Arizona lawmakers are seeking to strip the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) of its power to require investor-owned utilities to use renewable energy.
House Bill 2248 would bar the commission from adopting or enforcing any new policy, decision or rule that regulates the electric generation resources without specific legislative authorization. And the measure, sponsored by Rep. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, provides no such authority.
The bill effectively blocks the commission from adopting nearly finalized rules to require 50% of the state’s power to be carbon-free by 2035 and 100% carbon-free by 2050.
Griffin’s proposal does not totally eliminate clean-energy policies. It leaves in place the much lower requirement that utilities generate 15% of their power from renewable sources by 2025, which the commission adopted in 2006.
“Any policy, decision or rule that regulates critical electric generation resources should prioritize affordability and reliability and must be expressly authorized by the legislature. ”
Bowers said the experience in Texas during the ice storm proves his point, noting the images of frozen wind turbines, with Texans facing “collapsing water systems and contamination” when the power went out.
The legislative move has drawn the ire of Republican Bob Burns, the former chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission who has been a prime proponent of renewable energy. In a letter to legislative leaders, he said if lawmakers took on the duty of setting renewable energy policy, then utilities would use their finances to elect legislators who support their policies.
“There would be no incentive to cut down the money tree of dark money that would flow to the candidates for governor and legislature in the future,” Burns wrote.
Beyond that, Burns said the regulators are experts in and focused on utility issues, versus lawmakers who he said have the “distraction of hundreds of other important issues.”
“I definitely feel that it is a power play from the legislators,” Arizona Corporation Commissioner Anna Tovar said. “The ACC exists to regulate utilities, protect consumers and establish where we get our energy.”
Court Rich, an attorney with Rose Law Group who represents solar industry groups that have been heavily involved with updating the energy rules, told Arizona reporters that the bill could undo years of work by hundreds of stakeholders.
“The utilities, solar providers, energy efficiency activists, big businesses, small businesses--everyone you can imagine, has been at the table and working on this for half a decade,” Rich said. “The prospect of legislation coming along at the very last second, and creating massive uncertainty is really unfortunate. I mean, that's not how government should work.”
And he says thousands of jobs are at stake.
"This is just terrible for business. I mean, you know, solar and renewable energy, it's just jobs. It's a huge investment in [the] state, it's tax money," he said.
HB 2248 still needs a final roll-call vote in the House. State senators have yet to consider virtually identical legislation in SB 1175.
Read more of the story at ABC15.com and Tucson.com.