Phoenix, Ariz.— At the Arizona Corporation Commission’s (ACC) October 8, 2024, regular open meeting, the Commission adopted all seven amendments proposed by Commissioner Nick Myers as it voted 4-1 to acknowledge the Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) submitted by Arizona Public Service Company (APS), Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP), and UNS Electric, Inc. (UNSE).

The Commission requires Load Serving Entities, including APS, TEP, and UNSE, to file IRPs identifying the resource mix they believe will best meet the energy needs of their customers over the next 15 years. Because the facts on the ground are constantly in flux, the Commission requires utilities to file updated IRPs every 3 years. This means the Commission’s acknowledgement of these 2023 IRPs does not etch in stone the utilities’ resource procurement plans for the next fifteen years. Rather, these IRPs are part of a larger, ongoing evaluation of utility resource planning, which will be updated and evaluated every 3 years.

The Commission has been evaluating the 2023 IRPs for almost a year, since November 2023, and held an all-day workshop on July 31, 2024, where the utilities highlighted in their presentations their projected load growth, the resource portfolios analyzed, their selected portfolio, and the estimated revenue requirement for each of the portfolios. 

At the workshop, Commissioner Myers repeatedly emphasized the priorities of reliability and affordability. He followed up the workshop with detailed questions for APS and TEP to ensure they had in fact analyzed a least-cost, technology neutral portfolio without regard for their self-imposed emissions reduction goals, as required in Decision No. 78499.

At the October 8, 2024, open meeting, the ACC adopted an amendment proposed jointly by Commissioner Myers and Commissioner Kevin Thompson requiring APS to demonstrate in future IRPs that it has acquired a sufficient mix of dependable and dispatchable capacity to ensure resource adequacy before it may exit Four Corners Power Plant, which results in the loss of 970 MW of dependable capacity.

Commissioner Myers’ additional amendments adopted by the ACC require:

• APS, TEP, and UNSE to include in future IRPs a technology neutral resource portfolio, which is the least-cost method of safely and reliably meeting customers’ energy needs without regard for their emissions reduction goals or any renewable or carbon emissions standards.
• APS, TEP, and UNSE to file annual reports on the accuracy of the load forecasts in their 2023 IRPs.
• APS, TEP, and UNSE to include a retirement analysis for each generation resource with a planned retirement during the 15-year IRP planning horizon.
• TEP to include in future IRPs a Balanced Portfolio with Natural Gas Combined Cycle, which TEP had identified as potentially the least cost portfolio depending on the availability of cost-effective transmission and new gas pipeline upgrades by 2033.
• APS, TEP, and UNSE to include in future IRPs an analysis of the costs savings resulting from their participation in western regional markets and impacts to their reserve margin, resource adequacy, reliability during extreme weather events, transmission planning, and capacity needs. 
  

“IRPs play a key role in the Commission’s ability to evaluate whether our regulated electric utilities are properly preparing for the future. Arizona cannot afford rolling brownouts and blackouts as other states have experienced, through their failed ideologically driven policies,” commented Commissioner Myers. “The importance of IRPs becomes greater each passing year in light of the forecasted growth in load and peak demand, planned exits from coal-fired generation, and the lack of available capacity in the western energy market. Commissioners must remain vigilant to ensure our utilities will be able to provide reliable and affordable service in the coming years.” 

For more information about the 2023 IRPs, please contact Amanda Hasty at myers-web@azcc.gov.