DeepSummary
The episode discusses how Arizona Public Service (APS), the largest electric utility in Arizona, launched a years-long attack on solar energy and engaged in unethical practices to influence regulatory decisions in its favor. Former regulator Kris Mayes explains how APS spent millions of dollars on misleading attack ads against rooftop solar and funded front groups to challenge a renewable energy ballot initiative.
The episode also highlights how APS covertly spent around $12 million to support pro-utility candidates in regulatory elections, essentially buying its own regulators. This attracted scrutiny from the FBI and significant public backlash, eventually forcing APS to stop its political spending and adopt a more proactive stance towards renewable energy.
The episode underscores the broader issue of monopoly utilities abusing their power and using customer funds to resist the transition to clean energy. It emphasizes the importance of public pressure and stricter regulations to hold utilities accountable and accelerate the adoption of renewable energy sources.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Monopoly electric utilities like Arizona Public Service (APS) have abused their power and used customer funds to resist the transition to renewable energy sources like solar.
- APS engaged in unethical practices such as misleading advertising campaigns, funding front groups, and covertly influencing regulatory elections to undermine solar energy policies and protect its business interests.
- Public pressure, media scrutiny, and regulatory investigations played a crucial role in exposing APS's unethical behavior and forcing the utility to change course.
- The episode underscores the importance of stricter regulations and oversight to prevent monopoly utilities from misusing customer funds for political agendas and obstructing the adoption of clean energy.
- Public involvement and participation in regulatory processes, including elections for utility commissions, are essential to hold utilities accountable and accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources.
- The broader issue of utilities sowing climate denial and doubt, as well as delaying progress on clean energy, is a significant obstacle in addressing climate change.
- The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act provides financial incentives and opportunities for utilities to retire fossil fuel plants and invest in renewable energy projects, potentially reshaping their approach to the clean energy transition.
- The episode highlights the need for greater transparency, public accountability, and a shift in utility business models to align with climate action and the adoption of clean energy sources.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “The problem is utilities. Monopoly utilities have an unlimited supply of money. And when a utility decides to engage in this kind of behavior and activity, it's just very hard to stop it.“ by Kris Mayes
- “What started to happen at the commission is that APS started to advocate for policies that would essentially decimate the solar energy industry in our state.“ by Kris Mayes
- “Suddenly it went from this really arcane subject that people would talk about in a monthly meeting with ten people in the audience to we're seeing commercials on TV talking about how evil solar is and how these California billionaires are taking over the state of Arizona. And it became just front and center in the political arena in Arizona at the time.“ by Ryan Rendazzo
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Episode Information
A Matter of Degrees
Dr. Leah Stokes, Dr. Katharine Wilkinson
2/2/23
Electric utilities are falling short on climate action. To explain why, we’re bringing back our season one finale. This episode features former utilities regulator Kris Mayes, who recently won a nail-biting election to become the second woman and first openly LGBTQ attorney general of Arizona. Go, Kris!
Since season one, Leah has been busy investigating utilities’ past and present role spreading climate denial, doubt, and delay. You can read the paper she co-wrote on the topic last fall, and discover the dirty truth about your electric utility and their climate plans in the report she released with Sierra Club. Spoiler alert, Arizona Public Service is one of the top offenders. We can’t wait to share the whole sordid tale with you one more time…
In 2013, a series of attack ads blitzed television sets across Arizona. They warned of a dire threat to senior citizens. Who was the villain? Solar energy.
These ads came from front groups funded by Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest utility. It was part of a years-long fight against rooftop solar that turned ugly.
“I mean, for Star Wars fans, APS became the Darth Vader of electric utilities in America. I mean, I think you would be hard-pressed to find a utility that behaved as badly as APS did in the last decade,” explains former regulator Kris Mayes.
But APS isn’t alone. It’s a prime example of how monopoly utilities abuse their power to influence regulatory decisions and slow clean-energy progress.
What happens if your electric utility starts doing things you don’t agree with? What if they start attacking solar and proposing to build more and more fossil gas plants? What if they actively resist clean energy progress?
Well, you don’t get a choice. You have to buy electricity, and you have to buy it from them. As a customer you’re funding that.
In this episode, we’ll detail how it happened in Arizona – and how public pressure forced APS to come clean.
Featured in this episode: Ryan Randazzo, Kris Mayes, David Pomerantz.