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by John Mitchell
The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) probably has as much impact on your daily life as any state agency, yet you might not even know it exists – or what it does.
The ACC’s self-stated mission is “to power Arizona’s future by ensuring safe, reliable, and affordable utility services.” It oversees the quality of service that public utilities like Tucson Electric and Southwest Gas provide, and the rates they charge.
There are five elected ACC commissioners. The Arizona Constitution mandates that these commissioners function autonomously in an executive capacity, in a legislative capacity by adopting rules and regulations that govern the utilities, and in a judicial capacity as a tribunal that makes decisions in contested matters.
Commissioners conduct open hearings that allow all interested parties, including the public, to express their views and concerns before deciding such matters as household rates for electricity and natural gas.
Arizona is only one of 13 states that elect commissioners. In the other states, the governor or the legislature appoint commissioners. The fact that we elect our commissioners gives voters a chance to choose those who support our views on, for example, electricity rates for low-income households. However, it also allows narrow special-interest groups a chance to elect commissioners who represent their positions, such as suppressing residential solar-electric systems.
The ACC has become politicized in recent years, and special interests have spent significant amounts of money to elect candidates representing the utilities’ views. In the 2014 race, it is believed that political groups funded by the Arizona Public Service Corporation – Arizona’s largest utility, which the ACC regulates – provided support to Republican candidates.
Currently, all five commissioners are Republicans. Further, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism, has provided model policies for utilities to introduce to the ACC. In general, these anti-consumer policies would support the utilities by, for example, reducing Environmental Protection Agency regulations on power-plant emissions or opposing a carbon tax.
One ALEC resolution encourages state policy makers to discourage incentives for solar-power producers. Nowhere is this more relevant than in Arizona, which is an ideal location for generating electricity from the sun. There is a thriving residential solar industry, but in the last few years the utilities have brought rate cases before the ACC in an attempt to penalize customers who have solar panels.
Arizona Public Service (APS), which TEP supports, recently advanced a proposal to the ACC that would charge residential-solar customers an additional $50-$100 per month. Although interested parties reached a deal to charge homeowners much less, Republican legislators are certain to reintroduce the legislation.
Two ACC seats will be filled in the November 2018 election. Each party will choose two candidates in the August primary election. Those candidates – two Democrats and two Republicans – will appear on the November general-election ballot.
It is essential that we elect candidates who represent our democratic ideals. The three Democratic primary candidates are Sandra Kennedy, Bill Mundell and Kiana Sears. Learn more about them at https://apps.arizona.vote/electioninfo/elections/2018-primary-election/state/1348/3/0. It is important that we become educated about these candidates and select strong Democrats who can win in the statewide November election.
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