New Mexico groups, residents call on state leaders to buy stake in state’s largest electric provider

More than 50 progressive organizations and 1,400 New Mexico residents signed a petition this week to state leaders and both gubernatorial nominees urging them to consider buying a stake in the state’s largest electric provider.

Proceedings for private equity firm Blackstone Infrastructure to take over TXNM Energy Inc., which owns PNM and provides most of New Mexico’s electricity, have encountered several setbacks since they were first made public in 2025. Residents have packed the room at public comment meetings to oppose the proposed $11.5 billion acquisition, and the state Public Regulation Commission recently found that a $400 million stock sale between Blackstone and TXNM violated state law.

Utility regulators ordered the two sides to undo the illegal stock sale. After paying Blackstone back, TXNM intends to sell $400 million of its stocks. Opponents to the private equity takeover say it’s an opportunity for the state to invest in its own electrical infrastructure.

“Instead of automatically handing this investment opportunity back to Wall Street, New Mexico should seriously evaluate purchasing a significant stake in our own largest electric utility,” Mariel Nanasi, executive director of the clean energy organization New Energy Economy, said in a statement. Her organization joined the Center for Biological Diversity, Youth United for Climate Crisis Action and more than 50 others in signing the petition.

A spokesperson for the State Investment Council said its leaders needed “additional analysis and review of what’s being suggested” before commenting on the proposal.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in July wrote an op-ed in the Albuquerque Journal opposing the proposed purchase and contended that the state needs “well-regulated private capital to realize our energy goals.” A spokesperson for Lujan Grisham on Wednesday told Source NM that her position has not changed.

However, New Mexicans will elect a new governor in the Nov. 3 general election.

On the campaign trail leading up to the June primary election, both Democrat Deb Haaland and Republican Gregg Hull often answered questions about PNM’s pending merger by saying they believed any deal needs to protect ratepayers.

In a statement to Source NM, Haaland, a former U.S. representative and Interior secretary, said that “there are both successful and unsuccessful models of public utilities across the country,” but stopped short of endorsing a potential state purchase.

“I am firmly in favor of making our utilities more accountable to ratepayers, more affordable for consumers, driven by more renewable energy for our environment and more beneficial for New Mexicans,” she said. “My priority as Governor will be to ensure we support families, protect consumers, and keep costs down.”

Hull, the former mayor of Rio Rancho, struck a similar tone.

In a statement, he said he doesn’t oppose a private acquisition, but wants the terms of any such deal to protect the company’s ratepayers.

“Whatever happens with TXNM has to work for New Mexico ratepayers and taxpayers first, not politicians or private equity,” he said. “That means the PRC’s ruling on the illegal stock sale gets enforced in full, and it means this coalition’s buy-in proposal gets the same independent scrutiny I’ve demanded of the Blackstone deal itself before a single public dollar moves.”