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It is also widely believed APs helped former Commissioner Gary Pierce’s son in a bid for secretary of state through con- tributions to the AZ enterprise Club. The Checks & Balances Project discovered Mr. stump exchanged 100 texts with Scot Mussi, who is the president and sole board member of the AZ enterprise Club, in the weeks leading up to the 2014 elections.
“During an earlier two-month period — October through no- vember 2013 — when Arizona became the first state to estab- lish a monthly utility fee for residential rooftop solar customers,” the C&BP states, “stump sent or received 7,832 text messages. That’s an average of 70 text messages per day! who was he texting with during this period? we may know soon.”
In an interview with Brahm Resnik of 12 News, Mr. stump claimed he was just rescheduling meetings with APs execu- tives. Regarding his contacts with Mr. Mussi, Mr. stump said they “have known each other for nearly 15 years” and were just trying to get a date to the symphony scheduled.
In the meantime, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commis- sion recently denied a rate request by Duke Energy so the util- ity could install $1.9 billion worth of smart meters and related equipment. Instead of taking the company’s cost analysis at face value, the Indiana commission decided to ask questions first. “Duke must estimate its costs with a sufficient level of ac- curacy and supply evidence to allow the other parties and the Commission to conduct their own independent analysis of the estimated costs.”
| Cindy Cole wonders what it would be like if this state were little more hoosier. cindy@thenoise.us
in December 2014, the Arizona Corporation Commission approved a measure allowing the Arizona Public Service Corporation (a subsidiary of Pinnacle west, Inc.) to begin charg- ing fees of consumers who choose an analog meter instead of a wireless smart Meter on their home or business. Objections to the automated meters cite concerns about health, safety, ac- curacy and privacy.
In March 2015, an ACC employee came forward as a whistle- blower accusing Commissioners and APs executives of engag- ing in inappropriate communications during the time the ACC considered these and other rate requests from APs.
Then in April, the ACC rescinded the opt-out fee order and told APs that they would essentially have to “start all over.” The ACC cites appeals filed by citizen interveners Warren Wood- ward of sedona and Patricia Ferre of Payson, which have now been granted. The order to rescind mentioned comments they received from individuals during the course of considering the opt-out fee request, stating:
... The issues presented by APS’ proposed opt-out tariff have attracted significant public attention. The comments that we have received from the public show that some individuals con- tinue to be concerned about the various issues that may sur- round smart meters.
... Although APS has presented its application as a tariff filing ... we think these issues would benefit from the type of compre-
hensive review ... conducted in a general rate case. A tariff filing proceeding, which is typically processed in a more abbreviated fashion, is ill-suited to address the issues presented herein.
while some observe the ACC’s “sudden penchant for thor- oughness” is late in coming, all eyes are on APs, with a general rate increase request on the docket as early as this month. In
the meantime, the ACC order says that APs should “continue to provide analog meters to customers who request them.”
The order has its loopholes, however; and continues:
We will also require APS to track the ... unrecovered costs of its continued provision of analog meters ... including the costs of such meters, the costs of meter reading, and any other costs attributable to providing customers with analog meters ... APS may defer those unrecovered costs and ... recovery of any rea- sonable ... unrecovered costs in its next rate case.
As Mr. woodward might counter: “Maybe this is something they should have asked for the first time around? Oh wait, that’s right. That was done in a “more abbreviated fashion.’”
The investigation of the whistleblower’s complaints has been referred to Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who, according to the Internal Revenue service, received $425,000 in campaign funds from Pinnacle west through an “independent” campaign run by the Republican Attorneys General Association last year.
Mr. Brnovich has assigned two “senior officials” to probe the ACC/APs allegations rather than turn things over to an indepen- dent investigator. “As Attorney General,” he said in a statement,
“I value the public trust and I would not want my participation to become a distraction.”
APs has been accused of contributing significantly to the new seats of Tom Forese and Doug Little through campaigns run by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. An investigation conducted by government and industry watchdog group the Checks & Balances Project found evidence of suspicious com- munications between ACC former Chairman Bob Stump and “a dark money leader, an attorney tied to Arizona Public service, an APs executive, and the two pro-utility ACC candidates who ultimately won the primary and general elections.”
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