How much would your electricity bills go up under a new PNM settlement?

Instead of average electricity bills increasing by about $23 over the next two years, the Public Service Company of New Mexico’s new settlement would bump average monthly electricity bills up by about $10 per month over the next two years.

The utility has an ongoing rate increase request before the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, and on Tuesday it filed an unopposed settlement that could bring the case to a quicker and quieter end than the last rate case, which dragged on for a year with contentious back-and-forth arguments between parties.

State regulators must still approve the settlement.

The company’s original rate change request filed in June would’ve increased monthly bills for average residential customers using 600 kilowatt-hours of electricity by $11.12 in July 2025 and $12.48 in January 2026.

Under the newly filed settlement, the monthly bill would increase by $2.79 in July 2025 and increase again by $7 in April 2026.

PNM’s overall revenue requirement increase would be $105 million, per the settlement, rather than the $174.2 million the company originally asked for.

The money would cover the cost of replacing aging equipment and facilities, expand power systems to meet increased energy demand, increase wildfire mitigation management and implement more cybersecurity measures, according to PNM. It also acknowledges inflation raising the cost of electricity.

Additionally, PNM would get a 9.45% return on equity under the settlement. Its capital structure would be 51% equity, 0.25% preferred stock and 48.75% long-term debt.

The utility would also drop its appeal of the capital structure format decided by the PRC in its last rate case, when state regulators largely ruled against everything PNM requested. The appeal is still before the New Mexico Supreme Court.

Additional bill assistance could also come to some customers. PNM agreed in the settlement to add $1.5 million from shareholder contributions to its Good Neighbor Fund, an emergency pot of money that helps low-income customers if they’re at risk of being disconnected once per year.

The PRC is holding a public comment hearing on the rate case Jan. 15.