Utility-driven bills that are not good for consumers

Green Valley News and Pinal Central ran an op-ed by Arizona PIRG that highlights how the utilities, led by APS, are using favorable phrases such as ‘economic benefits’ and ‘consumer savings’ in their quest to ram their unfavorable-to-ratepayer bills (HB2679 & HB2201) through the legislature. As we say in the piece, lawmakers should not blindly accept the utilities’ claims but instead scrutinize what the bills say and what the impacts could mean for Arizonans. By analyzing the bills, legislators are likely to reach conclusions similar to entities that work to protect consumers and regulate the utilities, instead of the utilities that stand to gain if these bills are adopted.