News Release

Aug. 19, 2013
Another Way to Support Wind and Solar Energy: PNM Sky Blue

Albuquerque: There is another way of supporting wind and solar energy, short of building your own wind turbine or installing panels: PNM Sky Blue.

"PNM Sky Blue is an affordable way for customers to make the power supply greener," said JoAnn Newton, PNM Executive Director of Marketing and Communications.

PNM customers already get some energy from solar centers and a wind farm, as well as from nuclear, natural gas and coal-fired power plants.

Sky Blue lets customers add more wind and solar energy to the overall power supply by purchasing additional energy generated by the New Mexico Wind Energy Center in House, New Mexico, and 22,000 solar panels being installed exclusively for Sky Blue at a new PNM solar center that will be in online this fall.

Participation costs an extra 1.7 cents per kilowatt-hour over the regular price of electricity, with the customer choosing how much they want to purchase up to 90 percent of their monthly use. A 100 kilowatt-hour block, for example, adds $1.70 to the monthly bill.

The program, which is voluntary, was originally launched in 2003, before PNM became the electricity provider for customers in Ruidoso, Alamogordo and Silver City. At the time, it was sourced exclusively with wind power and provided the first renewable energy used by PNM to serve customers. This May, PNM added solar energy to the program, reflecting the company's changing energy mix.

"Our Sky Blue customers are making a measurable difference," said Newton.

Sign up for PNM Sky Blue at PNM.com/SkyBlue. Learn more about PNM's growing renewable energy sources at PNM.com.

With headquarters in Albuquerque, PNM is the largest electricity provider in New Mexico, serving more than 500,000 customers in dozens of communities across the state. PNM is a subsidiary of PNM Resources, an energy holding company also headquartered in Albuquerque. For more information, visit PNM.com.