| Albuquerque, New Mexico | August
22 ,
2005 |
PNM Resources' (NYSE: PNM) New Mexico utility, PNM, has signed a six-year agreement to sell Renewable Energy Certificates to El Paso Electric Co.
The sale helps EL Paso Electric meet the state's renewable energy portfolio standard and begins in 2006. The sale requires approval from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission and is worth about $4 million during the term, based on current market prices for Renewable Energy Certificates - or RECs. The number of RECs sold will vary year-to-year.
New Mexico's renewable portfolio standard requires investor-owned electric utilities to produce or buy renewable energy or equivalent certificates. According to the law, renewable energy must make up 5 percent of the utilities' sales by 2006 and 10 percent by the year 2011. New Mexico, like many other states, allows utilities to either provide renewable energy to customers or purchase RECs, which encourage the development of renewable energy. The seller of RECs must provide evidence that the energy has been generated by a renewable resource. PNM receives the full output of renewable energy from the 200-megawatt New Mexico Wind Energy Facility, near House, N.M.
According to the PNM-El Paso agreement, the price of each certificate will be adjusted annually based on inflation from 2007 through 2011. One certificate represents one megawatt-hour of electricity generated by a renewable source.
Background
PNM Resources (NYSE: PNM) is an energy holding
company based in Albuquerque, N.M., with consolidated operating
revenues of $2.3 billion. Through its utility and energy
service subsidiaries, PNM Resources supplies electricity
to 725,000 homes and businesses in New Mexico and Texas and
natural gas to 471,000 customers in New Mexico. Its utility
subsidiaries are PNM and Texas-New Mexico Power. Other subsidiaries
include First Choice Power, a deregulated competitive retail
electric provider in Texas, and Avistar, an energy research
and development company. PNM Resources and its subsidiaries
also sell power on the wholesale market in the West. For
more information, visit PNMResources.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995
Statements made in this release
and documents PNM Resources files with the SEC that relate
to future events or PNM Resource's expectations, projections,
estimates, intentions, goals, targets and strategies are
made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. You are cautioned that all forward-looking statements
are based upon current expectations and estimates and PNM
Resources assumes no obligation to update this information.
Because actual results may differ materially from those expressed
or implied by the forward-looking statements, PNM Resources
cautions you not to place undue reliance on these statements.
Many factors could cause actual results to differ, and will
affect PNM Resource's future financial condition, cash flow
and operating results. These factors include the availability
of cash from TNP Enterprises, Inc. and its subsidiaries,
the risks that the businesses will not be integrated successfully,
the risk that the benefits of the acquisition will not be
fully realized or will take longer to realize than expected,
disruption from the acquisition making it more difficult
to maintain relationships with customers, employees, suppliers
or other third parties, conditions in the financial markets
relevant to the acquisition, the outcome of any appeals of
the Public Utility Commission of Texas order in the stranded
cost true-up proceeding or the acquisition proceeding, the
ability of First Choice Power to attract and retain customers,
changes in Electric Reliability Council of Texas protocols,
changes in the cost of power acquired by First Choice Power,
collections experience, insurance coverage available for
claims made in litigation, interest rates, weather, water
supply, fuel costs, availability of fuel supplies, risk management
and commodity risk transactions, seasonality and other changes
in supply and demand in the market for electric power, wholesale
power prices, market liquidity, the competitive environment
in the electric and natural gas industries, the performance
of generating units and transmission system, the ability
of PNM Resources to secure long-term power sales, the risks
associated with completion of the construction of Luna Energy
Facility, including construction delays and unanticipated
cost overruns, state and federal regulatory and legislative
decisions and actions, the outcome of legal proceedings,
changes in applicable accounting principles and the performance
of state, regional and national economies. For a detailed
discussion of the important factors that affect PNM Resources
and that could cause actual results to differ from those
expressed or implied by PNM Resources' forward-looking statements,
please see "Management's Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in
PNM Resources' current and future Annual Reports on Form
10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and PNM Resources'
current and future Current Reports on Form 8-K, filed with
the SEC.
Analysts' contacts
|
Press & analysts' contact Frederick Bermudez: (505) 241-4831 |