NM Supreme Court Rejects Utilities’ Challenge to Community Solar Rules – CleanTechnica

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In a resounding victory for community solar advocates, the New Mexico Supreme Court definitively rejected electric utilities’ efforts to reshape the state’s community solar program. The court released a comprehensive 58-page opinion yesterday, which affirmed its March 2024 verbal decision upholding the implementation rules from the Public Regulation Commission.

New Mexico’s community solar program was enacted in April 2021, enabling individuals, small businesses, and non-profit organizations to benefit from solar power without having their own solar installation. One crucial aspect of this program is the stipulation that 30% of each project’s subscribers must be low-income, offering potential electricity bill savings of up to 30% for participants.

However, the program’s rollout has faced significant delays due to legal challenges from the state’s three investor-owned utilities — Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), El Paso Electric (EPE), and Southwestern Public Service (SPS). The utilities contested the PRC’s billing rules, specifically the commission’s prohibition on charging community solar users for transmission costs.

“We hold that the Utilities, in their various challenges, failed to meet their burden in demonstrating that the [Community Solar] Rule is unreasonable or unlawful in light of the [Community Solar] Act,” Justice Briana H. Zamora wrote in the unanimous opinion. The court specifically upheld the PRC’s authority to prohibit the subtraction of transmission costs from bill credits, calling it “a reasonable exercise of the policy-making authority delegated” to the commission.

The ruling also validated other contested aspects of the program, including the PRC’s decision to employ a third-party administrator for selection processes, and its rejection of SPS’s billing plan without a hearing. While PNM has indicated its intention to move forward with implementation, spokespeople for SPS and EPE declined to comment on the ruling.

Renewable energy advocates celebrated the court’s decision while also expressing frustration over the program’s delayed implementation. “This ruling is significant because it upholds the method for calculating the community solar bill credit rate, outlined by the prior commission, which ensures that subscribers receive fair compensation for the solar energy they use,” said Christian Casillas, executive director of Coalition of Sustainable Communities New Mexico.

As reported by the Santa Fe New Mexican, Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy, was more pointed in her criticism of the utilities’ actions, stating they have been “fabricating confusion and creating disputes where there aren’t any” as part of their “modus operandi to prevent competition.”

Despite the PRC’s approval of numerous projects for the program’s first round, and an increased solar capacity cap for a second round of project bids, actual construction has yet to begin on any approved projects. The court noted in its March order that the appeals had “frustrated attempts to implement the Community Solar program” and urged the commission to proceed swiftly with implementation.

The ruling represents a significant victory for community solar advocates and potentially clears the way for the program to finally move forward, but the history of delays suggests that many challenges may still lie ahead in bringing these projects to fruition.