GOP takes 2 more Arizona Corporation Commission seats; Michigan defeats renewable energy expansion
By Phil Riske
Managing Editor, Rose Law Group Reporter
(For Arizona election results, click here )
Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) incumbent Bob Stump will be joined next year by new commissioners-elect Bob Burns and Susan Bitter Smith.
Democrat commissioners Paul Newman and Sandra Kennedy lost their seats yesterday.
All candidates expressed support of renewable energy during the campaign.
“The message from voters appears to be that they want to continue to have a thriving solar industry, but they are conscious of the potential impacts on ratepayers,” said RLG partner and co-chair of RLG Renewable Energy Department Court Rich “All of the candidates Republicans and Democrat expressed overwhelming support for solar, and the primary difference was the thoughtfulness about price,” Rich wrote.
“I think the distributed scale solar market in particular can be expect to continue to explode in Arizona as a result of this election, and the people of Arizona can expect to continue to see increases in solar deployment.”
Stump led all ACC candidates with 17.9 percent. Former Senate President Bob Burns came in with 17.2 percent, and former Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board member Susan Bitter Smith had 17.1 percent of the vote.
Michigan ballot proposition
Heavy spending by utilities helped Michigan soundly defeat renewable energy standard expansion. Early Michigan returns showed 73 percent of voters rejecting the measure that was opposed with copious amounts spending from the utilities in opposition. Despite evidence to the contrary from around the nation, Arizona included, it appears the utilities were able to convince voters that renewable energy would lead to dramatic cost increases to consumers.
If the mandate had passed, the Michigan Constitution would have been amended to require the state’s utilities to supply 25 percent of their electricity from wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric by 2025, an increase from a current mandate of 10 percent by 2015.
If you’d like to discuss energy issues, contact Court Rich, crich@roselawgroup.com.
Also:
Pennsylvania Senate Introduces Solar Bill to Effect Change in the Declining SREC Market/Renewable Energy World
Victory for Obama: A Mandate for Clean Energy/Renewable Energy World
Pennsylvania Senate Introduces Solar Bill to Effect Change in the Declining SREC Market/Renewable Energy World
