Republican Party of New Mexico

09/19/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/19/2026 12:59

AFTER FOUR YEARS OF SILENCE, RAÚL TORREZ “DISCOVERS” UTILITY ACCOUNTABILITY — LESS THAN TWO MONTHS BEFORE ELECTION DAY

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 12, 2026

Torrez never lifted a finger to challenge PNM's rate hikes. Now,
with Sam Kane closing in and voters furious over their bills, he's
suddenly hand-delivering strongly worded letters

Las Cruces, NM - For four years, Attorney General Raúl Torrez sat on his hands while Public Service Company of New Mexico hammered ratepayers with hike after hike and New Mexicans watched their electric bills climb into the stratosphere. He never filed an objection.

Then Sam Kane started talking about it on the campaign trail.

Now, with early voting bearing down and Kane's message on utility accountability landing with voters from Otero County to Bernalillo County, Torrez's office has suddenly found the energy to hand-deliver a letter to TXNM Energy President and CEO Don Tarry, demanding answers about PNM's billing practices.

Convenient timing. Zero credibility.

"New Mexicans don't need a press release from Raúl Torrez two months before an election - they needed an Attorney General who actually did his job for the last four years," said Sam Kane. "Where was this urgency when PNM was piling rate increase on top of rate increase? Where was this letter last summer? Last year? The only thing that's changed is the fact that election day is around the corner. Raúl Torrez isn't protecting ratepayers - he's protecting his job."

The facts, as reported by the Albuquerque Journal, speak for themselves:

PNM customers have been hit with wildly inflated, estimated bills - in some cases topping $1,000 for households that had never seen a bill over $200 - thanks to a meter-reader staffing shortage the company only now admits to.

Complaints piled up for months. PNM held a hearing in Alamogordo back in August to address the backlash. Torrez's office did nothing public about it.

It wasn't until September 10, with Election Day on the horizon, that Mark Hayden - director of the NMDOJ's Utilities Unit - finally hand-delivered a letter demanding PNM explain itself by September 23.

No rate objection. No enforcement action. Just a campaign photo op dressed up as oversight - in response to Sam Kane's utility rate messaging resonating with voters.
"If Raúl Torrez actually cared about what PNM has been doing to working families, he had four years and every legal tool in the office to stop it," Kane said. "Instead, New Mexicans got silence until it became politically inconvenient for him not to act. It's an election season stunt."

"And furthermore, the fact that establishment media in New Mexico continue to run cover for the powerful by publishing these puff pieces, while they attempt to manipulate their way to reelection, is shameful. The press should hold the powerful accountable-unfortunately, in New Mexico, too often they are simply the PR branch of the ruling elite."

Sam Kane has made standing up to utility rate hikes and unaccountable monopolies a cornerstone of his campaign for Attorney General. New Mexico families have been getting squeezed for years and deserve an Attorney General who will actually use the office to fight for them, every day, not just when the cameras are rolling and media is lining up to help powerful politicians get re-elected.

Sam Kane is running for New Mexico Attorney General. Learn more at samfornewmexico.org.

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Republican Party of New Mexico published this content on September 19, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on September 19, 2026 at 18:59 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]