By Ryan Randazzo | The Republic
Arizona Public Service is facing severe opposition to its request to raise the rates for 1.1 million customers.
The state’s biggest utility last year asked state regulators to raise its rates by about $166 million annually, or about $11 per month for the average residential customer.
Utilities usually don’t get everything they ask for, but in this case, some of the critical stakeholders don’t see the need for APS to raise rates at all.
The staff at the Arizona Corporation Commission and the Residential Utility Consumer Office both recommend no increase, with RUCO suggesting a revenue decrease, at least at this early stage. The language in the staff testimony, written by accountants, is daunting: “Staff’s recommended increase of $0 based on using a fair value rate of return increment of 0.50 percent represents an increase from current base rate revenue from sales to ultimate customers of approximately 0.00 percent.”
