Burns noted that the rules were influenced by the work of a regional task force he recently sat on at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, also citing valuable contributions from a coalition of environmental and consumer groups.
“The fact that we will have competitive input, we will have stakeholder input to determine the forecasts, I think puts Arizona out in front of the country on the (resource-planning) process,” said Burns, who is stepping down from the commission after reaching the two-term limit.
‘A CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE’
The rules still require a final, public rulemaking procedure and some elements could be changed by a new Corporation Commission that will be seated in January.
Though Kennedy will remain and Democrats gained a new, four-year seat on the commission with the apparent election of Anna Tovar, the panel’s new Republican majority includes Jim O’Connor, who has said he opposes green-energy mandates.
Nationwide, 30 states have some sort of mandate that utilities get a varying percentage of their power from renewables, while 14 have requirements of 50% or greater, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
But in recent years several states, including Colorado, Washington, Nevada and New Mexico have adopted carbon-emissions standards.
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