Arizona Public Service customers got shafted to the tune of $28.4 million, according to a newly released audit. Even more outrageous: the Arizona Corporation Commission staff kept it secret.
By Laurie Roberts | Arizona Republic
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are published for discussion purposes only.)
As we await word on whether Arizona Public Service will ask for yet another rate increase, a previously secret audit says APS collected $28.4 million more than authorized from its customers last year as a result of the utility’s last rate hike.
Think about that a minute.
The audit, completed this spring, says customers paid APS $28.4 million more than the utility was allowed to collect. Yet the Arizona Corporation Commission in July allowed that 2017 rate increase to stand.
Adding to the stench: that little $28.4 million detail – included in a third-party audit commissioned by the Corporation Commission staff – was kept under wraps not just from the public but even from the commissioners we elect to regulate utilities.
