House Bill text for HB0799

HOUSE BILL 799

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2006

INTRODUCED BY

Roberto J. “Bobby” Gonzales

AN ACT

RELATING TO UTILITIES; CLARIFYING THE SCOPE OF PUBLIC REGULATION COMMISSION JURISDICTION OVER GENERATION AND TRANSMISSION COOPERATIVES; REQUIRING GENERATION AND TRANSMISSION COOPERATIVES TO FILE WITH THE PUBLIC REGULATION COMMISSION COST OF SERVICE REPORTS WITH ADVICE NOTICES FILED FOR RATE PROPOSALS; PERMITTING MEMBER UTILITIES, IN ACCORDANCE WITH EXISTING CONTRACTS, TO GENERATE THEIR OWN POWER OR OBTAIN POWER FROM SOURCES OTHER THAN GENERATION AND TRANSMISSION COOPERATIVES OF WHICH THEY ARE MEMBERS, WITHOUT PENALTY; EXTENDING PROTEST PERIODS FOR RATES PROPOSED BY GENERATION AND TRANSMISSION COOPERATIVES.

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

Section 1. Section 62-6-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1941, Chapter 84, Section 17, as amended) is amended to read:

"62-6-4. SUPERVISION AND REGULATION OF UTILITIES.--

A. The commission shall have general and exclusive power and jurisdiction to regulate and supervise every public utility in respect to its rates and service regulations and in respect to its securities, all in accordance with the provisions and subject to the reservations of the Public Utility Act, and to do all things necessary and convenient in the exercise of its power and jurisdiction. [Nothing in] This section [however] shall not be deemed to confer upon the commission power or jurisdiction to regulate or supervise the rates or service of [any] a utility owned and operated by [any] a municipal corporation either directly or through a municipally owned corporation or owned and operated by [any] an H class county; [by] a class B county [as] defined in Section 4-36-8 NMSA 1978; [or by] a class A county [as] described by Section 4-36-10 NMSA 1978 either directly or through a corporation owned by or under contract with an H class county; [by] a class B county [as] defined in Section 4-36-8 NMSA 1978; [or by] a class A county [as] described by Section 4-36-10 NMSA 1978; or the [rates, service] securities or class I or class II transactions of a generation and transmission cooperative. [No] Inspection or supervision fees shall not be paid by generation and transmission cooperatives; [or by such] those municipalities or municipally owned corporations; a class B county [as] defined in Section 4-36-8 NMSA 1978; a class A county [as] described by Section 4-36-10 NMSA 1978; [or] an H class [counties or such] county; a corporation owned by or under contract with a class B county [as] defined in Section

4-36-8 NMSA 1978; a class A county [as] described by Section

4-36-10 NMSA 1978; [or] an H class county with respect to operations conducted in a class B county [as] defined in Section 4-36-8 NMSA 1978, in a class A county [as] described by Section 4-36-10 NMSA 1978 or in H class counties.

B. The sale, furnishing or delivery of gas, water or electricity by [any] a person to a utility for resale to or for the public shall be subject to regulation by the commission but only to the extent necessary to enable the commission to determine that the cost to the utility of the gas, water or electricity at the place where the major distribution to the public begins is reasonable and that the methods of delivery of the gas, water or electricity are adequate; provided [however] that [nothing in] this subsection shall not be construed to permit regulation by the commission with respect to [a generation and transmission cooperative, except location control pursuant to Section 62-9-3 NMSA 1978 and limited rate regulation to the extent provided in Subsection D of this section, or of] the production or sale price at the wellhead of gas or petroleum.

C. The sale, furnishing or delivery of coal, uranium or other fuels by any affiliated interest to a utility for the generation of electricity for the public shall be subject to regulation by the commission but only to the extent necessary to enable the commission to determine that the cost to the utility of the coal, uranium or other fuels at the point of sale is reasonable and that the methods of delivery of the electricity are adequate; provided [however] that [nothing in] this subsection shall not be construed to permit regulation by the commission of production or sale price at the wellhead of gas or petroleum. Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit regulation by the commission of production or sale price at the point of production of coal, uranium or other fuels.

D. New Mexico rates proposed by a generation and transmission cooperative shall be filed with the commission in the form of an advice notice, a copy of which shall be simultaneously served on all member utilities. Any member utility may file a protest of the proposed rates no later than [twenty days] two months after the generation and transmission cooperative files the advice notice. If three or more New Mexico member utilities file protests and the commission determines there is just cause in at least three of the protests for reviewing the proposed rates, the commission shall suspend the rates, conduct a hearing concerning reasonableness of the proposed rates and establish reasonable rates. Each protest must contain a clear and concise statement of the specific grounds upon which the protestant believes the proposed rates are unreasonable or otherwise unlawful; a brief description of the protestant's efforts to resolve its objections directly with the generation and transmission cooperative; a clear and concise statement of the relief the protestant seeks from the commission; and a formal resolution of the board of trustees of the protesting member utility authorizing the filing of the protest. In order to determine whether just cause may exist for review, the commission shall consider whether each protestant has exhausted remedies with the generation and transmission cooperative or whether the generation and transmission cooperative has unreasonably rejected the protestant's objections to the proposed rates. A member utility shall present its objections to the generation and transmission cooperative in writing and allow a reasonable period for the generation and transmission cooperative to attempt resolution of, or otherwise respond to, those objections. A period of seven days after receipt of written objections will be deemed reasonable for the generation and transmission cooperative to provide a written response to the member utility, but a written response is not required if such time period extends beyond [twenty days] two months after the date on which the generation and transmission cooperative filed the advice notice. The generation and transmission cooperative and its members are expected to make a good faith effort to resolve the member utility's objections to the proposed rates during that period of time.

E. A generation and transmission cooperative that files an advice notice pursuant to Subsection D of this section shall file with the commission a cost of service report in a form prescribed by the commission.

F. A member utility of a generation and transmission cooperative may generate a percentage of its own power or obtain a percentage of power from a source other than the generation and transmission cooperative without penalty by the generation and transmission cooperative if the generation or receipt of that power does not violate any contract between the member utility and the generation and transmission cooperative.

[E.] G. As used in this section, "generation and transmission cooperative" means a person with generation or transmission facilities either organized as a rural electric cooperative pursuant to Laws 1937, Chapter 100 or the Rural Electric Cooperative Act or organized in another state and providing sales of electric power to member cooperatives in this state."

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