The Grand Canyon State’s business community has no better cheerleader than Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Glenn Hamer.

A railbird familiar with the Corp Comm told our reporter there’s a lot of anger among commissioners after Tuesday’s divide over utility electioneering disclosure. Bitter Smith and Burns had previously said they were planning to run together in 2016, and Gray previously told our reporter he’d be running on a slate with Burns.

The Public Integrity Alliance (née the Arizona Public Integrity Alliance), which went after Horne in 2013 and 2014, is asking Commissioner Susan Bitter Smith to sever all her ties with outside groups, and cease all lobbying on behalf of any client during her term as a regulator.

The Corp Comm today (Sept. 8) discussed but took no action on Burns and Bitter Smith’s suggestion that regulated and unregulated entities that appear before them refrain from Corp Comm electioneering.

Attorney Tom Ryan is officially seeking the removal of Commissioner Bitter Smith from office. Today, the lawyer filed a complaint with Brnovich’s office, alleging that Bitter Smith was not qualified to run for office because of a conflict of interest: She works as a lobbyist for the telecommunications industry, which the commission oversees.

I believe many of the Arizona Corporation Commission’s recent decisions to this date surrounding net metering have done more harm than good to our local economy, to businesses like mine, and especially to low-income and middle-class families throughout the state (who would benefit the most from rooftop solar).

Several lawyers and former commissioners are calling out Corp Comm chairwoman Bitter Smith for her ties to a cable industry trade group, and one attorney is considering filing a complaint with the AG to have her be removed from office because of conflict of interest, KJZZ’s Kristena Hansen reported today (Aug. 24).

Rural San Tan Valley area residents were left in a lurch late last month when a water utility shut off a standpipe they used to fill water tanks and hydrate their families, pets and homes.

Disregarding the recommendation of an administrative law judge, the Corp Comm last night voted to move forward with a hearing on APS’s application for a solar fee increase instead of waiting for the utility’s 2016 rate case.

The Arizona Court of Appeals today rejected a mechanism adopted by the Arizona Corporation Commission to allow a water company to recover capital costs – and thereby hike rates – in between rate cases.