MEC Tells AZ to Stop Double Dipping

Posted: March 1, 2022 at 7 a.m.

Your Mohave Electric Cooperative (MEC) Board of Directors and management have joined Grand Canyon State Electric Cooperative Association and other Arizona electric cooperatives in support of Arizona House Bill 2232.

This state legislation seeks to correct a disparity on how cooperatives are charged for the sale of electricity. The Arizona Corporation Commission operates and is funded through an assessment on all regulated utilities, and the existing assessment formula results in a double assessment for all cooperatives.

The Issue

The existing Arizona state statute requires that entities regulated by the ACC pay a fee, or assessment, to fund operations of the ACC. The assessment is based on revenue collected from sales of electricity to the companies’ customers or members. The ACC assessment is then passed to customers or members on their bills.

Currently MEC and its members are paying the fee twice. The ACC assessment is charged to MEC, as required, by its power provider Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, a generation and transmission cooperative. MEC, a distribution cooperative pays the ACC assessment a second time for the revenue collected for the same power billed to its members.

HB 2232

In January, HB2232 was filed in the Arizona House of Representatives. The legislation is aimed at solving the issue of assessing the same product twice by excluding the assessment on revenues from sales of electricity by the generation cooperative, and only charging the assessment for sales of electricity to the distribution cooperatives’ members. On February 1 the bill passed out of committee with a vote of 11-0 in favor.

Next Steps

HB2232 has strong support from Arizona legislators. We expect that the bill will continue through the legislative process including Rules Committee, and to the House and Senate for a vote. We’ll continue to track this bill and other legislative actions that impact MEC and our members.