by Matthew Holloway | Jun 20, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Only weeks after refusing to comply with an Executive Order to reactivate the Cholla Power Plant in Northern Arizona, Arizona Public Service (APS) has filed documents with the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) requesting an increase in the state-regulated electrical utility’s revenue of $579.5 million. That equates to a jump in residential electrical rates of approximately 14.5%. The hike would represent a 30% increase in residential rates since 2023.
The utility is also seeking permission from the Commission to unilaterally adjust prices annually using “rate design schedules.” APS justified this request to the ACC in the 2,323-page application docket claiming, “The costs to ensure reliable service to customers have rapidly increased due to high rates of inflation, persistently high interest rates, and continued supply chain and trade policy volatility.”
The utility alleged that a “significant revenue deficiency … based on the 12-month period that ended on December 31, 2024 (Test Year), demonstrates that APS’s current rates do not recover sufficient revenue to ensure reliable service.”
Notably, APS and its parent company, Pinnacle West Capital Corp., did have enough revenue to give Governor Katie Hobbs $250,000 for her inauguration and even bankrolled her legal battle with Kari Lake to the tune of $100,000.
“The tremendous growth across APS’s service territory shows no sign of letting up, with the Company’s infrastructure and reliable energy supply providing the backbone of this historic expansion,” APS said. “And yet, with high rates of inflation, persistently high interest rates, and continued supply chain volatility, the costs to serve current APS customers (let alone prepare for growth) are substantially higher than when the test year concluded in the Company’s last rate case.”
Just one year ago, the ACC approved a rate increase for residential customers of approximately 8 percent. That was followed by significant turnover in the commission with Republican newcomers Rachel Walden and Rene Lopez joining incumbent Lea Márquez Peterson to defeat the Democrat nominees and lock down all five seats for the GOP.
In the upcoming 2026 election, Arizona Reps. David Marshall and Ralph Heap are challenging incumbent commissioners Chairman Kevin Thompson and Vice Chairman Nick Myers. During a Tuesday presser, Marshall and Heap accused the commissioners of excessive price hikes and blocking President Donald Trump’s energy agenda.
“We have some families now who have to make a decision. Do I buy less groceries so I can pay my power bills? Or just deal with it or go without power,” Marshall told reporters.
“The Corporation Commission may not always make the headlines,” he added. “But the decisions made there affect every one of us every single day.”
In a statement responding to the primary challenge from Reps. Marshall and Heap, Commissioners Thompson and Myers defended their record saying, “We’ve taken steps to ensure our utilities are planning responsibly and not chasing costly, agenda-driven energy mandates. That’s why we required APS to prove in its 2023 Integrated Resource Plan that it has enough reliable and dispatchable generation to replace retiring plants. And it’s why we initiated the termination of Kris Mayes’ Renewable Energy Standard, which was an outdated mandate that artificially inflated utility costs by forcing ratepayers to subsidize unreliable, high-cost sources like wind and solar.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Staff Reporter | May 17, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Governor Katie Hobbs has another secretive fund, this one used to cover legal expenses.
Hobbs has never disclosed the existence of this fund, which covered the costs of a lawsuit filed against her by former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. AZ Capitol Times uncovered and first reported on its existence after discovering a financial report from the parent company of the state’s electric utility giant, Arizona Public Service (APS), disclosing a gift of $100,000 in 2024 to cover Hobbs’ legal expenses.
State law enables Hobbs to maintain this secretive fund; it has for nearly a decade.
APS parent company, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (PWCC), also gave to Hobbs’ other secretive fund for her inauguration.
Although Hobbs’ legal fund was discovered, the governor says she won’t be publicizing any other details about the donors or total amount collected.
Hobbs also attempted to keep her inaugural fund secret, but relented to public disclosure after receiving threats of litigation. Records revealed that Hobbs’ inaugural fund collected nearly $2 million, but the event cost less than $210,000. Government transparency watchdogs attempted to determine whether Hobbs’ inauguration team continued to collect donations in excess of a pre-event budget, to no avail.
PWCC’s singular donation of $250,000 to the fund covered the inauguration in its entirety — but Hobbs pocketed the excess of well over a million for her reelection bid next year. Other large donors to that fund issued $100,000 each: Blue Cross Blue Shield, the National Association of Realtors, and Sunshine Residential Homes.
That last major donor, Sunshine Residential Homes, received millions in contracts from the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) after making around half a million in campaign donations to Hobbs and the Arizona Democratic Party — despite DCS denying pay increases to home operators and dropping 16 providers during the contract renewal process.
Michael Beyer, the newly named communications director for Hobbs’ reelection campaign, defended the legal fund and its secrecy in a statement to the AZ Capitol Times.
“Kari Lake baselessly challenged the results of a free and fair election she lost,” said Beyer. “We won eight times in court, and yet Lake fought the results all the way through November 2024 when she finally lost her last appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court.”
Beyer recently joined the Hobbs campaign following his stint as the communications director for Virginia Senator Tim Kaine’s re-election campaign. Beyer’s past communications work includes the campaign for Mississippi’s 2023 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley, the Ohio Democratic Party, New Hampshire Democratic Party, and the Democratic Governors Association.
Some question whether the funds are another example of alleged “pay-to-play” occurring within the governor’s office. Hobbs approved legislation permitting public power entities like APS to engage in securitization. APS wrote the legislation.
Hobbs issued a defense of her passage of the bill, saying it would lower energy costs and improve grid resiliency.
“By working with bipartisan legislators I put in safeguards to ensure everyday Arizonans, not utilities, will benefit from securitization. And I made sure this bill will provide a tool to grow our energy economy,” said Hobbs. “Because of this bill, Arizona families will save money and we will help create more jobs in a clean energy economy that, in just the last few years, has brought nearly $18 billion in investments to our state and created over 18,000 quality jobs.”
Hobbs also vetoed legislation from Senate President TJ Shope requiring companies seeking state contracts to list all donations given in the past five years to the governor.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | May 3, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A commissioner with the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), Nick Myers, denies a power company is to blame for a woman’s death.
82-year-old Kate Korman died last May less than a week after the Arizona Public Service (APS) shut off her power for failure to pay. Per APS, Korman ceased paying in January and owed around $500.
The medical examiner’s report attributed Korman’s cause of death as chronic alcohol use with heart disease listed as a contributing factor and declared the manner of her death to be an accident caused in part by exposure to elevated temperatures.
ACC prohibits power shut offs based on a certain timeline — June 1 through October 15 — not based on temperatures. APS does offer a program allowing family members to oversee their loved one’s bills.
Myers opposed modifying policy to implement temperature-based shutoff restrictions. The commissioner also said the current shutoff restrictions have caused more problems than it aimed to solve.
“We are already at a point where the policies we have in place are causing massive debt within our lower income communities (an unintended consequence of those policies) and therefore I believe, and am attempting to verify, that the mental stress is actually CAUSING more deaths than they are saving (by way of suicides increasing). Furthermore, much of that debt, millions of dollars of it actually, are ultimately being transferred back to the rest of the customers, increasing bills, which is actually exacerbating the underlying problem of people not being able to pay their bills,” said Myers. “In a nutshell, at some point people (and their families, and possibly their communities, like churches) should be responsible, it shouldn’t all fall on utilities and the ratepayers of utilities. It’s ultimately an unsustainable catch-22, and we are possibly seeing that we are at that cusp right now.”
Myers defended APS in response to criticisms made by Jonathan and Adam Korman, the sons of the deceased woman. Korman maintains his mother died due to temperatures inside her home, and that APS bears responsibility for shutting off her power.
Myers asserted there existed no further remedies to mitigate heat exposure due to shutoffs. Myers indicated there were further details about the elder Korman’s death that would have cast her in a negative light.
“Alcoholism killed your mother, heat may have been a contributing factor, but the utility did go above and beyond what we require. There really are no more practical methods that can be implemented at this point,” said Myers. “We did address it and trust me, I’m sure the family doesn’t want made public what we found. This is another case where the utility did above and beyond what they needed to, and more importantly the shutting off of power for non-payment was NOT the cause of death.”
Myers also said the elder Korman’s children bore some of the responsibility for her death, since they were not keeping an eye on her.
“So you are really going to come after us, who have no control over the situation, when you failed to protect your own mother, even though there were multiple tools in place for you to use for that exact purpose?” said Myers. “I’m not just blaming your mom, I’m more blaming you for not looking out for your elderly mom. I refuse to tell utilities that they have to provide power to people that do not pay their bills. To be honest, I’m not even happy about many of the programs that they have in place to help, but I understand the need for them. The only problem is the customer, and their family, have to actually reach out to take advantage of those programs. Again, I am sorry for your loss, but you have to take responsibility here. This is not a problem that the rest of society should shoulder.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Dec 2, 2024 | Economy, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona utilities providers recently revealed plans to partner with an emerging energy market.
Earlier this week, representatives from Arizona Public Service (APS), Salt River Project (SRP), Tucson Electric Power (TEP), and UniSource Energy Services made news by announcing that their utility companies would be joining Southwest Power Pool’s (SPP) Markets+. The partnership would take place starting in 2027 if the fledgling market receives the final green light from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
According to the release issued by the state energy providers, an energy market “is an interconnected network of electricity providers that help meet the supply and demand of power across a specific geography and include transmission pathways for electricity to travel from one location to another.” For example, “When demand is lower, the Arizona utilities can sell energy, like excess solar power during the winter season, to maintain a balanced electric system, while also taking advantage of cost-savings opportunities.”
The Arizona utilities promise “increased reliability, greater cost savings, [and] more clean energy” for state customers after the partnership would take effect. It is projected that this market would save approximately $100 million from the status quo, which would be, in part, realized by the energy customers of the participating companies.
“Arizona is one of the fastest growing states in the country and we are thoughtfully planning for the future and evolving our operations to continue to provide top-tier service and reliability to our customers at an affordable cost,” said Brian Cole, APS Vice President of Resource Management. “Together with our neighboring utilities, APS plans to join Markets+ to efficiently deliver energy and bolster the resilience of our shared energy grid in Arizona and across the region.”
“SRP’s participation in SPP Markets+ is a key component of our plan to meet the growing energy needs of our customers reliably and affordably and will help us achieve our 2035 Sustainability Goals,” said Josh Robertson, SRP Director of Energy Market Strategy. “We look forward to working with utilities in the region to bring the cost and resilience benefits to our respective customers.”
“Tucson Electric Power and UniSource Energy Services are excited about the value that Markets+ can provide to our customers, including cost savings and greater access to clean energy and other resources that support affordable, reliable service,” said Erik Bakken, TEP Senior Vice President. “We look forward to strengthening an already collaborative, productive relationship with Southwest Power Pool, our reliability coordinator, in its new role as market operator.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Terri Jo Neff | Oct 25, 2021 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
On Tuesday, Justin Olson will call on his fellow members of the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) to move forward with providing Arizona Public Service Company customers with alternatives for procuring electricity, and in turn avoid possible litigation stemming from the agency’s failure to comply with state law.
Olson told AZ Free News there is a mandate in Arizona law, specifically ARS 40-202(B), which clearly states that “a competitive market shall exist in the sale of electric generation service.” In fact, about a dozen applications have been filed with the ACC over the years by companies interested in providing such service.
However, those applications have not been acted on, Olson said.
“It’s time that the Corporation Commission complies with state law and authorizes competitive power companies to provide energy services to Arizona residents,” he said. “Customers deserve an alternative to the government granted monopoly.”
The monopoly Olson is currently focused on is held by Arizona Public Service Company (APS), whose October 2019 rate increase request is slated to be discussed at the commission’s Oct. 26 meeting.
APS, a for-profit owned by S&P 500 company Pinnacle West Capital, currently serves 2.7 million customers in 11 of Arizona’s 15 counties, from Coconino County in the north, Yuma County in the southwest, and Douglas in the southwest corner of Cochise County. The majority of its customers, however, are in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Olson will introduce an amendment to APS’ current ratemaking case to call attention to the lack of competition enjoyed by the company. The amendment would move the ACC toward compliance with the statutory competitive market for electric generation mandate while bringing hope to APS customers who told commissioners about being dissatisfied with the company’s rates and customer service.
“My amendment frees captive APS customers and empowers them to choose what company will provide energy to their homes,” Olson explained. “This amendment will unleash the powerful forces of the marketplace to benefit all Arizonans.”
Even if his fellow commissioners vote down the amendment to the current APS rate case, Olson said he is committed to bringing the ACC into compliance with state law. Doing so is the right thing, he says, to bring more options and better service to Arizona’s electricity customers.
It will also ensure taxpayers won’t end up footing the bill if any of the stalled applicants initiate legal action.
“I will continue to advocate for the Arizona Corporation Commission to come into compliance with ARS 40-202(B) while doing what I can to improve options for all customers,” Olson said.
Olson has been on the ACC since 2017. He announced earlier this month that he has entered the race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
