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Arizona Regulators Vote Down Halting APS Rate Case

By Will Stone
Published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017 - 6:17pm

Arizona regulators will not halt a rate case for the state’s largest utility despite concerns raised by Corporation Commissioner Bob Burns that Arizona Public Service may have secretly spent millions to help elect several commissioners.

It was another day, another roadblock for Burns.

Burns wanted his fellow commissioners to affirm his subpoena power in order to have the utility hand over financial records related to its alleged dark money spending in 2014.

He wanted the judge overseeing the APS rate request to decide whether some commissioners should be disqualified because they benefited from that money.

He wanted APS executives to testify about political activities and spending.

He wanted to put the rate case on hold while all of that got hashed out.

But the rest of the commission shot down all of those requests, arguing, among other things, they’re overly-broad and burdensome, not relevant to the proposed rate hike and that Burns is impugning their reputation with no evidence.

The decision means that Burns will most likely have to go back to court and pursue his legal efforts there.