/Rebecca Sasnett / Arizona Daily Star
By David Wichner | Arizona Daily Star
Tucson Electric Power Co. needs higher rates to pay for more than $1 billion as it moves its power generation away from coal, the company’s CEO said as hearings on TEP’s rate case began Thursday.
But critics including the Arizona Corporation Commission staff and the state’s residential ratepayer advocate say TEP is asking too much. The company also got pushback on several related issues that ultimately affect what consumers and businesses pay for power, at the first Arizona Corporation Commission hearing on the rate request.
Meanwhile, two new issues have cropped up, as two commissioners floated last-minute ideas on home battery storage and special rates for nonprofit groups.
In April, TEP filed a rate case to raise its overall revenues by $76 million or 7.8%, including a $114.9 million increase in “non-fuel” operating revenues and a $38.9 million reduction in revenues to pay for fuel and purchased power.
