Significant Accounting Policies and Responsibility for Financial Statements (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Principles of Consolidation

The Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of each of PNMR, PNM, and TNMP include their accounts and those of subsidiaries in which that entity owns a majority voting interest. PNM also consolidates the PVNGS Capital Trust and Valencia. PNM owns undivided interests in several jointly-owned power plants and records its pro-rata share of the assets, liabilities, and expenses for those plants.

PNMR shared services' administrative and general expenses, which represent costs that are primarily driven by corporate level activities, are charged to the business segments at cost. Other significant intercompany transactions between PNMR, PNM, and TNMP include interest and income tax sharing payments, as well as dividends paid on common stock. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated. See Note 11.

Segment Reporting

The following segment presentation is based on the methodology that management uses for making operating decisions and assessing performance of its various business activities. A reconciliation of the segment presentation to the GAAP financial statements is provided.

Variable Interest Entity

GAAP determines how an enterprise evaluates and accounts for its involvement with variable interest entities, including determining the primary beneficiary of a variable interest entity, by focusing primarily on whether the enterprise has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the economic performance of a variable interest entity. GAAP also requires continual reassessment of the primary beneficiary of a variable interest entity.