Kuby, Garcia Decry Arizona Regulators Process to Repeal Utility Energy Efficiency Rules

PHOENIX – Arizona regulators have now started the process to repeal efficiency rules requiring the state’s largest utilities to achieve annual energy savings. The energy efficiency rules, first adopted by the Arizona Corporation Commission in 2010 under the leadership of then Commissioner Kris Mayes, require utilities like Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power to “achieve 22% cumulative energy savings” by 2020. The program has so far been a success, but the Republican-controlled Corporation Commission unanimously voted to start the process to repeal the rules on Thursday. State Senator Lauren Kuby (LD8) and State Representative Brian Garcia (LD8) released the following statements decrying the Commission’s careless decision to repeal these efficiency standards:

Senator Kuby stated, “This vote to repeal is a slap in the face to Arizonans. Just one month ago, the ACC–the most important office no one’s heard of—announced they are turning its back on ratepayers and gutting their own commitment to use 100 percent clean energy by 2050. Every working family in Arizona has benefited from the adoption of both the renewable-energy and energy-efficiency standards, and this rollback is an alarming move on behalf of the Commission. Our job as elected officials is to protect our constituents and the planet our next generations will inherit—this move does neither.”

“At the same time that utilities are pointing to ballooning energy demand as justification for hiking electricity rates and ditching clean energy plans, the ACC would eliminate one of the most effective tools it has to reduce demand and save customers money on their bills,” Representative Garcia added. “APS just showed us what happens when utilities are left to manage ratepayer-friendly programs without regulatory guardrails: they abandon them in favor of new data centers and at the expense of their customers.”