New Mexico Statutes Chapter 62. Electric, Gas and Water Utilities § 62-6-26. Economic development rates for gas and electric utilities;  authorization

A. The commission may approve or otherwise allow to become effective, as provided in Subsection B of this section, applications from utilities or persons subject to regulation pursuant to Subsection B of Section 62-6-4 NMSA 1978 or filings by cooperative utilities pursuant to Section 62-8-7 NMSA 1978, as appropriate, for special rates or tariffs in order to prevent the loss of customers, to encourage customers to expand present facilities and operations in New Mexico and to attract new customers where necessary or appropriate to promote economic development in New Mexico.  Any such special rates or tariffs shall be designed so as to recover at least the incremental cost of providing service to such customers.

B. The commission may approve or otherwise allow to become effective applications from utilities or persons subject to regulation pursuant to Subsection B of Section 62-6-4 NMSA 1978 and filings by cooperative utilities pursuant to Section 62-8-7 NMSA 1978 for economic development rates and rates designed to retain load for gas and electric utility customers.  For purposes of this section and Section 62-8-6 NMSA 1978, economic development rates and rates designed to retain load are rates set at a level lower than the corresponding service rate for which a customer would otherwise qualify.

C. Except as provided in Subsection D of this section, economic development rates shall be approved or otherwise allowed to become effective for an electric utility or persons subject to regulation pursuant to Subsection B of Section 62-6-4 NMSA 1978 or filings by cooperative utilities pursuant to Section 62-8-7 NMSA 1978 only when the utility or the substantially full requirements supplier of the utility has excess capacity.  For purposes of this section, “excess capacity” means the amount of electric generating and purchased power capacity available to the utility or such supplier that is greater than the utility's or such supplier's peak load plus a fixed percentage reserve margin set by the commission.

D. Economic development rates may be approved or otherwise allowed to become effective for electric utilities or persons subject to regulation pursuant to Subsection B of Section 62-6-4 NMSA 1978 or filings by cooperative utilities pursuant to Section 62-8-7 NMSA 1978 that do not meet the qualifications of Subsection C of this section;  provided that the following conditions are met:

E. Prior to July 1, 2035, the commission shall allow public utilities to recover prudent and reasonable costs incurred by a public utility for the ongoing development, construction or maintenance of resources for economic development projects that provide incremental capacity, or serve incremental load growth, within the economic development project's service area.  For economic development projects implemented after the effective date of this 2025 act, the reasonable costs of economic development projects shall be recoverable in rates through a rate rider, base rates or a combination thereof, when the associated equipment and facilities begin serving the new load associated with the economic development project or the utility demonstrates that the economic development project provides benefits to existing customers.  A public utility shall be allowed to defer costs incurred for economic development projects that are not included in rates to a regulatory asset.  Notwithstanding the time lines in Subsection C of Section 62-9-1 NMSA 1978, the commission shall review a public utility's application for an economic development project and issue a final order approving, modifying or denying the application within six months of the application filing date;  provided, however, that the commission may extend the time for granting approval for an additional three months for good cause shown.  All projects shall be certified by the economic development department using industry standard guidelines for site selection and approved by the commission.  All certified and approved projects shall be allowed to complete construction.

F. The economic development department shall certify, using industry standard guidelines for site selection, whether the economic development project will support reasonably anticipated economic development within the state.  Prior to the certification, the department shall provide an opportunity for public comment regarding whether the proposed economic development project will support reasonably anticipated economic development within the state.  The department shall issue a certification letter within sixty days of a request from a public utility or project developer, and the certification letter shall be included in a public utility's application filed pursuant to Subsection E of this section.

G. For purposes of this section: