By Reagan Priest | State Affairs
Advocacy groups lambasted Arizona Public Service for attempting to limit opportunities to question witnesses in the company’s rate case in order to save time, a move opponents say threatens due process.
On Thursday evening, APS attorneys filed a motion asking Administrative Law Judge Charles Hains to limit direct testimony to 30 minutes per party, APS’ cross-examination of witnesses to 30 minutes per witness, and intervenors’ cross-examination of witnesses to 20 minutes per party. APS attorney Jeffrey Allmon told Hains on Friday that the company has “no illusion as to the popularity of this request” but APS is concerned that the rate case hearings will extend past the allotted time.
The Corporation Commission budgeted around six weeks for the hearings, which are expected to conclude on June 30. However, APS argues in its motion that the past two weeks of hearings have progressed more slowly than anticipated due to extensive questioning of APS witnesses from over two dozen parties.
