Arizona’s 520 area code was expected to be retired in 2027, when the Arizona Corporation Commission estimated it would exhaust all phone numbers under the three-digit code.
But Doug Clark, the commission' s executive director, said utility staff have been able to preserve it for a bit longer by weeding out organizations using 520 for robocalls or spam and saving those numbers for the average consumer.
"Because we are now asking harder questions and monitoring that, some of those folks are less likely to utilize the 520 number because they know we’re watching," Clark said.
New 520 numbers could now be issued for another three years, Clark said, but eventually, southern Arizonans will need a new three-digit area code.
Arizona currently has five area codes: 480, 520, 602, 623 and 928.
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Strong winds struck the West Valley overnight, leaving more than 5,000 people still without power on Monday morning. -
Mayes first filed a lawsuit against the park last year. She said management didn’t tell residents about a faulty electrical system, which led to frequent power outages during dangerous summer heat. -
Tonto National Forest will be closing Canyon Lake later next month so the Bureau of Reclamation and SRP can conduct dam safety inspections and maintenance. -
Coal-fired power generation jumped 13% in the U.S. last year, according to a recent report from the federal Energy Information Administration. That helped push carbon emissions from the power sector up about 4% — the first rise after years of declining emissions. -
Residents were unanimous in their call for a ban on data centers, but city staff say that would likely be prohibited under state law.
