Panel weighs options after electricity ruling

By PAUL DAVENPORT
Associated Press Writer
January 29, 2004

PHOENIX - The Arizona Corporation Commission is weighing its options in the wake of a court ruling that threw out some of its rules for competition in retail electricity sales.

"Our lawyers are digesting the case," Chairman Marc Spitzer said Wednesday, adding that he expects the commission to discuss the Court of Appeals ruling in about a week.

The Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned some of the rules as unconstitutional, said others were adopted improperly without required reviews by the attorney general and ruled that still others are legal. Spitzer noted that the rules were adopted in 1996 before a complete turnover in the commission's members, and he said options include repealing the rules and preparing new ones that take into account changes in circumstances.

"I inherited those rules and I inherited those lawsuits," said Spitzer, a former legislator elected to the commission in 2000.

Scott Wakefield, a lawyer for the Residential Utility Consumer Office, said the ruling will not have much impact, partly because the Arizona Supreme Court recently ruled in another case on a major rate-setting issue covered by the new ruling. Also, the commission itself already has acted to revisit some of the issues covered by the rules, Wakefield said.

Arizona's push for competition in retail electricity sales has stalled for a variety of reasons, including the legal challenges, neighboring California's problems, the Enron scandal and the realization that most residential customers won't bother with switching providers for minimal savings, Wakefield said.

The Court of Appeals decision overturned a Superior Court judge's decision throwing out all of the rules. The rulings came in a consolidated case involving lawsuits filed by power cooperatives, Tucson Electric Power Co. and the Arizona Consumers Council.