By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
State utility regulators agreed this afternoon to allow APS to collect another $95 million a year from its customers.
But whether the company gets to keep it remains to be seen.
The 4-1 vote by the Arizona Corporation Commission came after the majority rejected a bid by Bob Burns to delay the rate case until his lawsuit with APS and his fellow commissioners is resolved. That involves the question of whether he was denied the right to subpoena utility executives over how they’ve spent money in the past.
Burns had no better luck with a proposal to allow the rate hike to take effect but require APS to post a bond equal to the new dollars in case a judge ultimately sides with him and courts conclude the rate case was not handled properly. That could require starting the case over again — and potentially force APS to give back all the extra dollars it collected in the interim.
But ultimately it may not matter.
