A. The utility division shall serve as staff to the commission in the regulation of electric, natural gas, renewable energy sources, telecommunications and water and wastewater systems as provided by law.
B. The commission shall set minimum educational and experience requirements for the director of the utility division.
C. The utility division shall represent the public interest in utility matters before the commission and may present testimony and evidence and cross-examine witnesses. In order to represent the public interest, the utility division shall present to the commission its beliefs on how the commission should fulfill its responsibility to balance the public interest, consumer interest and investor interest.
D. The utility division shall perform the functions of the telecommunications department of the former state corporation commission and staff functions, not including advisory functions, of the former New Mexico public utility commission.
E. Utility division staff shall not have ex parte communications with commissioners or a hearing examiner assigned to a utility case, except as expressly permitted pursuant to Section 8-8-17 NMSA 1978.
History: Laws 1998, ch. 108, § 12; 2003, ch. 346, § 1; § 8-8-12, recompiled as § 62-19-17 by Laws 2020, ch. 9, § 59.
ANNOTATIONSCompiler's notes. — Laws 2020, ch. 9, § 59 recompiled former 8-8-12 NMSA 1978 as part of Chapter 62, Article 19 NMSA 1978, effective January 1, 2023, contingent upon certification by the secretary of state that the constitution of New Mexico has been amended as proposed by a joint resolution of the first session of the fifty-fourth legislature (SJC/SRC/SJR Nos. 1 and 4, CA #1) at the general election to be held on November 3, 2020. The section number was assigned by the compiler.
The 2003 amendment, effective June 20, 2003, added the second sentence in Subsection C; and added the exception to Subsection E.