N.M. Admin. Code § 17.7.3.9 - FACILITATED STAKEHOLDER PROCESS; IRP PROCESS
A. At least six months prior to the filing of
its IRP, the utility shall notify the commission, members of the public, the
New Mexico attorney general, and all parties to its most recent base rate case
and most recent IRP case of its intent to file an IRP. The commission, upon
notification, shall initiate a facilitated process for the utility, commission
utility division staff, and stakeholders to reach a potential agreement on a
proposed statement of need pursuant to
17.7.3.10 NMAC and an action plan
pursuant to
17.7.3.11 NMAC. The commission,
aside from utility division staff and the appointed facilitator, shall not
participate in the facilitated stakeholder process.
(1) The utility shall provide commission
utility division staff and stakeholders who have signed a confidentiality
agreement reasonable access to the same modeling software used by the utility
on equal footing as the utility, and shall perform a reasonable number of
modeling runs per staff or a stakeholder, if requested by staff or a
stakeholder, in accordance with commission precedent, and the utility shall
share all modeling information.
(2)
Nothing in this Section shall preclude commission utility division staff from
providing an analysis based on an alternative, open-source modeling
software.
B. In selecting
the facilitator, the commission, through its designee, may solicit
recommendations of the names of independent firms or individuals that
demonstrate independence from public utilities supplying electric service in
the state, their affiliates, and likely bidders, and demonstrate the
qualifications, expertise, and experience to perform the functions of a
facilitator as provided in this rule. The commission shall comply with the New
Mexico procurement code in its solicitation of a facilitator.
(1) The facilitator shall provide a statement
of interest to the commission which discloses any contracts or other economic
arrangements of any kind between the facilitator and any investor-owned
electric utility or affiliate within the last four years.
(2) The facilitator shall notify the
commission and utility of any perceived or actual conflicts that arise during
the course of the facilitation process.
C. The commission, through its designee,
shall develop a standard form of contract between the facilitator and the
commission that requires the facilitator, in consultation with the utility, to
issue notice of facilitated stakeholder meetings, and to host and moderate
facilitated stakeholder meetings, including but not limited to, preparing the
agenda, and acting as the coordinator between the utility's presentation and
the stakeholders' questions and comments.
D. Funding for the services of the
facilitator shall be paid by the utility and treated as a regulatory asset to
be recovered through rates established in the utility's next general rate
proceeding.
E. Not later than six
months after the facilitated stakeholder process commences, the utility shall
file the IRP with the commission, explaining all resolved and unresolved issues
resulting from the facilitated process.
(1)
Written public comments may be filed within 30 days of the utility's filing of
the IRP.
(a) Written public comments may
include the commenter's own draft statement of need and action plan for
commission review.
(b) Written
public comments shall be made part of the utility's IRP as addendums.
(2) The utility shall file, within
60 days of the utility's filing of the IRP, a written response to all timely
filed written public comments, stating whether it adopts any of the written
comments as amending the IRP and the reasons why or why not.
(3) The commission's utility division staff
shall consider the filed written public comments and the utility's written
responses and shall file a statement with the commission within 90 days of
utility's filing of the IRP as to whether the statement of need and action plan
comply with the policies and procedures of this rule.
(4) If the commission has not acted within
120 days of the filing of the IRP, the statement of need and action plan are
deemed accepted as compliant with this rule. If the commission determines that
the statement of need or action plan do not comply with the requirements of
this rule, the commission shall identify the deficiencies and return it to the
utility with instructions for re-filing.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.