Jun. 10—The New Mexico Supreme Court handed down a ruling Monday affirming state utility regulators’ authority to set rates for rural electric cooperatives.

The court’s ruling rejected an appeal from Socorro Electric Cooperative over the Public Regulation Commission’s denial of a proposed electric rate increase in 2018. Instead, the PRC set different rates for the cooperative, which serves about 8,500 customers in Catron, Cibola, Sierra, Socorro and Valencia counties.

The cooperative’s CEO testified to commissioners that a proposed $1.25 million revenue increase was not needed to preserve the company’s financial integrity or to maintain its ability to serve customers, but to meet board members’ financial objectives, including maintaining cash reserves and improving the cooperative’s equity.

As a result, the commission approved a different rate design that decreased rates for some classes of customers and eliminated a fee for others.

The case came before the commission after complaints from some cooperative customers, including the city of Socorro and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, over the rate increase.

While the cooperative argued the commission’s authority only allows it to approve or deny a rate increase, Supreme Court justices wrote in an opinion the Public Utility Act “grants the commission plenary authority to regulate public utility rates” for cooperatives just as it does for investor-owned utilities.

The opinion, written by Justice Julie Vargas, concludes the commission “properly exercised its authority” in the cooperative’s rate case and approved “just and reasonable rates” for its customers.