8-K

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d)

OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):

May 9, 2013

El Paso Electric Company

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Texas	001-14206	74-0607870
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation)	(Commission File Number)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
Stanton Tower, 100 North Stanton, El Paso, Texas		79901
(Address of principal executive offices)		(Zip Code)

(915) 543-5711

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

N/A

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

¨ Written communication pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

¨ Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

¨ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

¨ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Item 5.07.   Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders.

El Paso Electric Company (the “Company”) held its annual meeting of shareholders on May 9, 2013.  As of the close of business on the record date, March 11, 2013, the Company had a total of 40,208,854 shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote at the annual meeting, of which 38,751,318 shares were represented at the meeting in person or by proxy.  The primary purpose of the annual meeting was to give our shareholders the opportunity to vote on three matters:  (i) the election of Class I directors; (ii) the ratification of the selection of KPMG LLP as the Company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2013; and (iii) a non-binding advisory vote on the compensation paid to the Company's named executive officers, commonly referred to as a “say on pay” vote.  A detailed discussion of each of these proposals can be found in our definitive Proxy Statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on March 26, 2013 as supplemented by the supplement thereto filed with the SEC on May 2, 2013.

Proposal 1:  Election of Class I Directors

Our shareholders elected the following persons to serve as Class I directors to hold office for a three-year term expiring at our annual meeting of shareholders to be held in 2016:

Director	Votes For	Votes Withheld	Broker Non-Votes
John Robert Brown	36,604,242	844,638	1,302,438
James W. Cicconi	36,396,427	1,052,453	1,302,438
Patricia Z. Holland-Branch	36,179,181	1,269,699	1,302,438
Thomas V. Shockley, III	36,417,046	1,031,834	1,302,438

In addition to the Class I directors listed above, the following individuals continue to serve as Class II and Class III directors following the meeting: Catherine A. Allen, Edward Escudero, James W. Harris, Woodley L. Hunt, Michael K. Parks, Eric B. Siegel, Stephen N. Wertheimer, and Charles A. Yamarone.

Proposal 2:  Appointment of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

At the annual meeting, our shareholders ratified the selection of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2013 by the following vote:

Description	Number of Votes
FOR	38,276,296
AGAINST	464,716
ABSTAIN	10,306

Proposal 3:  Advisory Vote on the Company's Executive Compensation

In an advisory “say on pay” vote, our shareholders approved the compensation of our named executive officers at the annual meeting by the following vote:

Description	Number of Votes
FOR	36,094,012
AGAINST	1,324,170
ABSTAIN	30,698
BROKER NON-VOTES	1,302,438

Item 8.01. Other Events.

On May 9, 2013, the Company announced that the Board of Directors had approved an increase to the quarterly cash dividend to $0.265per share of common stock from its current quarterly rate of $0.25 per share, commencing with the June 28, 2013 dividend payment, which will be payable to shareholders of record on June 13, 2013.  

The Company's press release announcing the dividend increase is furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K.

The information in Exhibit 99.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K, shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d) Exhibits

Exhibit Number	Description of Exhibit
99.1	Press Release Dated May 9, 2013

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

EL PASO ELECTRIC COMPANY

(Registrant)

By: /s/    DAVID G. CARPENTER

Name:    David G. Carpenter

Title:    Senior Vice President - Chief Financial Officer

Dated: May 9, 2013

EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit Number	Description of Exhibit
99.1	Press Release Dated May 9, 2013

EX-99.1

EXHIBIT 99.1

El Paso Electric

www.epelectric.com

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate ReleaseDate: May 9, 2013

Contacts:

Media: Teresa Souza, 915-543-5823

Analysts: Steve Busser, 915-543-5983, Lisa Budtke, 915-543-5947

El Paso Electric Announces

an Increase in the Quarterly Dividend

EL PASO, Texas-The Board of Directors of El Paso Electric (NYSE:EE) has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend on its common stock of $0.265per share. The dividend was declared on May 9, 2013 and is payable on June 28, 2013 to shareholders of record on June 13, 2013. This is an increase in the annual cash dividend from $1.00 per share to $1.06 per share.

El Paso Electric is a regional electric utility providing generation, transmission, and distribution service to approximately 384,000 retail and one wholesale customer in a 10,000 square mile area of the Rio Grande valley in west Texas and southern New Mexico. El Paso Electric has a net dependable generating capability of 1,765 MW. El Paso Electric's common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EE.

Safe Harbor

This news release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This information may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) increased prices for fuel and purchased power and the possibility that regulators may not permit EE to pass through all such increased costs to customers or to recover previously incurred fuel costs in rates; (ii) recovery of capital investments and operating costs through rates in Texas and New Mexico; (iii) uncertainties and instability in the general economy and the resulting impact on EE's sales and profitability; (iv) unanticipated increased costs associated with scheduled and unscheduled outages of generating plant; (v) the size of our construction program and our ability to complete

construction on budget; (vi) potential delays in our construction schedule due to legal challenges or other reasons; (vii) costs at Palo Verde; (viii) deregulation and competition in the electric utility industry; (ix) possible increased costs of compliance with environmental or other laws, regulations and policies; (x) possible income tax and interest payments as a result of audit adjustments proposed by the IRS or state taxing authorities; (xi) uncertainties and instability in the financial markets and the resulting impact on EE's ability to access the capital and credit markets; and (xii) other factors detailed by EE in its public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. EE's filings are available from the Securities and Exchange Commission or may be obtained through EE's website, http://www.epelectric.com. Any such forward-looking statement is qualified by reference to these risks and factors. EE cautions that these risks and factors are not exclusive. EE does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of EE except as required by law.