By Dillon Holmes | Renewable Energy World
For years we have trusted the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) to properly regulate our utility monopolies. This, after all, is what we have elected these officials to do on our behalf. But it’s no easy task.
Our utilities do everything they can, hopefully within the constraints of the law, to influence policies which will further their business interests. This is a pretty commonplace practice and makes perfect business sense. But the real question becomes whether or not everything going on is legitimate and truly in the best interest of the people these bodies represent.
Our state’s largest utility, APS, began taking heat when it proposed slashing the benefits of customer-owned residential rooftop solar, claiming that rooftop solar punishes non-solar customers with increased rates. In an attempt to conceal the fact that rooftop solar coincidentally means decreased APS revenue and profits, the utility vowed to protect their non-solar customers from the ravenous effects of the rooftop solar cost shift, a shift they value at $18 million per year.
