PRESCOTT ARIZONA REAL ESTATE – APS

By Ken Hedler The Daily Courier

PRESCOTT VALLEY – Realtors and development interests are urging the Arizona Corporation Commission to repeal a policy that enables Arizona Public Service to charge for utility line extensions.

They said the policy harms homeowners in the pocketbook and hurts the economy as well. They seek to reinstate a free service for line extension for as much as 1,000 feet as long as it costs no more than $25,000.

“It is arbitrary, and we are dealing with a monopoly (utility company),” Holly Mabery, first vice president of the Arizona Association of Realtors, said during a meeting Tuesday evening. “If 100 homes are built, it is equal to 112 jobs.”

Mabery, a Cottonwood-based real estate broker, was among seven people who spoke out at a public comment meeting of the Arizona Corporation Commission in the Prescott Valley Public Library. Gary Pierce of Mesa is the only commissioner who attended the meeting, which drew 27 people.

The five-member commission repealed the 50-year-old policy with APS during a rate case in 2007. Supporters of the rescission contend in the past all ratepayers subsidized the service for utility customers who obtained free extensions.

The ACC is conducting meetings throughout the state and will review the comments before deciding to rescind or retain the policy, Pierce said. The final meeting will take place July 1 in Snowflake.

Pierce, who is seeking a second term on the ACC, said he favors restoring the free line extension.

Pierce said APS exempts homeowners who are below the poverty level and bought their property before the rescission went into effect.

He received an earful from the audience.

“I feel it is time to stop adding this unfair demand to builders and developers,” said Sandy Griffis, executive director of the Yavapai County Contractors Association, which has more than 300 members.

“I appreciate that you are an advocate for us,” Griffis told Pierce. “I find it insulting that the other commissioners are not here.”

Pierce, who attended a candidates forum in Sierra Vista earlier on Tuesday, advised his audience against judging the other commissioners. He added they will read the minutes of the meeting.

“It is impossible for us to get to all of the hearings,” he said.

ACC Chairwoman Kris Mayes said afterward she did not attend the meeting because she stayed until 5 p.m. Tuesday at a rate case hearing in Phoenix.

“I am willing to consider a compromise, but by and large the commission made the right decision to eliminate the subsidy,” said Mayes, a Prescott native. “My view was and still is that development needs to pay more of its own way, and that those costs should not be borne by ratepayers.”

Line extension costs are a “pretty typical tariff for utilities around the country,” said Jeff Guldner, vice president of rates and regulation for APS in Phoenix.

Guldner said it costs APS more to extend electricity service to homes in outlying, sparsely populated areas.

APS drew criticism from Kim Horn, former president of the Prescott Area and Arizona associations of Realtors.

“I have stomached just as much as I can take of government looking out for big corporations,” Horn said.

Contacted after the hour-long meeting, Horn said, “A group of people brought the Arizona Corporation Commission a point of view that was not representing the big corporations. We are asking government to look out for the taxpayer and private property rights of homeowners.”

The Yavapai County supervisors split 2-1 on favoring restoring the free line extensions during a meeting this past August.