Did you know that Arizona consumers have the legal right to choose from a range of electricity supply options? As of now, that choice is being stifled and undermined through inaction by the regulators.

Utilities in Arizona have done a bad job of controlling their costs. For more than a decade, the energy costs they charge to customers (not including the costs to maintain poles and wires) have dramatically exceeded the peak prices available on the open market. That’s true even when relatively high market costs from 2021 are considered.

Choice disciplines the incumbent monopoly and gives customers access to new economically and environmentally valuable options unavailable through monopoly utilities. Choice sparks innovative and responsive new solutions to consumer needs and provides wider-ranging benefits to every consumer.

For example, a 100% renewable energy plan offered by an electric retail supplier allows consumers to source electricity that fits their values. States that allow retail choice give customers the freedom to select this type of service right now. Arizona does not.

The fact is that right now, in one of the sunniest states in the country, Arizonans have no access to 100% renewable energy plans. Arizona consumers deserve better.

Current Law

Arizona’s Energy Competition Act was intended to create electric retail competition and allowed a variety of providers to sell electricity supply and other services to Arizona’s consumers.

Under the legislation, consumers were given the ability to choose to purchase power from a competitive electric retail supplier or do nothing and continue to receive electricity service from the local utility. The utility continues to manage the transmission and distribution infrastructure.

But the intent of the legislation was never realized. It has been two decades since the law was passed and Arizonans still have no choice in their retail electric provider and are stuck with a single monopoly utility based on where they live.

The Problem

Today, electricity sales statewide are exclusively controlled by monopoly utilities that thwart competition, providing no options to customers. While the law clearly says Arizonans have the right to choose their provider and enjoy the many benefits of competition, no such competition exists in the state.

The fact that Arizonans still do not have the freedom to choose their electricity provider, two decades after the law was passed to allow this is why the Choose Who You Use coalition was created – to help Arizona consumers receive the benefits of choice and competition that were promised to them over 20 years ago.

Electricity Choice

Electricity choice has succeeded in other states and has resulted in a wide array of choices, ranging from low-cost, no-frills electricity plans, to free electricity nights/weekends, 100% renewable energy, and more.

True electricity choice means that the state’s dominant utilities–APS, SRP, TEP–can focus on critical issues like the safety and security of Arizona’s power infrastructure, including the poles and wires in every consumer’s neighborhood.

True electricity choice gives all Arizona consumers greater control over home energy use and overall environmental impact, which helps everyone save money and pick plans that reflect the priorities that matter most to them.