By Luige del Puerto | Arizona Capitol Times
A senior policy expert at the Goldwater Institute said he has challenged an anti-deregulation critic to a one-on-one debate over a proposal for Arizona to dismantle its monopolistic system of providing electricity to homes and industries.
Nick Dranias said Tuesday he asked Jay Heiler, who is leading a coalition of utility companies and other critics in pushing against deregulation, to a debate a month ago and the latter has yet to take up his challenge. Dranias is pushing the Arizona Corporation Commission to allow energy companies to compete over electric service.
“I’d like to debate him on his knowledge of the market in competitive areas,” Dranias told the Arizona Capitol Times. “I want to debate him on whether he fully understands that our system is a monopoly.”
