REFERENCE TITLE: corporation commission; urging new policy

State of Arizona Senate Fifty-fourth Legislature Second Regular Session 2020

SCM 1001

Introduced by Senators Mendez: Alston, Dalessandro, Quezada, Steele; Representative Salman

 

A concurrent MEMORIAL

 

urging the arizona corporation commission to adopt a policy requiring reduced rates for low-income households.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 

To the Arizona Corporation Commission:

Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, the average monthly residential electric bill in Arizona is ten percent higher than the national average; and

Whereas, some utilities that are regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission charge as much as twenty percent more than utilities that are not under the Corporation Commission's jurisdiction; and

Whereas, Arizona is home to several cities with some of the highest average summer temperatures in the country; and

Whereas, a lack of legal protections from utility disconnections can leave low-income households without access to the tools necessary to satisfy basic human needs; and

Whereas, Arizona utilities disconnected power for customers' homes more than one hundred thousand times in 2018; and

Whereas, utility disconnections put vulnerable populations in danger of heat-related illnesses and even death.

Wherefore your memorialist, the Senate of the State of Arizona, the House of Representatives concurring, prays:

1.  That the Arizona Corporation Commission adopt a policy that requires regulated utilities to charge reduced rates to households with incomes below one hundred fifty percent of the federal poverty level.

2.  That the Secretary of State transmit copies of this Memorial to each Member of the Arizona Corporation Commission.