Information from the Yellow Sheet Report
ACC Commissioner Bob Burns said what’s also frustrating about the issue of electric deregulation besides the PR war is the money being spent by both sides.
“There is a lack of disclosure as to who is paying or where the money is coming from in that campaign,” he said. Though he said he doesn’t think anti-deregulation Arizona Power Consumers Coalition, which is led by APS contract lobbyist Jay Heiler, is violating any campaign finance disclosure law, Burns said he thinks the group is breaching the spirit of Arizona’s disclosure laws.
Burns said he wants to know, for example, if the public utilities or their investors are footing the bill. (A condition of APS’s 2011 rate case is the utility cannot engage in politicking with revenue from ratepayers.)
Meanwhile, APS spokesman Jim McDonald defended criticisms of deregulation and also answered several of Burns’ questions in an interview with the Yellow Sheet. McDonald said APS is a founding member of the Arizona Power Consumers Coalition. “We do help fund it. How much – I’m not sure,” he said. But he gave the assurance that none of that expense will be passed on to ratepayers and specifically APS won’t be collecting money from its customers to defray the cost of helping fund the anti-deregulation committee.
