Who wins when Attorney General Kris Mayes brings the full legal weight of the state of Arizona against a Tucson-based subsidiary of a multi-billion-dollar Canadian energy company?
If you’re leaning toward Tucson Electric Power’s army of lawyers having the edge when the fight lands before the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), we get it — the commission has earned a reputation for backing utility rate increases over the objections of residents.
Still, Mayes has been on something of a winning streak over the last year in her fights with the Trump administration — even if her record isn’t perfect. She seems to win more than she loses.
On Wednesday, Mayes announced that an independent expert on utility rate hikes has completed a detailed review of TEP’s pending 14% increase, which is expected to go before the ACC in the near future.
Their opinion? TEP should be limited to a 4% increase instead.
“(TEP’s) analysis is rife with conceptual errors and assumptions that are systematically biased to produce higher (cost of equity) COE estimates,” Mark Ellis, a senior fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project, recently told the Arizona Corporation Commission.
Mayes first announced back in September that she planned to intervene in the pending rate case, opposing the 14% request.
"TEP's proposal is blatant corporate greed plain and simple," Mayes said on Wednesday. "Our expert analysis proves that customers are being asked to pay far more than is needed. Instead of a 14% rate hike, the expert testimony we just filed with the ACC shows that TEP can achieve the same reliability with just a 4% increase by aligning what customers pay with TEP's actual costs.”
This figure — featured prominently on TEP parent company Fortis Inc.’s homepage — highlights the profits it makes for shareholders.
In what many might frame as a David-versus-Goliath fight, Mayes has another advantage: institutional memory.
The Republican-turned-Democrat previously served on the Arizona Corporation Commission from 2003 to 2010 — bringing her insider knowledge that could shape how she approaches the current board.
TEP officials dispute the analysis from Mayes’ consultant, saying they laid out their justifications for the rate increase in a 1,600-page publicly available document.
“The AG's proposal would damage our ability to raise funds needed to invest in the reliability and increasing sustainability of our local energy grid,” Joseph Barrios, a spokesperson for TEP, told us.
TEP produced a graphic detailing changes in costs for materials. (Source: TEP)
Since 2021, TEP has reportedly invested $1.7 billion in the local energy grid.
“Shareholders expect a return for the risk they take, and the AG's proposal would impede our ability to raise the equity we need to continue investing in reliable service,” Barrios said.
Mayes’ filing is part of a larger public process tied to the rate hike, Barrios explained.
While Mayes and others offer criticism of the rate hike this month, TEP will respond directly to their concerns on March 13.
But remember how we said Mayes doesn’t have a perfect record in her political battles in the last year? She did lose a bout with TEP last month.
She tried to intervene in TEP’s Energy Supply Agreement with Beale Infrastructure tied to Project Blue — a separate case from the proposed rate hike — arguing before the ACC that a loophole allowed data-center developers to “secretly set electricity rates behind closed doors.”
The ACC rejected her request for a new hearing, though Mayes said last month she plans to appeal the decision.
Mayes isn’t the only Democrat challenging Tucson Electric Power’s proposed 14% rate hike — both the City of Tucson and Pima County have formally intervened in the Arizona Corporation Commission case.
Both governments say they are stepping in to protect ratepayers, push back on higher energy costs and raise climate-policy concerns.
Absent a new legal challenge, the TEP rate case is expected to head to a public hearing before the ACC in the coming months.
Public comment sessions start in mid-March, with the formal evidentiary hearing scheduled to begin April 22 here in Tucson.
Tucson Democrat Rep. Consuelo Hernandez somehow earned a “sensitive content” warning from Twitter last week when she posted images tied to her … dental care bill.
HB2958 would expand covered AHCCCS services to include comprehensive dental care for pregnant women. And it would appropriate $500,000 from the state general fund and an unspecified amount from federal Medicaid authority to provide the dental care.
The bill passed the House Health & Human Services committee on Monday on a unanimous vote. But because it includes funding, it was “double-assigned” to the House Appropriations Committee as well. So it’s still got a long way to go before it can become law.
We are still not sure how Twitter opted to label this tweet — and a few others from her — as sensitive, but we assure you it is ok to click-thru, even if you are at work.
Holding grandma in detention: Federal immigration agencies are holding more elderly people in crowded detention centers, the Arizona Daily Star’s Emily Bregel reports. Those agencies have discretion to release vulnerable people, but officials are choosing not to use that discretion, which led to Julia Benitez, a 79-year-old Cuban asylum seeker, being held at the Eloy Detention Center for nine months. Her early-stage dementia has gotten steadily worse and she often doesn’t know where she is. Mostly, "she just keeps asking when she's going to be released," her daughter said.
Deluge of calls: The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has received nearly 18,000 calls connected to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, per KVOA’s Marissa Orr. Sheriff’s deputies searched a home in Rio Rico after detaining a man following a traffic stop, the Star reports. He was interrogated for hours, but eventually released. Officials haven’t said yet why they stopped him.
Asking for intervention: The Arizona State Land Department is set to auction off 160 acres of land that Hudbay needs for its Copper World Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains on April 29. But the head of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas is asking Gov. Katie Hobbs to intervene. John Dougherty, in an op-ed for the Tucson Sentinel, says Hobbs has the power to intervene not only with the auction, but also with a road that Hudbay needs for the mine. The Pima County Board of Supervisors is already sending a letter to Hobbs asking her to stop the auction.
Other things on her mind: Hobbs was in the neighborhood on Tuesday as she made a stop to talk about water and border security in Sierra Vista, Alexis Ramanjulu reports for KGUN. Hobbs said she’s trying to get the rural groundwater management act “across the finish line” to help rural communities, as well as pushing federal officials to reimburse Arizona for hundreds of millions of dollars the state spent on border security in recent years.
We don’t need hundreds of millions. We’d be thrilled if you pushed that button and upgraded your subscription!
Clearing it up: The STAR Village in Tucson will keep operating beyond the end of the pilot program later this year, the Tucson Sentinel’s Mia Kortright reports. A miscommunication with a reporter earlier this week raised questions about the future of the program, which provides outdoor shelter to women and non-binary people. Tucson officials reassured the public that the program will continue past September.
Letter submitted: Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher made her retirement official on Tuesday. She sent a resignation letter to the Board of Supervisors saying it “has truly been the honor of a lifetime” to work for the county. She will step down at the end of her contract on Jan. 7, 2027.
“I leave with appreciation and best wishes for the continued success of the Board, the County, and especially all the incredible County employees,” Lesher wrote.
After a delivery guy waltzed right onto Nancy Guthrie’s property with a pizza on Tuesday, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos had to send out this little reminder.
The backstory — if the posts on Twitter can believed — was a viewer opted to send some ‘za to one of the reporters on the scene.
Joe pleads the fifth on whether he once had a midnight delivery of Fratelli’s pizza to Flagstaff City Hall.