By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via PinalCentral
Gov. Doug Ducey won’t criticize the the rates being charged by the state’s largest electric company despite the fact that 8 percent of its residential customers could not — or would not — pay their bills this summer.
“I want to see us have successful energy transmission in the state,” he told Capitol Media Services on Thursday when specifically asked about whether he thinks Arizona Public Service charges its customers too much.
“We are fortunate here in Arizona,” Ducey continued. “We don’t have rolling brownouts and rolling blackouts,” referring to the recent moves by Pacific Gas and Electric to cut power in a bid to avoid fires.
Those planned shutoffs came as the California utility concluded that high winds and dry temperatures could lead to fires. Officials in that state blamed sparks from PG&E lines for causing a deadly fire nearly a year ago.
But Ducey had his own theory, saying that hundreds of thousands of Californians lost power this year due to “bad public policy” in that state “and how it results in the discomfort and interruption for citizens and business.”
The governor, however, did not identify what policies he believes there are in California that have led to the scheduled temporary disconnections. And Ducey sidestepped the question of whether he believes he’s paying too much to light, cool and heat his Paradise Valley home.
“I am not going to comment on my personal APS bill,” he responded.
