Corporation Commission Chairman Marc Spitzer says a monthly charge of up to 35 cents that residential electric customers are paying is not enough to fund solar and renewable electricity technologies and should be increased.

“The current funding for the Environmental Portfolio Standard is insufficient to get us where we need to be,” Mr. Spitzer told the Renewable Energy Resource Study Committee on Oct. 15. “We need to get solar technology up and running.”

And, he said wind-generated electricity is becoming more and more feasible because natural gas, which is being used to fuel new electric generating plants, is costing more and more.

Mr. Spitzer said parents with asthmatic children, like his own son, understand the benefits of non-polluting technologies when they get up at 2 a.m. to help their child get through another episode.

“There are some who come to the conclusion that renewable energy sources and solar are the products of left-wing, green people,” he said. “Actually, it reflects the common sense view of the people of Arizona for the need to protect the environment.”

The Environmental Portfolio Standard was approved by the commission in 2000 and requires that electric utility must derive a specified percentage of its power from solar and renewable technologies. By 2007, the utilities must be getting 1.1 per cent of their electricity from such sources.

‘Minimal Increase’ Debated

Sen. Linda Binder, R-Dist. 3, committee co-chairman, said many of her constituents might not support an increase on the heels of a Corporation Commission decision to allow Unisource to acquire Citizens’ Electric Division, which serves 59,000 customers in Mohave County and in District 3. Unisource is the parent company of Tucson Electric Power.

Under the acquisition approved in July, electric rates are expected to rise 22 per cent.

“I am not going to debate the Unisource decision,” said Mr. Spitzer. “I believe 35 cents is a minimal charge.”

He said he had spoken with a number of residential electric customers who called the commission to complain about the charge.

“When I explain what it is for, they had no complaint,” he said.

Later, Mr. Spitzer said the commission has a working group studying the portfolio and the charges. He said if the working group recommended an increase in the fee, the commission could initiate hearings that could eventually lead to an increase.

On wind-generated electricity, Amanda Ormond, of the Ormond Group, a Tempe consulting firm, told committee members that advances and improvements in the technology have reduced generating costs from 40 cents per kilowatt-hour in 1979 to a current range of three to six cents.

She said that at sites with an abundance of wind, “the costs are nearly a half cent below traditional costs.”

Earl P. N. Duque, a Northern Arizona University engineering professor, said an intensive wind study of the state had identified two potential sites — one near Cameron in northern Arizona and one near Springerville in eastern Arizona.

Both Mr. Duque and Ms. Ormond said further testing is needed at the two sites and other sites showing a potential to determine how much electricity might be generated and gathering other data that would attract investors for possible projects.

They said a major obstacle to the testing is gaining access to state land.

They both said technology was available for small generators to serve remote farms or homes and large generators that could provide power for the electrical grid.

Mr. Duque provided a drawing that illustrated the size of such installations. The largest generator, which produces 5 megawatts of electricity, would be just slightly smaller than the Washington Monument, which is more than 550 feet tall. The next largest, which produces 2 megawatts, is about two-thirds the size of the Washington Monument. —