Clean Energy a Mandate in Arizona

A mandate in Arizona

In 2006, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) ordered Arizona utilities to begin generating electricity from renewable resources with the goal of reaching 15% renewable generation by 2025. At that time Arizona produced 0.01% of its electricity by solar energy, the same for wind. Reaching the mandated goal will be very expensive. At the time of this writing I was unable to find exactly where we are in that production schedule. However, Arizona Public Service (APS) appears to state they are on target and the utility company is spending millions and millions of dollars in an attempt to reach that goal. APS spent close to 50 million dollars in 2009 alone in incentives and 84 million dollars in 2010. On top of that they spent over 5.4 million dollars just in marketing their renewable programs. Who pays for that? The rate payers are the ones that pay this whether they participate in it or not. There are organizations that are filing suits to fight the Corporation Commissions mandate; however at this point it appears they are not winning. The money is being spent and the consumer will pay for it via higher utility bills.