by Jonathan Eberle | Aug 9, 2025 | News
By Jonathan Eberle |
Arizona Public Service (APS), the state’s largest electric utility, announced Wednesday it will no longer pursue its previous pledge to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050. The company also scrapped its interim emission reduction targets and removed a commitment to end coal-fired generation by 2031 from its website. The utility now aims to be “carbon neutral” by 2050 — a less stringent target that allows for continued fossil fuel use if emissions are offset through technology such as carbon capture.
“Our aspiration has evolved based on changes to energy markets and customer needs, and our plans are built around doing what’s right for the people and prosperity of Arizona,” said APS spokeswoman Jill Hanks in a statement to 12News.
The announcement quickly drew sharp criticism from environmental advocates, who accused the company of backing away from its public commitments. “APS is walking away from every clean energy promise it made to the public, to regulators, to shareholders, and to the communities it serves,” said Autumn Johnson, Executive Director of the Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association. “We are left with vague intentions and zero accountability.”
A free-market advocacy group also voiced concerns, though from a different perspective. The Arizona Free Enterprise Club argued that the new plan still comes with a heavy cost to consumers. “While this is modestly better than the carbon-free plan they have been pushing for the last five years, APS’ new ‘carbon neutral’ plan will still cost ratepayers billions,” said Scot Mussi, the group’s president. “The priority should be reliable and affordable baseload power for Arizonans, not meeting arbitrary carbon goals that require massive amounts of expensive wind and solar that will degrade the grid.”
Some of Arizona’s elected officials also weighed in. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs criticized the decision on X, writing, “Arizona needs an abundance of energy, with a strong, and reliable grid to keep our communities safe and to continue our economic growth. This decision sets us back. It makes our air dirtier, hurts our growing clean energy economy, and forfeits the cost savings of renewable options.”
She continued, “I’ll be reaching out to APS to discuss their decision and reiterate that we must continue investing in new energy technologies and diversify our energy portfolio at the fastest rate possible.”
Hobbs’ response is interesting given her history with APS. After her inauguration, it was revealed that Pinnacle West Capital Corp., the owner of APS, donated $250,000 to Hobbs’ inaugural fund. The group also made a $100,000 donation in 2024 to Hobbs’ secret litigation fund.
Republican gubernatorial candidate, and sitting U.S. Representative, Andy Biggs offered a sharply different take than Hobbs, posting, “Every utility in our state should be prioritizing reliable and affordable energy for Arizonans, not trying to meet the demands of environmentalists pushing the Green New Scam that hurts Arizona businesses and families. As Governor, I’ll make sure Arizona aligns with President Trump’s energy agenda to help our economy flourish.”
APS data shows most of the state’s surging energy demand is coming from the expansion of data centers rather than residential growth. The company and its investors view the sector as a major opportunity for revenue.
While APS maintains it remains committed to expanding cost-competitive clean energy, the rollback represents a significant departure from the 2020 pledge.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
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 Terri Jo Neff | Jan 24, 2023 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
The public relations and legal fallout continues after the nonprofit which accepted donations for Gov. Katie Hobbs’ public inauguration ceremony released the names of donors and the amount of each donation.
Hobbs was officially sworn in Jan. 2 during a private ceremony. She then held a public inauguration ceremony on Jan. 5. The information about who paid for that ceremony via the Katie Hobbs Inaugural Fund was finally released several days later, after attorney Tim La Sota threatened to sue Hobbs for violating public records laws.
The Katie Hobbs Inaugural Fund was registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission on Dec. 13 by Hobbs’ campaign manager Nicole DeMont as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit social welfare organization. DeMont is currently listed as the only director on ACC records.
DeMont and Hobbs have come under scrutiny for accepting $1.5 million from roughly 120 donors, including $250,000 from utility giant Pinnacle West Capital Corp., the owner of Arizona Public Service Co. (APS). But the event cost less than $210,000, according to public records.
Government transparency watchdogs are calling for an investigation into whether Hobbs’ inauguration team had a pre-event budget worked out and whether more money was intentionally accepted than needed. But La Sota says there also remains a question of whether Hobbs violated another Arizona law by using the state’s website to solicit money for her inauguration.
“That’s definitely a no-no,” La Sota told KFYI’s James T. Harris this week. “That’s no different hardly than just putting a link on the governor’s official state website to her campaign account and saying, ‘hey you know do you want to support me politically, go to my campaign.’”
La Sota also told Harris that donations to DeMont’s nonprofit reportedly entitled donors to preferred access and seating at Hobbs’ inauguration event held on public property.
Questions surrounding the inaugural fund have also led some Democrats across Arizona to express dismay, behind the scenes, that Hobbs put them in the position of having to publicly ignore the $1.5 million controversy, just years after leaders of the Democratic Party called for an investigation into the funding of Donald Trump’s inauguration.
There is also growing pushback to utility companies like APS getting so heavily involved in politics; public records show APS donated $850,000 to the failed gubernatorial campaign of Kari Lake.
APS responded to criticisms about its donation to the Katie Hobbs Inaugural Fund with a statement that the money came from shareholder funds and not from customer payments. However, the company’s image has taken a hit in the court of public opinion given the fact APS is currently seeking a rate increase.
Another large donor to the inauguration was Blue Cross Blue Shield, which anted up $100,000, as did the lobby arm of the National Association of Realtors along with Arizona Realtors. There was also $100,000 donated by Sunshine Residential Homes Inc., a for-profit company that contracts with the State of Arizona to provide some child welfare services.
The rest of the donations ranged from $10 to $50,000; several were from entities like Union Pacific, the Arizona Dispensary Association, and Salt River Project which have dealing with various state agencies.
So what happens to the $1 million plus left on the books of the nonprofit created for Hobbs inauguration?
According to the IRS, the money can be spent on anything DeMont desires, provided it falls under the very broad category of promoting social welfare within the IRS code for a 501(c)(4).
“To be operated exclusively to promote social welfare, an organization must operate primarily to further the common good and general welfare of the people of the community (such as by bringing about civic betterment and social improvements),” according to the IRS.
In addition, seeking legislation germane to the nonprofits programs is a permissible means of attaining social welfare purposes.
“Thus, a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization may further its exempt purposes through lobbying as its primary activity without jeopardizing its exempt status,” the IRS rules state.
There has been much public consternation that DeMont will use some of the inaugural fund donations for political activities. This is permissible under IRS rules provided engaging in politics is not the “primary activity” of 501(c)(4).
The only other stated restriction under IRS Code is that the political activity cannot involve “direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.”
The code makes no mention of restrictions to referendum or initiative measures that might come before voters.
Therefore, it is possible that donors to the Hobbs’ inauguration could end up seeing DeMont use their money against own their political interests.
Terri Jo Neff is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or send her news tips here.
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