APS spends $6 million to silence your voice

One thing is clear in Arizona’s war over renewable energy — your vote is worth millions of dollars.

Turns out, Arizona’s largest utility company has shelled out about $6 million so far to fight California billionaire Tom Steyer from allowing you — the voter — to have a say over renewable energy.

That’s a lot of money to make sure the initiative to increase Arizona’s requirement for renewable energy stays off the November ballot.

That money comes from you, the consumers. No wonder APS doesn’t want you to have a say in the matter.

Steyer has contributed about $4.4 million to the group called Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona.

The group spent about $3 million collecting signatures for the November ballot initiative that would require utilities to get 50 percent of their power from renewable sources like solar and wind by 2030.

APS and its parent company, Pinnacle West, don’t like the ballot initiative because it threatens its profits or the money they charge you, the utility users.

The utility company has hired folks to wage a nasty fight over petition signatures to keep the Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona off the ballot.

APS officials have said the Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona could increase electricity costs, something proponents dispute. APS has also warned that the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station could be shuttered if the measure passes because nuclear energy wouldn’t be part of the renewable energy goal.

Expect APS and Pinnacle West to keep doing anything and everything in its power — dirty tactics and possibly a court battle — to disqualify the initiative.

There isn’t anything you can really do now since backers of the initiative already collected the necessary signatures and are sure to keep fighting APS to keep it on the ballot. But you can remain vigilant and informed.

You may not care about getting your electricity from solar, wind or other sources. But that decision should be yours to make, not the company that controls most utility power in the state.