An Arizona regulator would like a rate case for the state’s largest utility to be put on hold.
Corporation Commissioner Bob Burns made that emergency request on Friday.
Writing that the commission faces unprecedented problems and cascading legal violations, Burns urged the administrative judge overseeing Arizona Public Service’s rate case to halt all proceedings.
That is, until the issues swirling around the case are resolved.
That includes Burns subpoena of campaign finance records from the 2014 election cycle. It’s widely believed APS or its parent company funneled about three million dollars in so-called dark money to elect two current commissioners.
Those two — the former chairman Doug Little and the current one Tom Forese — Burns claims could also be disqualified from ruling on the rate increase because of the appearance of bias.
He says these outstanding questions need to be settled, in order to avoid a possibly unfair and unconstitutional ruling for ratepayers. So far, Burns has faced pushed back from the rest of the commission for his legal fight with APS.
