Public Service Co. of New Mexico proposes affordable solar-power systems

Utility company offers to pay customers for solar energy use

The Public Service Co. of New Mexico (PNM) has recently submitted a proposal to the state Public Regulation Commission for approval for buying solar energy from its customers at 11 cents for every kilowatt-hour of energy—approximately $3,100 over 12 years. Under the proposal, customers would purchase solar-power systems and the meter from PNM, preventing the company from having to build a facility to generate that much electricity at a savings of $4.7 million.

PNM hopes to launch the plan by March 1 in order to increase the amount of solar energy tied to its grid to 1.2MW in the next eight years.