By Suzanne Adams | Miner Staff Reporter
The Arizona Corporation Commission is mulling the best way to avoid sticking electric customers with the bill for the state’s renewable energy standards.
“We have got to address the climbing cost of the surcharge,” said ACC Commissioner Gary Pierce.
The commission passed the Arizona Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff in 2005. The law requires all electricity providers to get at least 15 percent of their energy from renewable resources by 2025.
But as the state gets closer to reaching that goal, the cost to customers has increased, Pierce said. This is because giant industries, such as mines, use so much power that it skews the numbers. Pierce wants to change that.
He’s been sounding the warning bell on the problem since 2010 when the renewable energy surcharge for UniSource Energy Services customers nearly reached $9 a month.
UniSource covers a large, rural area in northern Arizona, including Mohave County, and serves at least one large mine, Pierce said. The area doesn’t have the population to support the cost of renewable energy with the amount of energy the mine draws.
UniSource Energy Services spokesman Joseph Barrios said the company is aware of the concerns the commission has with the surcharge.
“We really don’t have an opinion on it because we haven’t had a chance to discuss it with the commission,” he said.
If you’d like to discuss energy issues, contact Court Rich, Co-Chair of Rose Law Group’s Renewable Energy Department at crich@roselawgroup.com
