By Ryan Randazzo | Arizona Republic
Arizona Public Service Co. settled claims for two customers who died after their power was shut off.
Arizona Public Service Co. has been sued twice in the last decade when customers died after their power was cut because they didn’t pay their bills, the company told state regulators Wednesday.
One woman whose power was cut in June last year was found dead in her home in July, and another woman was found dead in December 2011 after APS cut her power in November that year, according to the letter APS filed with the Arizona Corporation Commission.
APS said the company settled with the victims’ estates in both cases but didn’t say for how much. APS did not identify the customers or how much they owed.
“It is important to note that in each case there are other circumstances and contributing factors that likely impacted the customer’s health; and it is typically unknown, and often unknowable, what role — if any — disconnection of electric service played,” APS Vice President of Regulation Barbara Lockwood said in the letter.
