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Texas-New Mexico Power To Be Affiliated With Texas Retail Electric Provider As A Result Of Merger
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Texas-New Mexico Power Company ('TNMP' or the 'Company') would become affiliated with a Texas retail electric provider as the result of a proposed merger under which TNMP would become an indirect subsidiary of Troy ParentCo LLC (Troy) and Blackstone Infrastructure, the indirect controlling owner of Troy
Specifically, under the transaction, Option 2 retail electric provider Lancium QSE I LLC would become a competitive affiliate of TNMP, due to Blackstone's investment and stake in Lancium LLC.
As recently reported, another Lancium entity, Lancium REP I, LLC, has applied for an Option 2 Texas retail electric provider certificate. Such application is pending, and thus Lancium REP I, LLC does not currently hold any REP certificate
Option 2 REPs are limited to serving customers 1 MW and larger which provide an affidavit agreeing to such service
In testimony, TNMP said that, "While in the past Lancium [Lancium QSE I LLC] provided services in TNMP
service territory, as of June 30, 2025, Lancium is not serving any customers in TNMP’s
service territory."
TNMP further said in testimony that, "Since Lancium [Lancium QSE I LLC] is an Option 2 REP, Lancium is prohibited from making service
offerings to any customer class in TNMP’s service territory. Lancium can only contract
with customers for one megawatt or more of capacity, which is an extremely limited
number of customers eligible in TNMP’s service territory."
TNMP said in testimony that its Code of
Conduct has specific provisions, "that protect the competitive market," in the case where TNMP has an
affiliated competitive REP.
In addition to the current code of conduct, TNMP proposes as a regulatory commitment, to be adopted as part of PUCT approval of the transaction, that, "TNMP will maintain an identity, name, and logo that is separate and distinct from the identity, name, and logos associated with Blackstone and any Texas competitive
affiliate of TNMP provided that the Blackstone name and logo can be added to the
TNMP name and logo for branding purposes."
The following is also proposed as a regulatory commitment: "To the extent that any retail electric provider is affiliated with TNMP, TNMP will
not seek to recover from its customers any costs incurred as a result of a bankruptcy
of any such affiliate."
As for TNMP's existing code of conduct, the provisions listed below are notable in light of the proposed new affiliation with Lancium that would result under the transaction. Lancium is an energy technology and infrastructure company, serving hyperscale data center operators and similar customers. Lancium in marketing materials touts the integration and orchestration of grid interconnects and behind the meter generation and storage resources
TNMP's existing code of conduct includes the following provisions, among others:
• TNMP will not allow preferential access by Competitive Affiliates to
information about its transmission and distribution systems
• TNMP will not permit Competitive Affiliates to have access to information
in a manner that would result in preferential treatment of the Competitive
Affiliates.
• TNMP may not engage in any anticompetitive practice that could harm
competition in any market for competitive services. TNMP may not provide
any Competitive Affiliate any preference over a non-affiliated company
providing competitive services or its customers. All regulated services offered
by TNMP must be available to all eligible customers and non-affiliated
competitive suppliers in a nondiscriminatory manner.
• TNMP will make products and services that it makes available to Competitive
Affiliates available to all similarly situated entities, contemporaneously and in
the same manner. TNMP will:
-- apply its tariffs, prices, terms, conditions and discounts for its
products and services in the same manner to all similarly situated
entities;
-- process all requests for a product or service on a non-discriminatory
basis; and,
-- apply tariff provisions that permit discretion in their application in
the same manner to all similarly situated competitors.
• TNMP will not conduct activities intended to promote the business of the
Competitive Affiliates at the expense of non-affiliated competitors. TNMP
will not:
-- Provide or acquire leads on behalf of Competitive Affiliates;
-- Solicit business or acquire information on behalf of Competitive
Affiliates;
-- Share market analysis reports, market forecasts, planning or
strategic reports, or other types of proprietary or non-publicly
available reports with its Competitive Affiliates;
-- Represent to customers or potential customers that it can offer
competitive retail services bundled with its tariffed services;
-- Request authorization from its customers to pass on information
exclusively to its Competitive Affiliates; or
-- Engage in the following activities: joint marketing, joint advertising
or sales calls, joint proposals, joint promotional communications or
correspondence (other than billing inserts pursuant to a PUCT-approved tariff that are also available to non-affiliated competitors
on the same terms and conditions), joint presentations at trade
shows, conferences or marketing events in Texas; or provide links
from its Internet web site to the Competitive Affiliate’s Internet web
site.
Additionally, as part of TNMP and Troy's application at the PUCT, a witness for Troy noted Blackstone Infrastructure's recently
announced partnership with PPL Corporation ('PPL'), "to pursue the development
of new generation projects in Pennsylvania."
Troy's witness stated, "This joint venture does not involve
PPL Electric Utilities or PPL’s other regulated subsidiaries, and it is still in the very
early stages of identifying development opportunities. However, we look forward
to exploring opportunities through this partnership to develop much needed new
generation in Pennsylvania."
Several Texas power generation companies, including those owned by Invenergy, and storage resources, owned by Aypa Power Holdings LP, would become affiliates of TNMP under the transaction
As part of the application, TNMP proposes a rate credit to customers in the amount of $35 million over 48 months, provided through REPs
A witness for the applicants stated, "For the retail
customers, the credit can be passed through directly to end-use customers by REPs, and
TNMP commits to working in good faith with affected REPs to determine an acceptable
method to implement this commitment."
A witness further stated, "This credit to retail customers will be implemented by REPs in accordance with the
customer’s terms of service, and TNMP commits to working in good faith with affected
REPs to determine an acceptable method for implementation of such electric delivery rate
credits to implement this commitment."
As proposed, all customer classes will receive the retail rate
credit on a kilowatt-hour (kWh) or on a per ESI ID basis using an existing SAC04 code
in the standard electronic transaction for each ESI ID.
The effective date of the retail rate
credit is proposed to coincide with the effective date of the next adjustment to TNMP’s
TCRF after the acquisition closes. Furthermore, TNMP said that it will give REPs at least 45 days notice before
implementation
The proposed amounts for Rider MRC – Merger Rate Credit are below:
Docket 58536
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August 25, 2025
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Copyright 2025 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
Residential $0.001342 kWh
Secondary ≤ 5 kW $0.001935 kWh
Secondary > 5 kW $0.001064 kWh
Primary $0.000295 kWh
Transmission $0.000070 kWh
Rider MRC will be updated annually to
reflect updated kWh sales
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