Published June 2016

(Download full brief here)

The essentials:

• UNS Electric, Inc., is a small utility serving approximately 93,000 ratepayers in Santa Cruz and Mohave Counties in Arizona.
• The utility faces challenges in paying for fixed assets with a declining demand and a business model built on increasing energy consumption.

• As a remedy, UNS is applying for a rate change focused on increasing the cost of electricity for small volume electricity users, especially those that may benefit from net-metering policies for distributed (primarily solar) generation.
• Although the utility is small, the rate case is being closely watched, as it may be precedent setting for other utilities.