any plant, property or facility for the supplying, storage, distribution or furnishing to or for the public of water for manufacturing, municipal, domestic or other uses; provided, however, nothing contained in this paragraph shall be construed to apply to irrigation systems, the chief or principal business of which is to supply water for the purpose of irrigation;

(4) any plant, property or facility for the production, transmission, conveyance, delivery or furnishing to or for the public of steam for heat or power or other uses; or

(5) any plant, property or facility for the supplying and furnishing to or for the public of sanitary sewers for transmission and disposal of sewage produced by manufacturing, municipal, domestic or other uses; provided that the terms "public utility" or "utility" as used in the Public Utility Act do not include any utility owned or operated by a class A county as described in Section 4-36-10 NMSA 1978 either directly or through a corporation owned by or under contract with such a county;

H. "rate" means every rate, tariff, charge or other compensation for utility service rendered or to be rendered by a utility and every rule, regulation, practice, act, requirement or privilege in any way relating to such rate, tariff, charge or other compensation and any schedule or tariff or part of a schedule or tariff thereof;

I. "service" or "service regulation" means every rule, regulation, practice, act or requirement relating to the service or facility of a utility;

J. "Class I transaction" means the sale, lease or provision of real property, water rights or other goods or services by an affiliated interest to a public utility with which it is affiliated or by a public utility to its affiliated interest;

K. "Class II transaction" means:

(1) the formation after May 19, 1982 of a corporate subsidiary by a public utility or a public utility holding company by a public utility or its affiliated interest;

(2) the direct acquisition of the voting securities or other direct ownership interests of a person by a public utility if such acquisition would make the utility the owner of ten percent or more of the voting securities or other direct ownership interests of that person;

(3) the agreement by a public utility to purchase securities or other ownership interest of a person other than a nonprofit corporation, contribute additional equity to, acquire additional equity interest in or pay or guarantee any bonds, notes, debentures, deeds of trust or other evidence of indebtedness of any such person; provided, however, that a public utility may honor all agreements entered into by such utility prior to May 19, 1982; or

(4) the divestiture by a public utility of any affiliated interest that is a corporate subsidiary of the public utility;

L. "corporate subsidiary" means any person ten percent or more of whose voting securities or other ownership interests are directly owned by a public utility; and

M. "public utility holding company" means an affiliated interest that controls a public utility through the direct or indirect ownership of voting securities of that public utility."

Section 2. Section 62-6-11 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1941, Chapter 84, Section 23, as amended) is amended to read:

"62-6-11. SECURITIES VOID UNLESS APPROVED.--All securities issued, assumed or guaranteed without application to and approval of the commission, except the securities mentioned in Sections 62-6-8 and 62-6-8.1 NMSA 1978, [shall be void] are voidable."

Section 3. Section 62-8-7.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1985, Chapter 221, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"62-8-7.1. HEARING PROCEDURES FOR CHANGE OF RATES OF SMALL WATER AND SEWER UTILITIES.--[A.] Whenever there is filed with the commission any schedule proposing any new [rate or] rates pursuant to Section 62-8-7 NMSA 1978 by any public utility as defined in Paragraph (3) or (5) of Subsection G of Section 62-3-3 NMSA 1978 whose annual operating revenues averaged less than five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) over [any] the most recent consecutive [three-year] five-year period, the [rate or] rates shall become effective as proposed by the utility without a hearing; provided that the utility shall be required to give written notice of the proposed rates to the ratepayers receiving service from the utility at least sixty days prior to filing the proposed rate change with the commission and provided further that the commission shall enter upon a hearing concerning the reasonableness of any proposed rates filed by such a utility pursuant to Subsections C and D of Section 62-8-7 NMSA 1978 when any rate increase would have the effect of increasing the [rate or] rates fifty percent or more in any twelve-month period or upon the filing with the commission of a protest seeking review of the proposed [rate or] rates signed by ten percent or more of the ratepayers receiving service from such a utility. For purposes of this section, each person who receives a separate bill equals one ratepayer and each person who receives multiple bills equals one ratepayer. The petition shall be signed by the person in whose name service is carried. The petition shall be filed no later than twenty days after the filing with the commission of the schedule proposing the new rates. In all other respects, Section 62-8-7 NMSA 1978 shall apply to such water utilities. If a utility provides both water and sewer service, the annual operating revenues attributable to the provision of water service only shall determine whether the procedures specified in this section shall apply to any schedule proposing any new [rate or] rates for water service, and the annual operating revenues attributable to the provision of sewer service shall determine whether the procedures specified in this section shall apply to any schedule proposing any new [rate or] rates for sewer service."

Section 4. Section 62-8-8 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 96, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:

"62-8-8. INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION [FEES] FEE.--Each utility doing business in this state and subject to the control and jurisdiction of the commission with respect to its rates or service regulations shall pay annually to the state a fee for the inspection and supervision of such business in an amount equal to one-half of one percent of its gross receipts from business transacted in New Mexico for the preceding calendar year. In calendar year 1992, that sum shall be payable in equal quarterly installments on or before the last day of February, May, August and November, respectively. Thereafter, that sum shall be payable on or before the [last day of February] first day of April in each year. An inspection and supervision [fees] fee shall be paid by [such] utilities in addition to [any and] all property, franchise, license, intangible and other taxes, fees and charges [now or hereafter] provided by law. No similar inspection and supervision fee shall be measured by the amount of the gross receipts of such utility for the calendar year next preceding the date fixed in this section for the payment of the fee. In the case of utilities engaged in interstate business, the [fees] inspection and supervision fee shall be measured by the gross receipts of those utilities from intrastate business only for that preceding calendar year and not in any respect upon receipts derived wholly or in part from interstate business. No [supervision or inspection fees] inspection and supervision fee shall be charged on the gross receipts from the sale of gas, water or electricity to a utility regulated by the commission for resale to the public."

Section 5. Section 62-9-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1971, Chapter 248, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:

"62-9-3. LOCATION CONTROL--LIMITATIONS.--

A. The legislature finds that it is in the public interest to consider any adverse effect upon the environment and upon the quality of life of the people of the state that may occur due to plants, facilities and transmission lines needed to supply present and future electrical services. It is recognized that such plants, [lines and] facilities and transmission lines will be needed to meet growing demands for electric services and cannot be built without in some way affecting the physical environment where these plants, facilities and transmission lines are located. The legislature therefore declares that it is the purpose of this section to provide for the supervision and control by the commission of the location within this state of new plants, facilities and transmission lines for the generation and transmission of electricity for sale to the public.

B. No person, including any municipality, shall begin the construction of any plant designed for or capable of operation at a capacity of three hundred thousand kilowatts or more for the generation of electricity for sale to the public within or without this state, whether or not owned or operated by a person that is a public utility subject to regulation by the commission, or of transmission lines in connection with such a plant, on a location within this state unless the location has been approved by the commission. For the purposes of this section, "transmission line" means any electric transmission line and associated facilities designed for or capable of operations at a nominal voltage of two hundred thirty kilovolts or more, to be constructed in connection with and to transmit electricity from a new plant for which approval is required.

C. Application for approval shall contain all information required by the commission to make its determination, be made in writing setting forth the facts involved and be filed with the commission. The commission shall, after a public hearing and upon notice as the commission may prescribe, act upon the application. The commission may condition its approval upon a demonstration by the applicant that it has received all necessary air and water quality permits.

D. No approval shall be required for construction in progress on the effective date of this section or for additions to or modifications of an existing plant or transmission line.

E. The commission shall approve the application for the location of the generating plant unless the commission finds that the operations of the facilities for which approval is sought will not be in compliance with all applicable air and water pollution control standards and regulations existing or will unduly impair system reliability. The commission shall not require compliance with performance standards other than those established by the agency of this state having jurisdiction over a particular pollution source.

F. The commission shall approve the application for the location of the transmission lines unless the commission finds that the location will unduly impair important environmental values or the operation of the proposed transmission lines will unduly impair power system reliability.

G. No application shall be approved pursuant to this section which violates an existing state, county or municipal land use statutory or administrative regulation unless the commission finds that the regulation is unreasonably restrictive and compliance with the regulation is not in the interest of the public convenience and necessity, in which event and to the extent found by the commission the regulation shall be inapplicable and void as to the siting. When it becomes apparent to the commission that an issue exists with respect to whether a regulation is unreasonably restrictive and compliance with the regulation is not in the interest of public convenience and necessity, it shall promptly serve notice of that fact by certified mail upon the agency, board or commission having jurisdiction for land use of the area affected and shall make the agency, board or commission a party to the proceedings upon its request and shall give it an opportunity to respond to the issue. The judgment of the commission shall be conclusive on all questions of siting, land use, aesthetics and any other state or local requirements affecting the siting.

H. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to confer upon the commission power or jurisdiction to regulate or supervise any person, including a municipality, that is not otherwise a public utility regulated and supervised by the commission, with respect to its rates and service and with respect to its securities, nor shall any other provision of the Public Utility Act be applicable with respect to such a person, including a municipality.

I. The commission shall issue its order granting or denying the application within six months from the date the application is filed with the commission. Failure to issue its order within six months is deemed to be approval of the application; provided, however, that the commission may extend the time for granting approval for a transmission line that is subject to this section for an additional ten months upon finding that the additional time is necessary to determine if the proposed location of the line will unduly impair important environmental values."

Section 6. Section 63-7-20 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1951, Chapter 194, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:

"63-7-20. UTILITY AND CARRIER INSPECTION--FEE.--

A. Each utility and carrier doing business in this state which is subject to the control and jurisdiction of the commission by virtue of the provisions of Article 11 of the constitution of New Mexico with respect to its rates and service shall pay annually to the commission a fee in performance of its duties as now provided by law. The fee for carriers shall not exceed one-fourth of one percent of its gross receipts from business transacted in New Mexico for the preceding calendar year. The fee for utilities shall not exceed one-half of one percent of its gross receipts from business transacted in New Mexico for the preceding calendar year. This sum shall be payable annually on or before [January 20 or in equal quarterly installments on or before January 20, April 20, July 20 and October 20] April 1 in each year. No similar fee shall be imposed upon the utility or carrier. In the case of utilities or carriers engaged in interstate business, the fees shall be measured by the gross receipts of the utilities or carriers from intrastate business only for the preceding calendar year and not in any respect upon receipts derived wholly or in part from interstate business. As used in this section, "utility" includes telephone companies and transmission companies.

B. When a fee is not paid on the date it is due, interest shall be paid to the state on the amount due. The interest on the amount due shall start to accrue on the day following the due date and will continue to accrue until the total amount due is paid. The rate of interest on a late fee payment shall be fifteen percent per year, computed at the rate of one and one-fourth percent per month.

C. In addition to any interest due on a late fee payment, a penalty shall be paid to the state for failure to pay the fee when it is due. The penalty imposed shall be two percent of the amount of the fee due.

D. The attorney general, in the name of the state, shall bring suit to collect fees, interest and penalties that remain unpaid."

Section 7. A new section of the Public Utility Act, Section 62-12-1.1 NMSA 1978, is enacted to read:

"62-12-1.1. [NEW MATERIAL] APPOINTMENT OF RECEIVER.--Whenever the commission determines, after notice and hearing, that a public utility is unable or unwilling to adequately service its customers or has been actually or effectively abandoned by its owners or operator, or is unresponsive to the rules or orders of the commission, the commission may commence an action in the district court of the county where the utility has its principal office or place of business for the appointment of a receiver to assume possession of its property and to operate its system upon terms and conditions in accordance with the provisions of the Public Utility Act, commission rules and orders of the court. Upon the order of the court, the receiver may issue receiver's certificates to provide funds to operate, repair, improve or enlarge the utility. Unless otherwise provided in the court order, payment of the receiver's certificates are a first lien on the real and personal property of the utility. The court shall prescribe the certificate's form, term and rate of interest. Receiver's certificates are exempt from the operation of any law that regulates the issuance or sale of securities of public utilities."

Section 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2003.