2 solar advocates win SRP positions
At-large board candidates easily unseat incumbents
Two solar advocates won seats on the Salt River Project board of directors Tuesday by unseating long-serving incumbents, according to preliminary election results.
The results mean that now four of the 14 board members were elected on a campaign pledge to push for increased use of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources at the utility.
Two other solar advocates won seats on the board in 2016, and now all non-acreage-based board seats are filled by renewable-energy advocates.
SRP is a municipal water and power utility, and the members of its board of directors who decide its rates and other major policies are elected by landowners in its territory.
The voting is acreage based for 10 of the seats, where one acre is worth one vote, five acres is worth five votes, and half an acre is worth half a vote.
The remaining four seats are “atlarge” and landowners throughout SRP territory get one vote each. Both of the seats won by renewable-energy advocates Tuesday were in at-large districts. Three acreage-based districts that saw challengers from renewable-energy advocates were easily defended by incumbents on the SRP board.
The president and vice president also are elected, though President David Rousseau and Vice President John Hoopes did not face opponents this cycle.
Some of the other even districts on the ballot this year had no challengers.
In at-large District 12, Corey Hawkey, a 36-year-old who works in sustainability practices at Arizona State University, ran against William Arnett, 80, who has spent 42 years on the board and previously ran a taxi business. Hawkey won with 3,310 votes to Arnett’s 2,083.
In at-large District 14, Randy Miller, a 39-year-old software engineer, ran against Wendy Marshall, a 63-year-old financial adviser who has been on the board since 2002, when she won the seat previously held by her father, a citrus farmer. Miller won with 3,271 votes to Marshall’s 2,191.
In District 6, Dennis Burke, a 69year-old writer and researcher, ran against John “Jack” White, a 78-yearold who retired from SRP after 42 years of service and has represented the area since 2002. White won Tuesday with 419.42 votes to Burke’s 186.55. The district is in central Phoenix.
In District 8, Jeffrey Grout, 59, an energy engineer, ran against Deborah Hendrickson, a 67-year-old retired attorney who was elected to the board in 2007. Hendrickson won with 237.16
votes to Grout’s 181.18. The district includes portions of Guadalupe, Tempe, Chandler and Mesa.
In District 10, Sheila Motomatsu, a 52-year-old former electrical engineer for the U.S. Department of Energy at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico ran against Mark Pace, 65, a farmer who grows a variety of crops in Maricopa and Pinal counties who joined the board four years ago. Pace got 307.84 votes to Motomatsu’s 146.89, while a third competitor in that race got 81.06. The district is in southeast Valley south of Baseline Road and east of Arizona Avenue.
SRP actually is two entities, an electric power district and a water-users association. Each elects its own board. While the same candidates ran for the board of both entities, the election results are slightly different for each because of the separate ballots.
The above figures are from the power district. The water association also does not have at-large board members, so those serving in those seats make decisions for SRP power operations but not water operations.
The elections results do not become “official” to SRP until a canvass scheduled for April 9. Newly elected officials take their seats in early May.
The board approved a controversial rate hike in February 2015 that dramatically raised prices for customers who install solar panels. The issue drew thousands of protesters to public meetings and the “demand rates” for solar customers were approved on a 12-2 vote.
Incumbents Stephen Williams, representing District 5 in the southwest Valley, and Keith Woods, from District 7 in the Scottsdale area, opposed the rate hike that included those rates in 2015.
Those two remain on the board and now have four colleagues who oppose the demand rates for solar customers.
The year after the demand rates were approved, solar advocates ran for the board of directors, and two of them won at-large seats. Two other solar advocates running in acreage-based races lost that year.
Prior to that 2016 election, it had been difficult for outsiders to win SRP elections, with one candidate spending about $60,000 on a race in 2014 and still losing to an incumbent who spent about $1,400.
Many incumbents over the years have spent less than $500 on their races, relying mostly on word of mouth spread through the large property owners in their district.
Prior to the election, SRP reported that it had seen a significant increase in requests for ballots. The previous record for individual ballots returned was about 3,500, and this year more than 11,000 early ballots were sent out.
The five solar challengers tried to increase participation in the elections by drawing in new voters.
Turnout also could have been influenced by a political action committee called Chispa Arizona that announced it was spending $100,000 to increase turnout and support the solar candidates.