by Corinne Murdock | Feb 9, 2024 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
A vote by the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) earlier this week moved to limit energy companies’ push to meet Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) goals.
The ACC voted 4-1 on Tuesday to draft rules to repeal existing rules and mandates for renewable energy as well as electric and gas energy efficiency: the Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST) Rules and the Energy Efficiency Standards (EE), also known as the Demand Side Management (DSM). Per the commission, the rules and mandates for REST and EE/DSM resulted in incentives for renewable energy projects and services, since utilities were required to file proposals describing REST compliance.
Commissioner Ana Tovar was the sole “no” vote on the motions. The standards behind EE/DSM expired in 2020, but previous commissions didn’t repeal the rule.
The commission noted in Wednesday and Thursday press releases that the rules, tracing back to 2006 for REST and 2010 for EE/DSM, have cost customers nearly $3.4 billion through corresponding surcharges. REST surcharges have cost ratepayers nearly $2.3 billion, while EE/DSM surcharges cost nearly $1.1 billion.
Commissioner Nick Myers said in Wednesday’s press release that the rules and mandates were unnecessary and would result in a drastic cost increase to consumers.
“I believe it is time for the Commission to consider repealing these rules and mandates that appear to unnecessarily drive-up costs,” said Myers. “Utilities should select the most cost-effective energy mix to provide reliable and affordable service, without being constrained by government-imposed mandates that make it more expensive for their customers.”
In Thursday’s press release, Chairman Jim O’Connor — who filed the motion to repeal REST — said that the commissioners from nearly 20 years ago were “well-intentioned” in their vision for reducing the state’s carbon footprint through the REST rules, but that no cost controls were ever implemented, at the detriment of ratepayers.
“In 2006 when the REST rules supplanted the EPS rule, concerns by the dissenting Commissioner cited the lack of cost control measure that would negatively impact ratepayers, and the then-Chairman Hatch-Miller intended that the Commission review annually whether it was in the best interest of the ratepayers. Those reviews never occurred and costs were never considered,” said O’Connor.
O’Connor further remarked that contracts in pursuit of environmental mandates ultimately burdened the ratepayers.
“We began the steps needed to repeal a rule that has cost ratepayers billions of dollars in out of market priced contracts,” said O’Connor. “Mandates distort market signals and are not protective of ratepayers.”
Commissioner Kevin Thompson — who filed the motion to repeal EE/DSM — stated in the press release that the repeal marked a victory for ratepayers, and the end of “feel-good programs” that lack affordability and reliability.
“Arizona utilities have collected over a billion dollars in ratepayer surcharges for efficiency initiatives that have done little to avoid the need for new generation and have benefitted a select few,” said Thompson. “Energy efficiency programs are routinely pushed by vocal special interest groups where the economic benefits favor a small group of customers, and the large majority of ratepayers foot the bill.”
Prior to the ACC acting on the draft rules, the commission will open up multiple public comment opportunities. The draft rules and intake for public comment will be located on the following ACC dockets: gas utility energy efficiency, electric utility energy efficiency, and renewable energy.
The entire rulemaking process will take over a year, according to commission staff. The REST and EE/DSM repeal are part of a greater, five-year review of existing ACC rule packages.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Dec 22, 2023 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
If someone wants to own an electric vehicle (EV), it is perfectly within their right to do so. That’s what it means to have freedom. But EV owners should be the ones to bear the burden of any costs associated with the necessary infrastructure improvements. And they should absolutely be responsible for paying for any excessive demand placed on the grid.
But that’s not the way the left sees it.
As part of its Green New Deal dream, the left has been pushing an agenda that significantly increases the amount of EVs on the road despite slowing demand from consumers and companies like Ford losing billions on them just this year. And Arizona utilities have fallen right in line, planning for 1 million EVs by 2030 while APS alone plans to have a 100% “carbon free” vehicle fleet as part of its commitment to go “Net Zero” by 2050.
So, how exactly was APS planning to do this?
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by Daniel Stefanski | Dec 11, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Last week, Commissioner Kevin Thompson announced that he and Chairman Jim O’Connor had “successfully offered amendments in the APS Transportation Electrification Implementation Plan and Budget (TEIP) agenda item.” The actions from the two commissioners took place in the panel’s meeting on December 5.
According to Thompson’s press release, he “authored an amendment that rejected the utility’s request to use up to $5M in ratepayer funds to develop and install EV charging infrastructure as part of the utility’s proposed ‘Take Charge AZ’ program.” O’Connor’s amendment ensured “that any EV rebates offered by the utility must be provided at shareholder expense, and not at the expense of ratepayers or ratepayer subsidization.”
“We can’t continue to financially burden the majority of ratepayers who don’t own an EV or who utilize charging stations,” said Commissioner Thompson. “Infrastructure for EV charging is an opportunity for the market and private enterprise to innovate and thrive, not utilities at the expense of their ratepayers.”
O’Connor added, “Our decision on Trico’s EV program in September of this year set the model we would like to see for all future EV charging; namely, no cost shift to ratepayers.”
The communication from Thompson’s Office shared that Commissioner Nick Myers also “provided an amendment that discontinued the Take Charge AZ program moving forward, allowing APS to complete the installation of charging stations currently underway.”
In his first year on the job, Thompson has taken several actions to improve efficiencies at the commission and to stand up for ratepayers. This summer, Thompson fulfilled a priority of his when he helped to secure increased funding for Corporation Commission staff without adding any more dollars to the state’s general fund. He said, “One of the significant consequences of being understaffed and under-resourced is that Arizona has consistently ranked in the bottom tier nationally in processing utility rate cases—it takes fifty percent longer to process a rate case in Arizona – resulting in delays to build new generation and replace critical infrastructure, driving up ratepayer costs and further destabilizing our regulatory and investment climate.”
Thompson also announced that he had “amended several provisions in a recent proposal for UniSource Energy’s (“UNS”) Demand Side Management (“DSM”) Energy Efficiency (“EE”) program.” The release explained that these amendments “eliminated or revised several proposals” and “reigned in ratepayer-funded incentives to contractors and sales consultants and focused on prioritizing programs that provided greater value to residential customers and target low-income customers.”
The Republican Commissioner also led a letter to Governor Katie Hobbs in October, asking the state’s chief executive to address the overwhelming price increases for electricity customers of the San Carlos Irrigation Project. The letter was co-signed by three of his colleagues – Lea Marquez Peterson, Myers, and O’Connor.
Commissioner Anna Tovar, the lone Democrat on the panel, did not add her name to the letter. Thompson told AZ Free News that he and his fellow Republicans “are willing to do whatever we can in our individual capacities to encourage our delegation and state government to put aside partisanship and get the federal government out of the business that private enterprise should be providing.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Nov 15, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Two of the largest private equity firms in the U.S. and the world, Vista Equity Partners and Blackstone, respectively, are now backing the adoption of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) measures in Arizona’s utility companies.
The two globalist ESG-focused companies acquired Energy Exemplar on Halloween. Energy Exemplar owns Aurora Software Consulting Services, used by Arizona’s utilities to provide all modeling and analysis for the resource plans submitted to Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC).
The resource plans submitted by Arizona Public Services (APS), Tucson Electric Power (TEP), and UniSource Energy Services (UNS) Electric largely align with the energy transition directives set forth by Net Zero by 2050.
“Consistent with these overall trends in the energy market. APS has committed to being 100% clean and carbon free by 2050,” stated the APS resource plan.
“[Our resource plan] outlines the sources we anticipate using to satisfy customers’ need for reliable, affordable energy over the next 15 years while working toward a new, long-term objective of net zero direct greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” stated TEP.
“[Our company has a] long-term transition to zero carbon emissions by 2050,” stated UNS Electric.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) — of which the U.S. is a member — came up with Net Zero by 2050, the roadmap to globalize the energy sector by total decarbonization, or achieving net zero carbon emissions, by 2050. Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners are among the biggest financial backers of the effort.
Specifically, Net Zero by 2050 aims to eliminate all emissions-producing energy sources (namely fossil fuels) by replacing them with less reliable renewable energy sources like solar and wind, bioenergies like biomethane, or hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels; instituting greater energy efficiency measures, such as reducing appliance energy consumption and reducing heating and cooling temperature consumption; and electrifying all fossil fuels-based products, such as cars, buses, trucks, heat pumps, and furnaces for steel production.
The campaign also aims to institute behavioral changes among the world’s populace, such as replacing driving with walking, cycling, or public transit, and in some cases foregoing flights entirely.
By 2030, the campaign proposes to introduce eco-driving and motorway speed limits of 60 miles an hour, phasing out gas cars in large cities (dubbed “ICE” cars, which stands for “internal combustion engine”), reducing “excessive” hot water temperatures, reducing the average weight of a passenger car by 10 percent, limiting the average space heating temperature to about 68 degrees and average space cooling temperature to 77 degrees.
By 2050, the campaign proposes to replace regional flights with high-speed rail, preventing business and long-haul leisure air travel from exceeding 2019 levels, improving fertilizer use efficiency by 10 percent, and reducing the use of “energy-intensive” materials per unit floor area by 30 percent.
The Biden administration is fully on board with Net Zero by 2050; the State Department issued its own roadmap on the matter in November 2021.
Blackstone, which manages about $1 trillion in assets, has committed to supporting the globalist goal of net zero by 2050. Per its 2022 climate-related financial disclosures report last year, the company estimated that it would take $115 trillion to reach net zero by 2050. The company invested about $100 billion toward that goal last year, and launched a dedicated credit platform for their ESG goals.
In 2021, Vista Equity Partners was among the first American private equity firms to join the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative. They pledged to reduce their $100 billion in portfolio companies’ emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and emit net zero greenhouse gas emission across their portfolio by 2050.
NZAM, launched in December 2020, is a formal partner of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Race to Zero Campaign. NZAM is regarded as the world’s largest climate finance alliance, with over 300 companies maintaining about $64 trillion in assets as of September. Blackstone is not part of NZAM.
As reported last month, ACC responded to controversy over utilities’ implementation of ESG policies with the claim that it lacked the authority to ban them from doing so.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Sep 4, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A first-year Corporation Commissioner continues to fight for Arizona ratepayers.
Late last month, Republican Corporation Commissioner Kevin Thompson issued a press release to announce that he had “amended several provisions in a recent proposal for UniSource Energy’s (“UNS”) Demand Side Management (“DSM”) Energy Efficiency (“EE”) program.” The release explained that these amendments “eliminated or revised several proposals” and “reigned in ratepayer-funded incentives to contractors and sales consultants and focused on prioritizing programs that provided greater value to residential customers and target low-income customers.”
Thompson educated readers on what DSM entailed, writing that “DSM is a ratepayer-funded surcharge that finances Commission-approved EE programs, which are implemented by UNS and other utilities, with the goal of reducing energy load and promoting energy efficiency.” According to Thompson’s information, “the utility spent just over $2.7 million in ratepayer funds on DSM EE programs during 2022.”
The release revealed that the “proposal (in front of the Commission) called to vastly expand the existing UNS EE budget, with nearly $5.8 million in ratepayer-funded programs up for consideration.”
In a statement, Thompson said, “Before increasing ratepayer surcharges to blindly expand energy efficiency programs, it’s important to address inefficiencies in existing programs, eliminate financial rewards for private entities, and ensure residential and low-income customers receive adequate representation in approved programs.”
The Republican commissioner specifically looked for “ratepayer funded incentives weaved throughout the DSM EE programs.” Thompson’s announcement noted that “many of the proposed programs provided incentives and rebates to third parties with financial stakes in the adoption of certain measures or the installation of certain products.” The proposal was devoid of “several incentives and payment reward programs” after Thompson’s due diligence, including:
- Incentives to homebuilders to install energy efficient devices in certain new homes
- Bonus incentives to sales consultants
- Marketing stipends for third parties to promote certain programs
- Project incentives to contractors
The proposal had another layer to it, per Thompson, with “the majority of proposed new programs targeting commercial and industrial users.” Thompson was concerned about these programs because “the majority of UNS’s customers are residential and the proposals were of limited value to the public.”
Commissioner Thompson added, “Commissioners must look out for the ratepayer, and we can’t haphazardly spend millions of dollars in ratepayer funds when there are concerns with the way current programs are being deployed. Residential customers shouldn’t be subsidizing purchases for hotel room HVAC units, electric forklifts, appliances for new homes, and truck refrigeration units.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
