New Mexico regulators during a Jan. 12 meeting will consider a petition to study pathways for local and tribal governments to create public utilities.

The petitioners argued in a Dec. 21 filing to the state Public Regulation Commission, or PRC, that it is in the public interest and the commission's authority to "evaluate whether it would or would not benefit New Mexico and New Mexicans if the State and its residents owned the facilities necessary for delivery of electrical power to the public." (Docket No. 21-00309-UT)

Nonprofit New Energy Economy, a harsh critic of the state's investor-owned utilities, filed the petition with signatures from 16 state lawmakers.

They asked for a study that would determine the benefits of public power and community choice aggregation, under which investor-owned utilities would maintain the transmission and distribution of power while providing the option for municipal and tribal control over the generation of power.

"My interest is having an unbiased study that would present the pros and cons and the barriers and the steps that would be needed for small entities — and I'm talking about tribes, cities and counties — to create public utilities," said state Sen. Liz Stefanics, a Democrat who signed the petition. She said in a Jan. 10 interview that she has had conversations with people representing such entities who were interested in public power.

The PRC's Jan. 5 order, under which the five commissioners agreed to consider the request, emphasized that the commission does not have jurisdiction over the issue. The order also said the PRC has budgetary and staffing constraints.

"The Commission notes at the outset, however, that the Commission does not have jurisdiction over the subject matter of the study — namely, the potential establishment and operation of a publicly-owned electric utility," the order said.

"Such actions could be initiated only through legislation," it added. " ... However, the Commission may be able to play a role in the proposed study and is interested in engaging with the Joint Petitioners on January 12th to learn more about the proposal."

New Mexico has three main electric utilities: PNM Resources Inc., El Paso Electric Company and Xcel Energy Inc. subsidiary Southwestern Public Service Co. Each one of them either did not return a request for comment or declined to comment on Jan. 10.

The petition follows the rejection by utility commissioners of a proposed merger between PNM and Iberdrola SA subsidiary Avangrid Inc. The companies are appealing the rejection to the state supreme court.

Attempts by local governments to wrest control over their power grids from investor-owned utilities can take years to clear legislative and legal hurdles. Xcel Energy survived a decadelong municipalization effort by the city of Boulder, Colo. An effort by Santa Fe, N.M., to create a public power company fizzled out after a 2015 city legal memo questioning its authority to condemn PNM assets. That memo cited a 1995 federal court case that concerned the unsuccessful attempt by Las Cruces, N.M., to create its own municipal utility, which would have replaced service provided by El Paso Electric.

According to the American Public Power Association, government-controlled utilities serve more than 2,000 communities in 49 states and five U.S. territories.