Report: Arizona House Speaker Urges ACC to Not Pursue Retail Electric Choice

Arizona Speaker of the House Andy Tobin issued a statement Tuesday urging the Arizona Corporation Commission to not pursue retail electric choice at this time, citing, "great concerns over the possible implementation of a restructured electric market in the state of Arizona," according to a report in the Arizona Daily Independent

Per the Daily Independent, Tobin, in a joint statement with Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council Johnny Naize, asked:

"What is so fundamentally broken with our electric model that needs to be fixed at a time when so many investment and resource decisions are on the line? This could not come at a worse time. To that end, we strongly urge the Commission to provide regulatory certainty to energy providers by issuing a decision to not pursue retail electric restructuring at this time. Doing so would, among other negotiations, allow the Four Corners Power Plant (FCPP) transaction with the Navajo Nation to finalize, ensuring cleaner and affordable coal-fired power generation for Arizona consumers. This will protect Arizonans from losing a stable energy resource, and it will prevent the certain economic instability that is sure to follow in the wake of this proposed restructuring."

Matters would note this fundamental roadblock to retail choice in new jurisdictions (e.g. why change?) is why the Entergy Texas service area presented (and may still present) the most viable new territory for choice expansion, since transformative change was coming to the territory regardless of a transition to competition (move to MISO or another RTO, sale of transmission to third party, change in Texas' benefits under the Entergy system agreement, etc). But "competitive markets advocates" decided instead to focus their resources in Texas on instituting an anti-choice capacity market.