The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) has given the green light to Arizona Public Service (APS) to implement a rate hike that activists say will stick consumers with steeper electricity bills and continue an already too-cozy relationship with fossil fuels. The Commission approved the increase with a 4 to 1 vote, with Commissioner Tovar casting the sole dissent. According to a report by Sierra Club, this decision will allow APS to double down on coal and gas investments, specifically extending the life of their Four Corners Generating Station despite cheaper and cleaner alternatives being available.
Critics point out that a significant portion of the rate increase is from funding high-cost, fossil fuel endeavors. Both the Four Corners Generating Station and Cholla Power Plant are deemed uneconomical, as reported by Sierra Club. APS customers have already sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into these aging plants, despite analysis demonstrating potential savings from retiring plants early in favor of renewable resources.
Moreover, APS’s own 2023 Integrated Resource Plan apparently admits that retiring the Four Corners plant by 2028 instead of 2031 would save $139 million. Despite this, the ACC has also turned down APS’s proposal for Coal Community Transition (CCT) funding, pulling the plug on a lifeline that could have provided over $100 million in aid over nine years to communities grappling with the economic consequences of plant closures.
In an unexpected twist, the Commission slapped a new charge on rooftop solar customers during the vote, a move not proposed by APS nor discussed during hearings—an error in judgment that will presumably force an additional financial burden on those investing in sustainable energy solutions. Sandy Bahr, Director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter, lambasted the ACC's decision as out-of-touch, telling Sierra Club, “To enable APS to raise its rates to prolong the livelihood of obsolete expensive and dirty power plants, impose charges on solar customers, and deny Coal Community Transition funding for coal-impacted communities goes directly against the best interests of ratepayers, our air, our water, and our communities, and ignores affordable transition planning that is urgently needed.”
Meanwhile, ACC spokesperson O’Connor defended the decision. After rebutting predictions of a 15% bill impact as "hyperbole," he emphasized that implementing the rate plan comes down to a "mathematical calculation." When reached for comment by 12 News, O'Connor said fact-checking was still underway with final numbers pending. As for the prospects of a repeat scenario like that which followed a similar 2017 rate case—where customers saw bills three times higher than projected—Brown of a nonprofit watchdog, while still unnerved by the 2017 spike, stressed the need for the Commission to remain on high alert to avoid history’s repeat.
