Arizona Corporation Commissioners are being accused of disregarding the will of the people after approving in a 3-2 vote to advance an energy rules package voters rejected in 2018.
At its May 26 Open Meeting, Republican Chairwoman Lea Márquez Peterson joined Democrat Commissioners Anna Tovar and Commissioner Sandra Kennedy in approving a plan that will move Arizona’s regulated utilities to 100% carbon-free energy by 2070.
The vote to move the rules forward comes after the energy rules failed at the Commission’s May 5 Open Meeting.
The Commission’s vote is expected to result in soaring utility costs, passed on by providers to rate payers.
The amended energy rules will now go back through the formal rulemaking process which allows for additional opportunities for public comment before eventually coming back before the Commission for a final vote.
Peterson offered an amendment that was adopted, which will allow a utility to seek a “fair return on the fair value of the reasonable and prudent, used and useful investments made in demand-side resources, such as energy efficiency and demand response.”
“With 68.2% voting no, Arizonans resoundingly defeated Proposition 127 that would have required Arizona’s utilities to obtain 50% of their power from renewable sources. Voters sent a clear message that they do not support arbitrary mandates that will drive up the cost of their energy bills,” wrote Olson in an opinion piece for AZ Free News.
According to Olson, “While Proposition 127 was a 50% renewable energy mandate by 2030, the draft energy rules adopted by the Commission yesterday include a 50% carbon emissions reduction mandate by 2032. But that’s not all, the Commission’s rule goes far beyond Prop-127’s 50% threshold and requires a 100% ban on carbon emissions by 2070.”
Olson offered an amendment to the energy rules that he says, “would have honored the will of the voters and protected ratepayers.” Olson claims that through his amendment, “the mandates would only apply if the projects available to meet the carbon reduction thresholds were the lowest-cost method of meeting customers’ energy needs. Unfortunately, the Commission rejected this commonsense amendment and made it clear that these rules are designed to drive up costs to ratepayers.”
As a result of substantive changes made to the original Recommended Opinion and Order, the amended energy rules package will be sent back through the formal rulemaking process. An updated schedule will be implemented that will allow for written comments and public comment on the record. Interested parties can submit formal written comments to the docket beginning July 9, 2021 through August 20, 2021. Public comment sessions will be held on August 16 and 19, 2021, at 10:00 a.m.