Phoenix Independent published Shelby Stults' op-ed explaining why two Arizona bills under consideration in the state legislature are bad energy policy. Read snippets below and the full article here.

Sweltering heat waves and unreliable energy access during wildfires are giving Arizonans a lot to worry about when it comes to their power supply. But a plan being considered by the state legislature should give Arizonans even more reason to sweat when it comes to their ability to reliably and affordably keep cool. 

A pair of bills being considered right now by Arizona’s legislature, House Bill 2101 and Senate Bill 1631, are bad energy policy masquerading as a promise to improve reliability. Arizona utility companies claim the bills would improve the state’s electricity resilience, but the proposals include exactly zero tangible reliability improvements to the state’s electricity system.

Instead, the bills are a thinly veiled attempt at solidifying the state’s existing utility monopoly structure, for no one’s benefit but that of the utilities. They are simply trying to eliminate competition by preventing clean energy companies from giving customers more choice or allowing market forces to pressure utilities into providing more competitive clean energy services. In other words, the seven utilities behind the measure are looking to restrict Arizonans’ power to choose how and where they get their electricity.

Several other policies bundled into HB2101 and SB1631 also make these bills bad energy policy for Arizona, particularly when it comes to expanding customers’ access to resilience-boosting technologies. 

Read the full article here.