SANTA FE – A landmark energy law designed to wean a sun-drenched state off coal-fired electricity and boost renewable power has not gone as planned for legislators who brokered a deal between utility owners and environmentalists.
A panel of lawmakers was scheduled Thursday to hear a progress report about the Energy Transition Act, amid legal skirmishes over who should foot the bill for divesting from coal – utility company investors or customers.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed landmark legislation in March that sets ambitious new renewable energy goals.
The law also is supposed to ease the economic pains of closing the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station near Farmington. But advocates for utility customers say it provides an unjust financial windfall to the Public Service Co. of New Mexico.
