(The Center Square) – Six candidates vying for three seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission went head-to-head in a televised debate Tuesday night moderated by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission.
Among the topics debated was one on the top of every Arizonans’ mind – energy price rate hikes. Arizona experienced one of the hottest summers in history this year, and one of the most expensive with energy bills increasing up to $100 a month for some residents.
According to a study conducted by Texas Electricity Ratings, Arizona is among the top 10 states to see energy price increases with an estimate of $2,190.60 per household in 2024.
The ACC Democratic candidates are claiming the current Republican-led commission hasn’t helped Arizonans receive fair energy prices, as is their job defined by the Arizona constitution.
In 2023, the ACC approved numerous energy rate hikes, which Republican incumbent Lea Marquez Petersen said were necessary and fair. These increases include a 9.31% revenue hike for Southwest Gas, a 153% hike for APS fuel reimbursements, a PSA rate increase that is expected to add almost $10 to users’ monthly bills and a rate increase for Southwest Gas that would allow it to recoup an “under-collected” amount of $357 million.
Republican candidate Rachel Walden agreed on that these increases were necessary.
“We’re all being hit by inflation, but a lot of our utilities have been dragging these expenses around for years,” Walden said. “Now it’s time to pay the bill.”
Democratic candidate Joshua Polacheck claimed that utility companies are also seeing record profits.
“We should not be seeing record profits with our utilities while we’re seeing record prices every month with our electricity and gas bills,” Polacheck said.
Additionally, Democratic candidate Jonathan Hill, an engineer who has worked on multiple NASA space missions, said that these bills are not feasible for Arizonans in rural communities especially in extreme heat.
“Something that got left out in the discussion is our rural co-ops,” Hill said. “So, they have seen increases of 30, 40, 60%. It is really difficult for these rural communities that are relatively isolated from the rest of the state to absorb these huge increases.”
Something Democrats are advocating for that they believe would help lower costs is shifting towards renewable energy sources.
“Right now it is cheaper to be building clean energy in our state, but instead we are providing perverse incentives to the utilities to be building infrastructure that we don’t need and getting in the way of our clean energy future,” Polacheck said. “There is a possibility of letting the market go free and I can’t believe I’m saying this as a Democrat, but the Republicans on this stage are getting in the way of the free market when it comes to energy.”
Walden said the opposite is actually true.
“The average price for solar is eight cents a kilowatt, Palo Verde generates energy for three cents a kilowatt,” she stated.
In response, Polacheck claimed that Arizonans don’t want more oil and gas plants in their communities, citing the recent complaints from Mohave County residents following the approval of four new energy turbines being built near Kingman – and the ACC allowing them to do so without the typically necessary requirement of a certification of environmental compatibility.
Republican candidate Rene Lopez noted that Mohave County has also previously placed a moratorium on clean energy projects due to budgetary concerns.
“Mohave County may not have liked that gas plant, but they also put a hiatus and moratorium on solar panels because they got inundated with them,” Lopez said.
The other candidate running for one of the available seats is Democrat Ylenia Aguilar.