Attorney General Mayes Sparks Turf War With Arizona Corporation Commission Over Utility Rate Decisions

Commissioner Accuses AG of Using Lawsuits for Campaign Points

Attorney General Kris Mayes is challenging several recent Arizona Corporation Commission decisions, sparking frustration from a body often considered Arizona's fourth branch of government.

In the month of March alone, Mayes' office filed three rehearing requests in three separate commission matters, accusing commissioners of violating state law, ignoring the commission's own rules or acting contrary to the best interests of utility customers.

Mayes' office has also filed a lawsuit over the commission's approval of a controversial data center contract and is intervening in two rate cases involving Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power.

The commission has the exclusive, constitutionally-granted authority to set rates for the state's public utility companies. Its general counsel, Tom Van Flein, took issue with Mayes' assertions that recent commission decisions violated any laws.

The Commission takes each complaint or application for rehearing seriously. However, policy disputes are not the same as legal error, Van Flein said in a statement. The Commission follows the statutes, the Constitution and relevant case law giving it guidance. Policy disputes are not to be resolved in court or even in a rehearing.

Commission Chair Nick Myers took it one step further and accused Mayes, herself a former commissioner, of wading into the commission's jurisdiction to score points for her reelection campaign.

Mayes needs to get her name out there, and she is using the office and using these goofy lawsuits to get her name in the public eye for campaign purposes, Myers told the Arizona Capitol Times.

Myers is also up for reelection this year, alongside fellow Republican Commissioner Kevin Thompson.

Mayes' communications director Richie Taylor defended the attorney general's foray into ACC issues in a statement, noting that her office is charged with protecting Arizona consumers.

When the commission springs 154% utility rate increases on senior citizens, or gives sweetheart deals to data center operators, AG Mayes is going to stand in their way, Taylor said. Chairman Myers should focus on fulfilling the constitutional obligations of the Commission on behalf of Arizonans so the Attorney General does not have to step in and do it for them.

Former Democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard, who served in the role at the same time Mayes served on the commission in the early 2000s, told the Arizona Capitol Times that his office did not intervene in ACC matters.

But I think that is because the commission was doing its job, Goddard said. I did not see any reason for us to get involved, the Residential Utility Consumer Office was, as far as I could tell, advocating for consumers and we did not have the same environment that AG Mayes does.

Currently, the commission is made up of five Republican members. Without a single Democratic commissioner, many decisions are made unanimously and tend to favor conservative energy priorities, like promoting coal and natural gas generation and ending Green New Deal policies.

The tension between Mayes and the ACC has been simmering for months, with tempers flaring in August as the commission was in the process of repealing its Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff Rules.

The rules which required the state's major utility companies to get 15% of their energy from renewable sources like solar and wind were originally adopted by the ACC in 2006, when Mayes was serving as a Republican commissioner. Mayes called the repeal silly and ridiculous which led Thompson, then the commission's chair, to take a jab at her during an August 26, 2025, hearing on natural gas plants.

He facetiously referred to Mayes as the sixth commissioner for her public opposition to the REST rules repeal. The commission voted unanimously to repeal the rules on March 5 and Mayes' office filed an application for rehearing on March 30, arguing the ACC violated its own rulemaking process by finalizing the repeal before a required economic impact statement was completed.

Mayers told the Arizona Capitol Times that he believes Mayes has a more personal reason to oppose the REST rules repeal.

The policies have not worked as well as she wanted them to, or she claimed they would, and we got rid of them and now maybe it seems like a personal attack on her, Myers said. I do not know, but that is my gut feeling on that.

The day after filing an application for rehearing in the REST rules docket, Mayes' office filed another rehearing application in a rate case for two water and wastewater companies serving the Robson Ranch retirement community near Eloy.

While commissioners grew irritated, residents in the area celebrated.

We were pleasantly surprised about the AG's office involvement, said Raul Salmon, the leader of a local task force formed to oppose the rate increase. I mean, the AG's filing, if you just read it, vindicates what we have been arguing all along.

Mayes argued the ACC erred in approving a 22% rate increase for water and 154% increase for wastewater for the Picacho Water and Picacho Sewer Companies because commissioners did not adequately consider the impact on ratepayers and did not review documents related to a stock sale of the utilities to JW Water.

I think it is the kind of thing that just cries out for reexamination by another party, Goddard said. The commission seems to be granting the big increases fairly willingly, and I think that is a bad standard.

Thompson and Commissioner Lea Marquez Peterson voted against the rate increase, which could open the door for a potential rehearing, though the commission has yet to act on Mayes request.

Mayes also requested a rehearing on the commission's approval of a formula rate structure for UNS Gas, allowing the company to adjust customer rates annually rather than going through the typical rate case process every few years.

Arizona needs a better energy strategy to meet growing demand, experts say. The Grand Canyon state hits triple-digit temperatures more than 100 days each year. That kind of intense heat puts a real strain on the electricity grid, especially during summer months when keeping homes cool requires massive amounts of power.