TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) – Attorney General Kris Mayes is challenging the Arizona Corporation Commission’s decision to repeal the state’s energy efficiency rules.
Mayes filed an Application for Rehearing earlier this week targeting the Commission’s Decision No. 82007, which eliminated the Electric Energy Efficiency Standards Rules. The filing argues the Commission made a legal error by treating the 2020 savings-target deadline as an expiration of the rule itself, when no sunset provision exists.
The Attorney General’s Office also contends the Commission violated its own Rule Review Procedures by finalizing the repeal before completing a required Final Economic, Small Business and Consumer Impact Statement.
The application states the impact statement relied upon contains numerous factual inaccuracies unsupported by the record, including claims about small business impacts, cost-shifting, program oversight, federal funding availability and utility investment incentives.
“The Commission got this one wrong both on the law and on the facts,” Mayes said.
“Arizonans have relied on these energy efficiency standards for years, and the Commission cannot repeal them based on a misreading of its own rules and a rushed, inaccurate impact statement,” Mayes said.
The Attorney General’s Office is asking the Commission to reverse Decision No. 82007 and rehear the matter. The filing was submitted under A.R.S. § 40-253(A).