A trio of Republican lawmakers is asking the Arizona Corporation Commission to consider adopting seasonal electricity rates for some customers in Mohave County who are struggling with a new rate increase approved by the commission in January.
Republicans on the Corporation Commission approved UNS Electric’s rate increase on 4-1 party line vote. That increase, the utility’s first since 2016, was expected to increase bills for typical customers by about $14 per month, according to a UNS Electric press release.
In August, Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson, who had voted in favor of the increase, asked Chairman Jim O’Connor to reopen the case so that she could reconsider her vote. Specifically, she wanted the commission to consider seasonal rates to help customers dealing with higher than expected summer electricity bills.
Mohave County experienced its highest July monthly average temperature this year, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.
In the letter, Márquez Peterson said she doesn't want to decrease the total revenue the UNS Electric can expect to generate from the rate increase, “but that the percentage of rate increase fall higher during the winter months and lower during the summer months to lessen and gradualize the impact on ratepayers.”
But O’Connor denied that request, saying revisiting the vote would put the stability of Arizona’s regulatory environment at risk.
“As Chairman of this Commission, l am proud of the work the five of us have accomplished to raise regulatory stability in Arizona,” he wrote in a letter denying the request. “We have witnessed rating agencies raising their assessments of our utilities, which has lowered their cost of borrowing to finance projects to meet Arizona's growing demand for electricity and infrastructure reliability. These lower costs are a direct benefit to ratepayers.”
O’Connor said he believes the utility can provide some relief to customers using mechanisms like “budget billing” options, “so that customers can smooth out the peaks and valleys our desert environment creates for our cooling and heating needs and corresponding electric bills.”
Three Republican lawmakers have now asked O’Connor to reconsider Márquez Peterson’s proposal.
In a letter to O’Connor, Rep. Leo Biasiucci, Rep. John Gillette and Sen. Sonny Borrelli said the rate increase has proven problematic for their constituents in Lake Havasu, Kingman and Golden Valley.
“While we appreciate the Commission's effort to stabilize the regulatory environment in Arizona, we also believe the Commission must consider the impacts to residents who are struggling under the new rates, including those who are on fixed incomes and having to choose between essential expenses,” wrote the lawmakers, who all represent Mohave County’s Legislative District 30.
They pointed out that seasonal rates have been adopted by other utilities and urged the commission to consider the option for UNS Electric’s customers.
