New Mexico regulators deny utility’s exit from coal plant

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico regulators have denied a request by the state’s largest electric provider to unload its shares in one of the Southwest’s few remaining coal-fired power plants by transferring them to a Navajo energy company. The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to reject the plan. Commissioners said Public Service Co. of New Mexico didn’t specify how the lost power would be replaced. They also had concerns about investments that the utility sought to recover through bonds that would be paid back by customers over a 25-year period. The utility could appeal the decision.