Monarch Of Meter Readers

\ Mar 30, 2006

5 min read

[RE: Letters, “PNM Moneybags,” March 16-22]

Ann Stevens is not alone and should consider further action. I purchased a home here a year ago and have fought a losing battle with PNM in an effort to try to get them to learn their jobs and then to actually do them. Over many months of phone calls I have concluded the following by their own statements: Your meter may or may not be read. Your meter may or may not be read by a remote device, binoculars or an actual meter reader but they don’t know and refuse to tell you. They will not disclose if they charge based on estimated usage or actual usage. They deny having ever made a mistake immediately after telling you they made a mistake for the previous six months, which is somehow your fault. They have no accountability, nor any desire for it. Upon calling the NM Public Regulation Division, who is supposed to advocate for the consumer, and engaging in a three-way phone call, it was determined that I was out of order for expecting any answers and was tag-teamed by the PNM rep and the NMPRD rep. The fact that my meter was incorrectly read upon purchasing my home, the fact that I spent three months on the phone to get someone to verify this, the fact that they don’t do estimating, except for when they do and you are not privileged to know this as they don’t even know, but due to their mistakes I now owe about $700 for gas alone on an account that predated my even owning the home, and since I gave up calling after three months it’s my fault.

One supervisor (may have been the Queen of England) told me in a haughty voice, “I don’t accept direct phone calls.” Her main concern was finding out the name of the employee that had transferred me to her to make sure he never did that again. Negligence, incompetence and apathy, one contradictory statement after another, and this is from the management. Adding insult to injury is that it appears the NMPRD has no genuine desire to question PNM but rather to take everything they say on face value. Solution by PNM and NMPRD: You're wrong, inferior, stupid, don’t question us, and shut up and pay the incorrect bill.

Any other persons that feel they have been ripped off, slighted, demeaned, abused or disregarded by PNM and/or NMPRD feel free to e-mail investigatepnm@yahoo.com.

Two-Minute Showers

“Drought” is a euphemism for what we're really experiencing—which is “normal.” Two thousand years of tree rings tell us this. Climate models tell us global warming will most likely exacerbate this situation for the Southwest. Albuquerque's 46,000 acre-feet of San Juan/Chama water isn't magically automatic. It depends on there being sufficient precipitation in certain Colorado watersheds, primarily in the form of snow. With or without our full allotment of San Juan/Chama water, we'll be drawing more water from our aquifer than is being replenished. I applaud the Water and Waste Water Utility for its recent actions. They're going to need to do more before this “drought” is over. So are we.

Please remember these things while watering your lawn.

Major Potholes

“Bends in the Road,” the so-called “Iraq War time line” [Feature, “’Happy’ Birthday,” March 16-22] could as easily have been published in the right-leaning Albuquerque Journal as the Alibi. Indeed, the author lists her sources as Wikipedia.com and Infoplease.com, along with the London Guardian. The mainstream media is only now, as support of the war has dwindled to 29 percent, beginning to question the various rationales given by the Bush administration for attacking Iraq three years ago. Not surprisingly, mainstream media sources are somewhat shy about presenting any of the copious records in unvarnished form.

While liberals bemoan the death of 70,000 Christians in Darfur—appropriately so—a genocide is taking place before our very averted eyes, and even the Alibi is afraid to talk about it, since it is a genocide that the citizens of this country have the power to prevent simply by holding their leaders accountable.

Like Cats And Dogs

[RE: Letters, “Best of Bark-y,” March 23-29]

Here is a picture of Lily Munster, who I am sure is receiving votes for Best Cat. C’mon and print it, give the cat people equal time!

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