MEC Advocates for Members at State Capitol

In January, Mohave Electric Cooperative’s (MEC) CEO Tyler Carlson, MEC Board of Directors, and MEC senior management returned to Phoenix to join representatives from other Arizona electric cooperatives and participate in the annual visits with elected leaders.

“These face-to-face meetings provide opportunities where we can educate our legislative and regulatory representatives about priorities and challenges for MEC and our members, and thank them for their support when they help advance actions that benefit our members,” said Carlson.

During this year’s legislative session we thanked electeds for their leadership in passing HB 2201 which established a process to work with the Department of Fire and Forestry Management on wildfire mitigation plans. We will continue to monitor future bills. Electeds have suggested employee safety, data centers, large customer loads, and small modular reactors bills will be released later this session.

In addition to briefing and educating the Arizona legislators, MEC met with the Arizona Corporation Commissioners (ACC). The ACC is the state regulatory body, elected by voters, that has constitutional authority to consider several co-op activities such as ratemaking, infrastructure development, and renewable energy programs.

During the meetings with ACC Commissioners, MEC thanked them and ACC staff for the recent improvements in the agency’s efficiency and responsiveness. MEC saw this firsthand when our streamlined rate case application was processed in less than 5 months, a substantial savings in cost and time compared to previous proceedings.

Unlike Arizona electric cooperatives, a large majority of the nation’s co-ops in most other states are not regulated. These states agree that regulation is not needed because cooperatives, like MEC, are selfgoverned utilities, and that the co-op’s Board of Directors, who are members themselves and elected entirely by other co-op members, is best suited to determine the course of the cooperative.

In April, MEC will also be participating in the annual Washington, DC advocacy trip and meet with our U.S. Congressional members and Senators.

On recent federal legislative issues Carlson said, “We want to thank our members who sent messages to Congressman Paul Gosar in support of the FEMA Reform Act. Your advocacy is important. We need your help on this and other energy policy issues to ensure members’ voices in America’s rural communities are heard.”