The Public Regulation Commission must approve the sale of any public utility in New Mexico. To win approval, the applicants (in this case, PNM and a subsidiary of Blackstone) must show that there is a net public benefit to the utility’s customers, called ratepayers, in New Mexico.

The PRC takes expert testimony and public comment on the buyer’s plan, then an examiner makes recommendations to the board for denial or approval, often with conditions to protect ratepayers from concerns. In a similar case involving the buyout of the New Mexico Gas Co. by an out-of-state private group, a hearing examiner recommended approval after the group committed to invest millions in economic development programs in the state. The examiner also recommended the PRC require the new owner to insulate New Mexico ratepayers from the company’s other assets, so losses or changes in other businesses would not impact the utility here.

In this case, Blackstone has offered to make similar investments in local programs and provide $105 million in rate credits to customers to reduce costs for expanding renewable energy production and transmission (more on that below).

Yes. Unlike other private companies, privately-held utilities operate as a monopoly (only one utility provider per area). To ensure they operate in the public interest, the utility has to publicly disclose details about its plans to maintain and expand service and share financials. That is all reported to the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) which sets utility rates and approves company investments in the grid.

PNM is already privately-owned by individual stockholders. This sale would allow Blackstone to buy that stock and be the majority owner. They would no longer have to file records with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a publicly traded stock, but they would still be overseen by state regulators in the PRC.

PNM’s quest for a new owner (AVANGRID in 2020 and now Blackstone in 2026) is about securing enough money to meet New Mexico’s ambitious zero-carbon energy goals set by the Energy Transition Act (ETA) passed by the Legislature and Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham in 2019. 

PNM has already made big changes, such as closing coal plants and adding over 1 million solar panels. They also recently added large battery storage sites in Albuquerque. With that work, 80% of the electricity PNM delivered in 2025 was from renewable energy, but that was the easy part, PNM will say.

A 2024 report from the PRC says that “PNM has demonstrated a need for about 2,000 MW in the 2024-30 period and between 5,400 MW and 8,700 MW through the end of its 20-year planning horizon in 2042” to meet the ETA’s goals.

To access larger renewable energy resources PNM has to acquire them from the grid, but despite our sunny and windy weather, most of the generation and transmission needed for the next phase aren’t even built yet. “According to the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Agency (RETA), New Mexico has some of the most extensive and valuable wind and solar resources in the United States yet has virtually no transmission to utilize them,” the PRC warned in 2024.

In fact, a 2022 study by RETA estimated New Mexico would need to invest $11 billion alone just to build the transmission lines and wind and solar sites needed to reach the 2030 goal of 50%, ”enabling New Mexico to expand from 2,500 -MW of renewable capacity as of the end of 2019 to 11,500 MW by 2030.” Then, they need at least that much more to reach the 100% goal by 2040. Once those lines are built, they are sold to PNM; hence the need for new investment, and fast.

Either way, PNM customers have to pay for investments in the electricity grid and sources of power that we use everyday. Since PNM is a monopoly, the state’s Public Regulation Commission (PRC) determines what costs are reasonable to pass-on to customers. 

PNM and Blackstone contend that PNM is a small player in the big national energy market, making it more expensive for them to go it alone. In their view, “the future capital funding required by PNM is at levels that might prove difficult to obtain in the public markets.” To keep up, PNM has already been approved to invest $3.4 billion over the next five years, including a $500 million increase dedicated to transmission and grid upgrades, all paid for by rate increases of about $12.46 per month for average customers, so far. To offset future increases, Blackstone has proposed giving ratepayers a $105 million credit over 4 years (more on that below).

In the end, the companies maintain that tapping into Blackstone’s $1.3 trillion in assets is the only way to ensure “greater financing flexibility and improved access to capital” for the work ahead. In essence, PNM and Blackstone are arguing that Blackstone can get better rates on funding, or fund it directly, which ultimately lowers the cost ratepayers will have to pay back each month on their bills.

New Energy Economy speculated in January that Blackstone ”can be expected to file for a rate increase as soon as the deal is closed.” But, again, they offered no evidence for that claim and PNM just received a rate increase to fund the next phase of transition through 2030.

Opponents also say PNM can continue to borrow money when it needs it and Blackstone’s credits are very small compared to the long-term costs. Since this deal is not yet approved, there is the possibility of Blackstone increasing those credits or agreeing not to pursue rate increases for a period of time, just as AVANGRID did as their acquisition plan moved through the process.

That claim was made by New Energy Economy, a Santa Fe-based advocacy group opposed to the buyout, when it wrote that Blackstone’s CEO “is looking to New Mexico’s captive utility customers to fund the buildout of the AI empire.” Since they did not provide any evidence to back this up, we went looking for answers.

It is true that Blackstone is a large private equity firm which has a data center subsidiary but a Blackstone spokesperson told NM Political Report that the company has no data centers in the PNM service area and have no plans to build any.

While data centers may not be a central question before the PRC about the PNM-Blackstone deal, blocking Blackstone won’t stop them.

Data centers don’t have to use PNM’s grid, or anyone else’s for that matter. They can operate their own “microgrids” without impacting the grid the rest of us use. Legislation sponsored by State Senator Jeff Steinborn, a Democrat of Las Cruces, to ensure data center energy costs don’t raise other customer rates failed to pass in 2026 but the issue will certainly be back in future sessions as both candidates for governor have said that data center costs should not be carried by ratepayers and several communities have already passed local bans on building them.

Ultimately, the PRC will probably not be able to consider speculation about data centers or other future business needs in the buyout decision. A PRC hearing examiner recently rejected speculative evidence offered by New Energy Economy and others opposing a similar deal involving the sale of New Mexico Gas Co. to private buyers saying concerns about alternative motives were “more speculation than fact.”

There is a growing movement to turn publicly-regulated private utilities into utilities owned by the public (aka the government). In 2026, several legislators including State Senator Harold Pope, a Democrat from Albuquerque’s Westside, introduced legislation to study the idea, but it did not pass.

On paper, the state could afford it. An early analysis by legislative staff showed that the state investment council has about $50 billion in assets managed in various funds that could afford the $11.5 billion price Blackstone has offered. But, that would require huge shifts in funds that are supposed to be managed to make profits that fund schools, retiree pensions and more. That means a state investment in PNM would have to continue to make a profit for beneficiaries while also funding future PNM growth and operations (those funds already own about $275 million in Blackstone stock, according to news reports). And, not every taxpayer in New Mexico would be likely to support it since PNM only provides utility service in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and a few other parts of the state. Other parts of the state would still be served by private utilities and local co-ops. 

In the end, it is possible, but since PNM is a private company, shareholders would have to approve the sale to the state. Right now, they have approved the Blackstone deal so any real discussion of a public option would likely have to wait until this case is concluded.

The claim that executives will get a big payout has been circulating online and in public comment for some time. “Top executives at PNM would get $17 million and $8 million, if the Blackstone/ PNM merger goes through,” wrote the group NM Climate Justice on Instagram in May.

We can fact-check this because publicly traded companies are required to disclose potential “golden parachute” payments due to executives after a merger or acquisition in public filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

TXNM, PNM’s parent company, listed potential payouts due to all executives if Blackstone fires them after the deal, but both PNM and Blackstone have told federal regulators that only PNM’s Executive Chairperson Pat Vincent Collawn, who leads the current PNM Board of Directors, is due a payment if the transaction completes. The SEC filing lists the value of buying out her agreement and stock options at $21 million.

Other executives, including CEO Don Tarry, would not be eligible because Blackstone intends to keep them in their current roles. “The officers of TXNM at the effective time of the merger will be the officers of the surviving corporation until their successors shall have been duly elected or appointed and qualified,” PNM wrote, meaning the current executives will not be terminated with “golden parachutes” in the merger.