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Public Service Company of New Mexico customers can volunteer to let the utility power down their refrigerated air conditioning on hot summer days.

Refrigerated air conditioning requires more power than traditional swamp coolers. Powering down the units would let PNM reduce electrical demand, thus cutting costs and greenhouse gas emissions, while delaying the need to build expensive transmission lines or power plants and even preventing brownouts.

It would also help customers save money.

PNM will send participating residential and small-business customers a $25 thank-you check each fall.

In late August, the state Public Regulation Commission gave PNM permission to offer programs to manage its electric system during peak demand periods. The program is part of a larger package to improve energy efficiency.

Residential and small-business customers with refrigerated air can sign up for a program called Power Saver. Large businesses can participate in a similar program called Peak Saver.

The programs, which will begin this summer, are a first for New Mexico, PNM spokeswoman Susan Sponar said.

The idea is that on hot days, when demand reaches a peak, the program sends signals to devices installed for free on customers' refrigerated air conditioning units, powering down the compressors and reducing the overall demand on PNM's system, Sponar said.

About 15 percent to 20 percent of PNM's customer base uses refrigerated air, she said.

Typically, a power down could last an hour or two, but times will vary, Sponar said. The program will operate between 1 and 8 p.m., as needed, from June through September.

Air conditioning temperatures would go up 1 to 3 degrees when Power Saver is triggered, so people "shouldn't notice a lot of inconvenience and discomfort," Sponar said.

About 6,000 homeowners have already signed up in the Albuquerque metro and Santa Fe areas — the only places where the program is currently available.

It costs less to save a megawatt than to produce a megawatt. During the next four years, PNM estimates the programs could make available nearly 63 megawatts of additional power for about 60 percent of what it costs to produce or purchase a megawatt on a hot afternoon.

"It's an inexpensive way to create a resource," Sponar said.

Utilities build to handle peak loads. The hardware to provide electricity — power plants, transmission lines, utility poles — has to be in place all the time even if it's used only a small part of the time, Sponar said.

Programs to save electricity could also help the utility maximize resources to prevent brownouts, she said. She stressed that PNM has the capacity it needs today to serve its customers, "but the tool is here if we need it."

The PRC will review the project after a four-year pilot period. PNM will also review it to decide its future — increase the project, tweak it or make other changes, Sponar said.