This commentary has been revised to correct a typo made in the editing process. The Tucson mayor earns $95,750 instead of $9,750. 

On Feb. 11, the Senate Natural Resources Committee turned a deaf ear to its most valuable natural resource — the hard working people of this state – and struck out the key provisions of SB1501 that would have been the starter kit for energy competition in Arizona.  Chairman Sen. T.J. Shope and SRP lobbyists put the political hurt on the bill’s sponsor with Shope saying, “Not on my watch”  and just like that household hopes for lower monthly utility bills vanished. Who cares?

Well, for starters you should. Energy competition properly regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission would mean you get consumer protections while shopping prices for electricity instead of just sitting there and taking it – rate hike after rate hike after rate hike. There are major energy suppliers who can’t wait to gain entry into Arizona’s market and compete for your business, and the opening of our markets would spur energy source development that would save you money while you supported local economies. 

This Natural Resource Committee seems to have forgotten all about the one that brings them to the party – Ronald Reagan, he of the “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” who single handedly pushed deregulation to center stage in his Feb.  26, 1983, radio address to America:

“My fellow Americans, today I’d like to talk to you about a subject that touches all of us one way or another — in our homes, schools, at workplaces and in the overall economy. I want to talk about one of our major energy sources and what this administration proposes to do to ensure abundant supplies at reasonable prices. As the situation stands now, the American consumer is being hurt by government regulations that actually contribute to higher bills. We want to change that. Many of you recall the howls that went up when we acted to deregulate oil prices two years ago. Remember how you were all told that deregulation would lead to skyrocketing prices? Well, the evidence is in. The doomsayers were dead wrong. 

The economic realities of the marketplace have done more to bring down prices than all those years of frenetic government regulating.”

The Senate hearing that wasn’t would have seen the utility companies get their paid phD guys to yell “Danger, bad road ahead”, and cool guys with impressive CVs to echo fear tactics.  But all those tired arguments have been debunked over and over again. Now I don’t have a phD in anything but I am hardwired for fairness. I know at a four-way stop who got there ahead of me. I know if I get vendors bidding on a project that they know others are bidding on I have a much better chance to get quality work at a lower price than if I’m only allowed to hear from one vendor. So I do know some things. I know when the mayor of Tucson makes $95,750 a year and is negotiating electricity rates with the monopoly utility whose parent CEO makes over $14 million a year, that’s like bringing a knife to a gun fight in a cage. And I know this too, that their CEO’s shareholder letter wholly credited their record quarterly profits to the rise in electricity rates that Tucson Electric Power was able to extract from its customers.  And I know they’re gonna ride that horse till it drops unless there are other companies allowed to compete for our business.

And I do know this above all the other things I don’t know, that this Senate Natural Resources Committee is at its core responsible for protecting Arizona’s greatest natural resource, the people who breathe life into this state. At this time in Arizona history where monthly utility bills are on par with mortgages and rents and the Arizona monopoly utilities are making increasing record profits off of increasing temperatures, we need help not scorn.

Senator Shope, give Arizonans a fair chance at fair energy pricing or is that not on your watch either?

Rick Rappaport is a resident of Oro Valley.