In a 3-2 vote, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission today approved an increase in annual revenue for the state’s largest utility of about $65.7 million, equating to a bill increase of 10.24 percent for the average customer.

The numbers are preliminary. Regulators and the Public Service Company of New Mexico said they expect to release the exact dollar amounts by the end of the week.

The approved rate hike was a little more than half of PNM’s requested increase of $123.5 million in annual revenue, but higher than the $41.3 million recommended by a PRC hearing officer. PNM’s request would have on average had customers see their bills increase by more than 14.4 percent, versus about a 6 percent increase under the hearing officer’s recommendation.

Voting for the increase were Commissioners Pat Lyons, Lynda Lovejoy and Karen Montoya; voting against were Valerie Espinoza and Sandy Jones.

The increase will affect more than 500,000 New Mexican homes and businesses.

The decision marks the conclusion of one of the most contentious rate cases in recent memory. It lasted nearly two years and was marked by public protests, personal attacks from the parties involved in the case, as well as solidarity between entities that have historically found little to agree upon.

Much of the controversy in the case stemmed from hearing examiner Carolyn Glick’s decision to exclude several transactions from the calculation that determines how much PNM can charge customers. In particular, Glick said PNM acted “imprudently” by failing to sufficiently weigh other options when it purchased 64.1 megawatts of nuclear power from the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station for $163.5 million, extended several leases at Palo Verde for $19.5 million per year and installed $52.3 million worth of air pollution controls at San Juan Generating Station that some parties called excessive. Click here to read the full article.