Invest in the Power of the Sun
It is important to maintain my efforts to ensure a reliable, affordable, and independent energy future for all Arizona. We need to continue to make policy decisions to provide enough electricity for growth and sustainable economic expansion, but to also keep prices down as coal and natural gas prices are expected to climb just like gas prices at the pump are climbing. I will always promote clean energy sources that will also help with air pollution and water scarcity, and I want Arizona to be the Solar State. Arizona has enough solar resources to be energy independent and have sustainable economic growth. Clean renewable energy means sustainable economic opportunity for Arizona, green jobs. And energy efficiency is the bridge to the time when solar energy in Arizona is developed enough to be a sizeable proportion of the energy here in the state. Arizona should not be importing coal-fired electricity from other states when there is the rich, abundant resource of sunlight here.
I continue to support the Arizona Corporation Commission’s (ACC) Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST) of 15% by 2025. Our neighboring states required this years ago, and they are way ahead of us in diversifying their energy portfolios and they are reaping the economic benefits.
During my first term, I helped pass the new energy efficiency standards for electric power generation. This new energy efficiency standard requires utilities regulated by the ACC to achieve a cumulative annual energy savings of 22% by 2020, with annual goals that gradually ramp up to the new standard. Electric cooperatives have to reach 75% of the new energy efficiency standard. The new energy efficiency standard also requires these utilities to reduce peak load.
The cumulative annual energy savings exceed 6,800 GWh in 2020 plus $9 billion in lower customer bills! Energy efficiency becomes one-fifth of the energy “pie” in 2020, which puts it ahead of either coal or nuclear energy.
The new energy efficiency standards cause the deferral of three large baseload plants from early 2020’s to the 2030’s, and by then there will be more renewables, storage, and electric vehicles. This prevents new power plants from having to be built, which saves ratepayers as they ultimately have to pay for new power plant construction and operation. Energy efficiency is the most cost efficient approach. 
The energy efficiency standards are designed to capture all the cost-effective opportunities and maximize energy cost savings for each customer, and there is a plan to reach even more customers and help them save their energy dollars. To achieve the Arizona energy efficiency standard of 22% by 2020, each customer needs to save more energy. This means 20% to 50% energy savings or more, rather than 5-10% savings required by the previous energy efficiency standards.
During my first term, I have been able to accomplish much as your commissioner, but there is much that remains to be done. Arizona has a new energy efficiency standard now. And more and more solar and renewable energy projects, with the sustainable jobs that come with them, have developed under my watch and guidance. I remain a determined consumer advocate who will always stand up for consumers, and especially for the elderly and low-income consumers.