For anyone living in Sun City AZ, you know the Arizona Corporate Commission (ACC) has been actively trying to stick it to us for the past year. EPCOR Water Company has been working hard to get buy-in for consolidating the waste water rates for their 5 districts. Sun City is far and away the largest and pays the least (based on actual costs). I could go into the history of our waste water issues, but suffice to say over the years we have evolved in ways that made sense and kept our costs in line. EPCOR bought into the West Valley several years back and has been charging other districts in accordance with actual costs. Developers are always looking for cheaper land and the further out they moved, the higher rates were simply the cost of doing business. But alas, that wasn't deemed "fair" to those home owners paying their actual costs and figured the best way to balance the budget was to get Sun City home owners to subsidize them. Shameful. But it gets so much better, so stay with me on this. It appears the Andy Tobin led ACC and the merry band of 5 diehard republicans have now all flip-flopped and become flaming socialists. They apparently see the best solution is to shove huge increases down Sun City and Youngtown residents throats while cutting the other districts costs (some a little and some way more). Bear in mind, they have yet to act, because the way was just cleared when an administrative law judge recommended the commission move forward on full consolidation. Have i mentioned yet, shameful. You can read the full story in this weeks Independent newspaper; after all, it is front page above the fold news. But let's get back to the header on this thread, because it is in fact the absolute example of the word irony. Hold unto your seat as i role this parallel out, it's just too good not to share. The administrative law judge rendered her ruling on May 23, 2017. And for those of you not following the local news, that is the exact same day (May 23, 2017) that an Arizona judge passed on an indictment on Gary Pierce (former ACC commissioner) and three others for accepting/soliciting bribes for voting to pass a massive waste water hike back in 2011 and 2013. Here's a link to the Pierce story. More thoughts later, but don't you just love the irony of it all?
I agree with your premise of the irony in the May 23rd Administrative Law Judge's (ALJ) recommendations on consolidation and another judge that passed indictments on 3 Commissioners for soliciting bribes on the same day. Wherever politics and money are involved, there will always be corruption. That being said, the ACC as I understand this EPCOR case, was created because of the outcry of at least 3 of the 5 water district customers petitioning the ACC for rate relief with regard to waste water rates. The ACC instructed EPCOR to develop 3 different rate plans. EPCOR did not petition the ACC for these rate plans. EPCOR was apparently satisfied with the status quo. Districts other than Sun CIty/Youngtown and Sun City West and the ACC were the instigators of this rate request. Historically the ACC has never sided with the rate payers in any case. Their decisions are usually based on the recommendations of the ALJ. That being the case, it would seem to me that the ACC is redundant in that it follows the ALJ's recommendation. One person, the ALJ, is the decision maker in all rate cases. As I expected, the request for full consolidation would be approved by the ACC. As witnessed by the hundreds of letters and emails to the ACC from Sun City and Sun City West residents, the strongest and yet weakest argument against consolidation was "we are on a fixed income'. The Utilities, ALJ, and the ACC do not consider income levels when setting or adjusting rates except for providing some low income assistance mechanism. Even that is so paltry that it provides very little relief to low income rate payers. Further, approval of full consolidation will not be the only increase you see as a result of the May 23rd recommendation by the ALJ. You will also see a new charge on your bill titled SIB (System Improvement Benefit). This will be a charge by EPCOR for supposedly improving water distribution throughout their system. It has nothing to do with the handling of waste water. I would also wager that EPCOR is also formulating at this moment a rate request to increase your water rates. They will be taking a lead from the APS rate case that they are not making enough revenue because their rate payers are conserving too much water. Water conservation in Arizona is a must, but if you conserve to save money on your bill you will wind up with a rate increase. Now there is real irony.
It's all a big load of happy horse**** SCR, but we'll be the ones getting it dumped on. Didn't know about the new charge SIB, but nothing surprises me anymore. Ever since the dark money has been pouring into election coffers from places unknown, the utility companies have been catered to beyond belief. One quick correction in your comments: There is only one commissioner named in the suit, and that's Pierce. The other three are his wife, a lobbyist and the developer Pierce tried to help. Here's the article from the Independent and some interesting comments from some non-Sun City residents.
Spot on E, the dark money changed everything. Speaks volumes about the state of politics today eh? So in spite of all the rancor over Rusty's article from those living outside the the Sun City's, they should rest peacefully. The outcome was a forgone conclusion once Andy Tobin was elected. His goal is/was and will be to consolidate all of these utilities. It takes care of the rural outliers, but more importantly the builders get what they need to keep building on the cheap land in the middle of nowhere. In the end we'll most likely get a 5 year phase in, but ultimately it just means we will be subsidizing those out in the boondocks. The real winner will be EPCOR as they will continue to see their profits guaranteed for years to come. Well done ACC commissioners and let's keep that dark money pouring in take care of these guys as they build a war chest they can take with them when they retire.