Arizona Corporation Commission Says No (Again) to SRP

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Consumer, public health, community, business, environmental, clean energy, and faith-based entities along with residents of Randolph and SRP ratepayers applauded the Commission for once again rejecting Salt River Project’s proposal to add 16 gas units at a cost of nearly $1 billion in ratepayer money.

Diane E. Brown, Executive Director of the Arizona PIRG Education Fund, stated, “Hopefully SRP will finally get the message that adding 16 gas units adversely impacts public health and a nearly $1 billion expense should be competitively bid. SRP needs to actively seek options, including increased energy efficiency and demand response, to meet future energy needs and publicly provide the estimated costs of each portfolio.”

Since SRP’s proposal was first publicly presented, the Arizona PIRG Education Fund consistently requested that SRP respond to a set of basic questions.[1] However, SRP consistently failed to provide meaningful answers including the estimated monthly bill impacts of their nearly $1 billion proposal.

The Arizona PIRG Education Fund was pleased when the Commission first denied SRP’s proposal and as a result protected SRP ratepayers from a nearly $1 billion non-competitive expense. In particular, the organization referenced Chairwoman Marquez Peterson’s statement that SRP did not provide the necessary documents in which to make an informed decision — a point that was also noted in Judge Rodda’s Sample Form of Order 3.[2]

For the most part, according to the Arizona PIRG Education Fund, instead of providing data helpful to policymakers, stakeholders, and their ratepayers, SRP appeared to continue skirting key issues and digging their heels into a proposal that the Commission already rejected for good cause. In a letter to the Commission, the Arizona PIRG Education Fund said, “SRP tossed around the term’s ‘reliability’ and ‘higher ratepayer costs’ without providing options for reliability or evidence of cost comparisons. While SRP claims that none of the bids as part of their ongoing all-source RFP can match their gas expansion proposal, they failed to adequately request and consider various scenarios that in whole or in part are likely to impact air quality, water quantity, and/or ratepayer bills less adversely.”

Brown added, “The Commission made the right decision to deny SRP’s costly massive gas expansion proposal and the Commission made the right decision to deny SRP’s request for a rehearing. SRP ratepayers and Randolph residents can breathe a sigh of relief thanks to Commissioners Kennedy, Tovar, and O’Connor.”

[1] https://docket.images.azcc.gov/0000205840.pdf?i=1654143296862

[2] https://docket.images.azcc.gov/0000206381.pdf?i=1654143296862, page 39, lines 21-25.

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