by admin | Apr 29, 2025 | News and Updates, Regulatory
For the past decade, our organization has been fighting the Green New Deal agenda in Arizona, working to score a decisive victory for reliable and affordable energy. Thanks to President Trump, that decisive victory now appears within reach.
Earlier this month, President Trump released three new executive orders and one proclamation, all aimed at unleashing American energy abundance. These executive actions are all part of a coordinated White House effort to initiate a tidal shift in the ever-steady march toward the Net Zero nightmare being pursued by radical environmentalists, the green industrial complex, and public utilities across the nation.
For years, energy regulators have forewarned of the impending grid crisis due to the overreliance on costly renewable energy, yet the previous administration only accelerated the catastrophe. The new Trump Executive Orders, coupled with his declaration of a National Energy Emergency, will directly address this crisis by ending the regulatory discrimination against coal, empowering the domestic mining of coal resources, encouraging the development of coal energy generation, and allowing for these activities to take place on federal lands.
Reigniting the American coal industry couldn’t happen soon enough. While China and India are building new coal plants at unprecedented rates to power their economic growth, we have been aggressively shutting our plants down. As a result of costly regulations, market manipulation to inflate the cost of coal and throwing immense subsidies at wind and solar projects, coal was set to be nonexistent within the next decade.
In Arizona, nearly 4,000 MW of reliable coal generation has been shuttered in the last decade alone. For reference, Arizona’s largest electricity provider has a peak demand of 8,000 MW. And the remaining coal generation benefiting Arizona’s electric grid is either being shuttered this year (Cholla) or is slated to be retired in 2031 (Four Corners Generating Station).
For some time, the thought of keeping coal in the resource mix, let alone building new capacity, was nothing more than a pipe dream. Despite tremendous work at the state level, reversing the war on coal has been viewed as an impossible task. The Obama/Biden EPA worked to regulate coal out of existence, the “Inflation Reduction Act” was dumping trillions into unreliable solar and wind, and the impact of ESG had taken its toll on the energy industry. And the Arizona Corporation Commission, the regulatory body that oversees our public utilities, has shown little interest in challenging the phase-out of coal.
Now everything has changed. The most destructive regulatory and economic barriers hindering new fossil fuel development and generation, including coal, have been removed, thanks to President Trump.
Just as significant, multiple banks and hedge funds have dropped their woke Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) lending requirements due to pressure from the White House. And another Trump executive order cracking down on state overreach has directed the Attorney General to act against states with laws and policies that undermine energy resource development and grid reliability, including ESG (a term the Arizona Corporation Commission has previously claimed to be undefinable).
With a stroke of his pen, President Trump has committed to funding the reopening and new construction of coal-generating plants in states.
With Trump leading the way, our elected leaders have never had a better opportunity to boldly and enthusiastically reshape Arizona’s energy future. Much of this work must begin at the Corporation Commission, which is why Republicans at the legislature are rallying behind HCM 2014, a memorial to the Commission to support the buildout of reliable energy and reconsider previous decisions that are leading to the closure of Arizona’s remaining coal facilities.
For those evaluating the politics of sound energy policy, the risk now isn’t opposing the radical environmentalists and climate change fanatics, but resisting the headwinds of Trump’s energy agenda. Let’s hope that our elected leaders don’t waste this historic opportunity for meaningful reform.
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by admin | Mar 27, 2025 | News and Updates, Regulatory
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Today, the Arizona Senate Government Committee passed HB 2518, which “prohibits a public service corporation or public power entity that is regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission from employing or entering into an independent contractor agreement with an individual who served as a commissioner in the preceding two years.”
“I applaud lawmakers for continuing to move this commonsense legislation forward in the process,” said Scot Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. “HB 2518 provides protections for ratepayers by ensuring that elected members of the Corporation Commission can’t go from regulating utilities to working for them.”
HB 2518 previously passed the Arizona House of Representatives with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 51-2. It will now be considered by the full Arizona Senate.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
by admin | Mar 6, 2025 | News and Updates, Regulatory
From the Paris Climate Accords, to the Green New Deal (in the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,”) the global “Net Zero” agenda has been steaming ahead at full speed. And it hasn’t been just in the form of government mandates. Across the world, electric utilities have been making their own Net Zero Commitments – whether it is in response to government regulations against fossil fuels, or subsidies from the government for unreliable power, explicit mandates, or from the influence of investors like Blackrock. No, it’s not just in Germany, and it isn’t just in California, either. The Net Zero agenda, unfortunately, is alive and well here in Arizona too.
We always knew it would be costly, and experience has proven that true. But now, in a newly released report published by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and the AZ Liberty Network, the cost for Arizona’s largest utility to go “Net Zero” was found to be even more expensive than expected coming with a massive price tag of at least $42.7 billion by 2038.
History of the Green New Deal in Arizona
The “green” agenda is not new to Arizona. In 2006, then Chairman of the Corporation Commission Kris Mayes pushed through the first mandates in Arizona, requiring our utilities to get 15% of their energy generation from “renewables” by 2025. Those rules alone have already cost ratepayers $2.3 billion. In 2018, an out-of-state billionaire funded a proposition on the ballot that would have required utilities to obtain 50% renewable generation by 2035. That measure went down in flames, being rejected by a 2-1 vote.
Then in 2020, the Arizona Corporation Commission began pursuing another mandate – this time to require 100% renewable energy by 2050, also known as going “Net Zero” by 2050. The mandates almost passed without the Commission ever conducting an analysis to find out what it would cost ratepayers. Once an analysis was finally done, it was projected that the mandates would cost ratepayers $6 billion, leading to the proposal being rejected by the Commission.
But then, Arizona’s utilities, who opposed the 2018 initiative, announced publicly that they were voluntarily going “Net Zero” – mandate or no mandate. Or, for APS, Net Zero doesn’t even go far enough, and they have pledged to be 100% “carbon free” by 2050.
And these aren’t just public statements. The utilities have committed to going “Net Zero” in SEC filings to their shareholders, and they even compensate their top executives (page 68) based on how much “clean” energy they build in our state. Unsurprisingly, these commitments completely shape their resource plans.
Net Zero Resource Plans
Utilities are required to submit resource plans to the Commission every three years. These plans are supposed to project future demand in their territories and then evaluate several different portfolios of generation to meet that demand. This should be a technology agnostic process that selects the most affordable and reliable power generation for their ratepayers. Instead, it is guided every step of the way by their voluntary Net Zero goals.
The Commission is supposed to conduct their own independent analysis of these plans before approving them. Last year, after claiming they could not find someone to do an analysis, they voted to skip doing one altogether and charged ahead, approving the IRP without any idea as to the cost to ratepayers. Fortunately, we did find the expertise to do a cost and reliability analysis.
What the report found is shocking, yet not surprising. APS’ net zero commitments require a massive overbuilding of the grid, will eventually subvert the reliability of generation, and will cost ratepayers billions.
Overbuilding
With APS shutting down remaining reliable sources of power like the Four Corners coal plant by 2031, and building out almost exclusively wind, solar, and battery storage, the utilities plan to massively “overbuild” in order to meet future demand. This means nearly tripling the generation capacity currently on the grid to meet a 60% increase in demand over the next 15 years. Why? Because solar and wind are intermittent and unreliable, which means they must build far more than would be needed if they used reliable fossil fuel resources. Not only does building more cost more on its own, but it also increases shareholder profits as utilities are guaranteed a return on equity on every dollar they spend on new capital buildings. So, the more they spend, the more they profit, and the higher the costs are for ratepayers.
Sky High Rates
Given the amount of overbuilding, the cost of this Net Zero plan would be at least $42.7 billion by 2038, equating to an average $100 monthly electricity bill increase for Arizona families, and a $454 per month increase for businesses. Even worse, at this cost, the Net Zero resource plan presents serious reliability concerns.
California-Style Blackouts
Massively overbuilding “green” generation does not improve reliability. The report found that by 2038, APS could experience an up to 3,701 MW capacity shortfall in the middle of the summer late at night as Arizonans turn on their A/Cs to cool their homes. This shortfall represents 33% of the total demand in their territory, meaning hundreds of thousands of Arizona families and businesses would experience blackouts.
True Least Cost Portfolio Would Have Saved Billions
Despite the requirement to do so, the utilities did not evaluate a truly “technology agnostic” portfolio, but our report did. The findings are unsurprising. Instead of overbuilding by over relying on intermittent and unreliable sources, APS could have prioritized reliable, dispatchable power to meet future demand. By keeping Four Corners online and building new natural gas capacity, APS could reliably meet demand with no risk of blackouts by building just half the capacity APS would in their Net Zero plan at a cost of $20.8 billion, or a $21.9 billion savings for ratepayers.
Net Zero Costs Ratepayers, Rewards Shareholders
Because of this lower-cost plan, utility profits would be around $4 billion, instead of the more than $16 billion in profits the utility would make from ratepayers under their Net Zero plan. In other words, Net Zero is costly for ratepayers, but very profitable for shareholders.
Arizona Must Shut Down Net Zero
President Trump was right to declare an energy emergency on day one of his new administration. As utilities around the country continue to retire reliable power plants and replace them with unreliable wind and solar, not only are they driving rates through the roof, but they are also creating a dire reliability crisis that would plunge Arizona into energy poverty. The time to act is now. Arizona lawmakers and the Corporation Commission should draft off the Trump administration’s priority of unleashing American energy and protect ratepayers from these dangerous Net Zero Plans.
That’s why the Arizona Free Enterprise Club has spearheaded several pieces of legislation this year, including HB2527 which would prohibit utilities from retiring reliable sources of power unless they are replaced with equally reliable power, and HB2788, which would require the Commission to actually obtain a third-party analysis of the plans submitted by utilities before approving them in the future.
As this cost analysis shows, Net Zero means higher rates for Arizonans and California-style blackouts. If these plans aren’t shut down immediately, just as Germany experienced, there will be a point of no return. Arizona ratepayers will be left powerless and stuck with the bill.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
by admin | Mar 4, 2025 | News and Updates, Regulatory
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Today, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and AZ Liberty Network released a comprehensive analysis of the APS ’Net Zero’ resource plan approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission in 2024.
The independent analysis found that the APS ‘Net Zero’ Preferred Plan, built around their publicly stated goal of shutting down all reliable fossil fuel power generation over the next 25 years, would cost Arizona ratepayers over $40 billion dollars and likely result in blackouts by 2038.
Some of the key findings from the report include the following:
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- The APS Net Zero plan would increase monthly utility bills for residential customers by nearly $100 per month, with commercial customers seeing an increase of $454 per month.
- The APS plan would also result in serious reliability concerns due to the overreliance on intermittent power sources. By 2038, the APS service territory could face a capacity shortfall as high as 3,701 MW. This represents 33% of the total customer demand, potentially exposing hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses to rolling blackouts and power outages.
- APS currently meets their 8.1 GW of energy demand with 10 GW of capacity, largely from reliable sources of energy including coal, nuclear, and natural gas. To meet future energy demand under their plan relying on intermittent wind, solar, and battery storage, APS will need to overbuild the grid by nearly tripling capacity to 27 GW.
- An alternative True Least Cost (TLC) scenario modeled in the report shows that a plan built around reliable dispatchable power as opposed to intermittent wind, solar, and battery storage would save ratepayers over $20 billion dollars.
Though the Arizona Corporation Commission has a policy requiring an independent cost analysis before approving a resource plan by a utility, the Commission voted to waive this requirement during their most recent IRP process.
The full report can be accessed at the following link.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
by admin | Dec 5, 2024 | News and Updates, Regulatory
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – This week, the Arizona Corporation Commission announced that it had approved an amended version of its Policy Statement Regarding Formula Rates. The Arizona Free Enterprise Club released the following statement:
“Following contentious double digit rate hikes being approved and ESG Resource Plans committed to going ‘Net Zero’ by 2050 being rubber stamped, the Commission has rushed through approving new rules masquerading as a mere ‘policy statement’ that could insulate utilities and the Commission from having to face ratepayers in future rate cases. The ‘policy statement’ would depart from traditional rate making and pursue ‘formula based rates’ offloading risk from investors to ratepayers and baking in automatic rate increases with little transparency or opportunity for ratepayer engagement.
“The only support for this ‘policy statement’ came from the utilities themselves. The Commission is charged to protect ratepayers by regulating the utilities, not the other way around. The Commission should pump the brakes, not rush through major rulemaking decisions in a lame duck session.
“The Arizona Free Enterprise Club is committed to protecting ratepayers, ensuring affordable and reliable energy in Arizona. We will continue to work to ensure utilities will not be able to force their captive ratepayers to foot the bill, especially through automatic rate hikes, for their costly goal to go ‘Net Zero’ by 2050 by shuttering reliable sources of energy generation to build out expensive and unreliable wind, solar, and battery storage projects.”
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
by admin | Dec 21, 2023 | News and Updates, Regulatory
If someone wants to own an electric vehicle (EV), it is perfectly within their right to do so. That’s what it means to have freedom. But EV owners should be the ones to bear the burden of any costs associated with the necessary infrastructure improvements. And they should absolutely be responsible for paying for any excessive demand placed on the grid.
But that’s not the way the left sees it.
As part of its Green New Deal dream, the left has been pushing an agenda that significantly increases the amount of EVs on the road despite slowing demand from consumers and companies like Ford losing billions on them just this year. And Arizona utilities have fallen right in line, planning for 1 million EVs by 2030 while APS alone plans to have a 100% “carbon free” vehicle fleet as part of its commitment to go “Net Zero” by 2050.
So, how exactly was APS planning to do this? According to the Transportation Electrification Plan it submitted to the Arizona Corporation Commission, APS wants to force all ratepayers—including non-EV owners—to subsidize the costs associated with such an absurd goal. In the plan itself, APS asked for a budget of $5 million for its “Take Charge AZ” initiative that funds new EV chargers for private businesses along with an additional $4 million in subsidies for EV owners on the backs of other ratepayers.
This is not only unreasonable, but it’s unjust.
EVs are already highly subsidized. A recent study from the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) conservatively estimates that EVs receive nearly $50,000 in subsidies over 10 years from direct tax credits from federal and state governments, avoided gas taxes, and regulatory mandates. This unfairly socializes the costs of the demand EVs place on the grid to all ratepayers. On top of that, TPPF estimates that the costs associated with upgrading the grid to serve the EV electricity demand add up to $11,883 per EV over 10 years! And once again, this cost is incurred by all ratepayers. The last thing EV owners should be getting is more ratepayer subsidies!
That’s why the Arizona Free Enterprise Club helped lead the charge to ask the Arizona Corporation Commission to oppose these unfair EV subsidies with around 340 comments submitted against APS’s plan. And Commissioners Kevin Thompson and Jim O’Connor heard us loud and clear. Thompson authored an amendment that rejected APS’s request to use up to $5 million in ratepayer funds to develop and install EV charging infrastructure as part of its “Take Charge AZ” program. And O’Connor amended the plan to ensure that any EV rebates offered by APS are done so at the expense of shareholders not ratepayers.
This is a big win for ratepayers, the overwhelming majority of whom do not own an EV or use EV charging stations and therefore shouldn’t be faced with such a financial burden. But while it is an important win, it once again highlights the need to rid ourselves of radical ESG commitments entirely. This program would have cost ratepayers $5 million, but their ESG Net Zero commitments would cost ratepayers $6 billion. Now, it’s time for the Corporation Commission to finish the job by putting an end to radical ESG plans for Arizona’s utilities once and for all.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
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