The Arizona Corporation Commission approved a rate increase for Tucson Electric Power (TEP) at the August 8, 2023 open meeting. The increase, requested by the utility, will increase residential customers’ bills by an average of $11 per month.
Business customers will face various increases depending on their service type.
Commissioner Anna Tovar voted against a rate increase for residential customers.
“I believe the Commission took us backwards with this decision,” said Commissioner Tovar, “We have an obligation to think of more than just the utility’s bottom line; we must also look out for the customers. I don’t think this decision was in the best interest of customers.”
Commissioner Tovar proposed two amendments that she claims would have prioritized customers over shareholders, and both were rejected. The first would have limited TEP’s return on equity to 9.27% instead of the 9.55% adopted by the Commission. The second would have removed a significant portion of the TEP’s fuel adjustor mechanism which would have reduced one of the largest fees on a customer’s bill.
Commissioner Márquez Peterson introduced an amendment that she claims will spread more of the revenue requirement to business customers, cutting the residential bill increases to just over 10% instead of 14.7%. The approved return on equity for TEP is 9.55%.
The Commission did adopt amendments that removed a discount for electric vehicle owners, prohibited the spread of credit card processing fees among ratepayers who do not use them, and declined calls to use ratepayer funds to finance coal community transition.