Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

Arizona’s energy regulators dug deep into the legal complications surrounding a proposal to open up the state’s electric market to competition.

With little fanfare, lawmakers take small steps to make the state safer

On Sept. 13, most of the laws that legislators and the governor enacted in this year’s session finally take effect. While several were highly controversial, such as expanding the state’s Medicaid program or simplifying the sales tax system, others are aimed at saving people’s lives. Many of the life-preserving measures deal with schools and most were approved quietly and without controversy.

Dismayed by the combative stance adopted by critics and proponents of electricity deregulation and dissatisfied by answers he’s received so far, a state regulator is mulling a court-style hearing to dig deeper into the pros and cons.

A senior policy expert at the Goldwater Institute said he has challenged an anti-deregulation critic to a one-on-one debate over a proposal for Arizona to dismantle its monopolistic system of providing electricity to homes and industries.

Arizona is poised to end fiscal 2013 in a better position than anticipated.

University officials today pressed the business community and the state for more engagement in creating a robust college education system, even as they acknowledged that schools are adapting to technology-driven changes in higher education.

In this Aug. 2 interview, Mark Schiavoni, APS vice president for operations, argued that Arizona’s regulated model has worked for more than a century and there is no reason to plunge into the unfamiliar waters of competition. APS spokesman Jim McDonald also sat in for the chat with Arizona Capitol Times reporter Luige del Puerto.

Arizona Public Service is temporarily halting plans for more than $550 million in investments to secure its power supply after energy regulators opened up the possibility of competition in electric service.

Showdown looms over electrical deregulation
For a century, public utilities have produced and delivered electricity to homes and industries in a system that guarantees their profit and ensures steady service to residents.

Now, the Arizona Corporation Commission is considering whether to shake up the monopolies and bring competition to the state.

The Arizona Corporation Commission has asked the public to weigh in on electricity deregulation, which would break up the state’s system of “regulated monopoly” under which a handful of public utility companies are in charge of generating and distributing power to homes and industries.