Yumans speak out on APS rate hike at ACC hearing here

Citing billions of dollars invested in managing and maintaining its infrastructure, Arizona Public Service has proposed a rate increase that customers spoke about at an Arizona Corporation Commission public comment hearing Monday night at the Historic Yuma Theatre.

The ACC is the utility regulator that will vote on the rate increase sometime this summer after an evidentiary hearing this spring.

The first commenter, Gina Whittington, director of human services at the Western Arizona Council of Governments, said that the basic charge increase — 4.5 percent for residential customers — would have a detrimental effect on low-income households.

“Utilities are a necessity for human health and life,” she said. “Increases in utility rates can force low-income consumers to sacrifice other necessities such as food and medication.

“We see our elderly clients in the summertime turning off their air conditioning units to save on their APS bill.”

Whittington noted the high poverty rate in Yuma County, as others did, and said that the $6 a month increase would have a huge impact on low-income seniors especially.

John Quintero, a Yuma businessman and APS customer, also noted the poverty rate, which he said is way worse than official numbers, and how people have trouble paying their bills in the summertime.

Bill Rowe, a part-time Foothills resident, talked about the monopoly APS has on electricity in Yuma, noting that people with limited incomes need more options.

Russell McCloud, a business owner who also serves on the Yuma County Board of Supervisors, expressed his concerns with the on-peak hour changes, which would move those hours from 3-8 p.m. instead of noon-7 p.m., effectively making it more expensive for people to turn on their A/C before 8 p.m.

He said he has 45 employees who work out in the heat “all day, every day.”

“Waiting until 8 o’ clock at night before you can really cool down and enjoy your home and your kids and your family — it’s just too late,” McCloud said.

He added that the 7 p.m. ondemand cutoff time was already too late.

ACC Chairman Tom Forese showed up at the end of the meeting, but stayed around afterward to speak to the media and other people in attendance. With past rate cases, he said, “There’s been key things we’ve heard from the

public that helped us to really create an entire decision.”

Forese said as he’s went to similar events around the state, he’s found it difficult to “just listen,” as the commissioners are supposed to do during the hearings. But what he hears is something he takes into account when voting on increases.

“(It’s) just understanding all of the areas of rural Arizona,” Forese said. “One size does not fit all.”

Commissioner Andy Tobin said it’s necessary to get out in the community where people are affected by the changes. Tobin, who lives in Paulden, has said he’s made rural Arizona a priority in his time on the commission.

“Rural Arizona has not recovered,” he said. “When we recover, we recover slower.” The comments he’s hearing are similar around the state in places like Yuma, Douglas, Cottonwood and Flagstaff, he said.

APS and its stakeholders reached an agreement in early March that changed the guidelines of the proposed rate, shrinking the possible increases. Now, if the new proposed rate were to pass, the typical monthly bill for residential customers would increase by 4.5 percent — about $6 per month. The residential increase was originally set for a 7.96 percent increase.

Commercial customers, accounting for 11 percent of APS customers but half of energy delivered, would see an average increase of 1.9 percent.

If the rate were approved, APS would not be able to request another rate review before June 1, 2019. Other aspects of the plan include increasing funding from $35 million to $48 million to serve limited-income customers and a change in the on-peak hours.

Stefanie Layton, APS director of revenue requirements, told the Sun earlier Monday that the company has spent about $1 billion annually “to provide that reliable service to our customers.”

“We needed to come in and adjust our rate to continue to serve our customers with that same level of reliability and customer service that they expect from us,” she said.

The change is also a way to bring the gap closer between residential and commercial customers, she said.

Historically, commercial customers “actually pay more than what it costs to serve them” and residential customers “pay less than what it actually costs to serve them,” something Layton said is true among many utilities.

“What we’re trying to do here is bring that more into parity so that customers are paying what it costs to serve them — no more and no less.”

Those who would like to submit comments can still do so via the ACC website at this link: https:// eservice.azcc.gov/Utilities/PublicComment. The docket number for the proposed APS rate hike is E01345A-16-0036.