Arizona Corporations Commission looking to balance utility prices, keep companies profitable
Arizona Corporations Commission chairman Kevin Thompson said the ACC is working on balancing utility prices while making sure companies are profitable.
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PHOENIX — Arizona Corporations Commission chairman Kevin Thompson said the ACC is working on balancing utility prices while making sure companies are doing well financially.
“We want to make sure that we are walking that fine line and we are protecting the rate payers and at the same time, ensuring that the utilities (companies) can adjust any reasonable costs on their investment,” Thompson told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Mike Broomhead Show on Friday.
Thompson said that finding a balance on utility prices is important to avoid companies from filing for bankruptcy, like Pacific Gas and Electric Company did in 2019.
“The last thing we want is PG&E type scenario where the utility is filing bankruptcy because they can’t operate. That’s not good for the customers across Arizona,” Thompson said.
Why is it important for utility pricing to find a balance in Arizona?
Thompson added that inflation has been a big factor in why Arizona utilities have gone up.
“We saw that a lot in the Biden administration. We saw the cost of natural gas go sky high and labor go up. Everything just went up across the board and there was a 30% increase on utilities just from inflation,” Thompson said.
“The utilities (companies) have done what they can to bring the costs down and we’ve tried to cut out a lot of the spending that kind doged our utilities a little bit and have tried to bring our rates down.”
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Comments
9 Comments
Fred, renewable energy now costs a lot less to implement than nat gas. Massively less than coal. Even the power companies don't want coal anymore (despite the blowhard in DC "bringing it back!"). The world is moving forward. Renewable energy is not just the future, it's the present.
Hard to take reporting seriously when the name of the organization is wrong throughout the article. It's Arizona Corporation Commission, not "Corporations". It's singular, not plural. Blaming Biden for the cost increases is another tell of just how poor the reporting is.
Where is any reference to APS being forced to admit, just 2 weeks ago, that they were overcharging by using an incorrect rate calculation? Where's the the reporting that the Corporation Commission tried, and failed, to help cover it up? Where's the reporting that APS is charging customers more than 62% more for fuel than their in-state peers? Or reporting that annual financial reports show APS’ hedging program had a combined $459 million in “unrealized” losses in 2023 and 2024, after they made highly leveraged bets on fuel prices that proved to be very, very wrong (and costly). None of those management choices had anything to do with Biden.
Blindly platforming a Republican member of the Corporation Commission, and allowing him to (at best) misrepresent what's taking place with the utilities they are tasked with regulating, is a disservice to your listeners.
APS stock price up from $76 to $89 over last year, they're making money.