3 of the AZ Corporation Commission hopefuls push renewables

They also supported efforts to increase transparency and public engagement with the commission.

Hill stressed that each commissioner has the ability to subpoena regulated entities. He cast the race for the two seats as a jumping-off point for change.

“We have to capture these two seats, and then we can come back in 2028 when there will be three seats on the ballot and we just have to win one and we will have a pro-solar, pro-renewables commission for the first time in 30 years,” said Hill, a geologist and aerospace engineer.

Thompson, Pratte and Hill met last month at a debate hosted by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. Heap did not attend.

The September debate focused largely on affordability. Utilities are allowed under Arizona law to recoup infrastructure costs with rate increases. But it is the commission’s duty to ensure rates charged to consumers are “just and reasonable.”

Two major proposed increases ― from Arizona Public Service Co. and Tucson Electric Power ― are currently under consideration.

At the Oct. 2 debate, Hill and Cease, who previously worked at the Solar Energy Research Institute, which later became the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, said deciding between affordability and reliability was a “false choice.”

“We can and should have both of those things,” Hill said.

Thompson told The Arizona Republic he ultimately decided to skip the forum because “at the end of the day, I didn’t have anything to gain” and said he hoped to avoid the appearance of impropriety.