News Release

For Immediate Release | 7-3-2019

Media Contact | Office of Commissioner Márquez Peterson

Direct | 602-542-3625

Email | lmarquezpeterson-web@azcc.gov  

From the Office of Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson

Lea Márquez Peterson Meets with the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project to Discuss History and Benefits of Energy Efficiency in Arizona

TUCSON – Arizona Corporation Commission Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson met with Caryn Massey and Ellen Zuckerman from the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) last Wednesday to discuss energy efficiency and to learn about the important role efficiency plays in Arizona.

SWEEP is a nonprofit organization that works to support more efficient utilities and transportation throughout the desert southwest and often comes before the Commission to speak on matters related to efficiency and saving money for Arizona ratepayers.

Caryn Massey is SWEEP’s Arizona Program Associate, and Ellen Zuckerman is SWEEP’s Arizona Representative. Together they provide support across SWEEP’s programmatic areas including on demand-side management and electric vehicle policies and programs and help to design, implement, market, evaluate, and improve energy efficiency programs and low-income energy policies across dozens of states. Collectively Caryn Massey and Ellen Zuckerman have over 15 years of experience addressing energy efficiency in Arizona.

Energy efficiency is the practice of reducing the amount of energy required to provide products and services and is the cheapest, most competitive option available to meet customers’ energy demand, costing three-to-ten times less than power from other sources.^[1] “When we invest in efficiency, all electricity customers pay less than it would cost to build new power plants or to generate power from other options,” said Zuckerman.

Ellen Zuckerman explained that energy efficiency has been recognized in Arizona for decades for its potential to save customers on their monthly bills, support local jobs and cleaner air and water, and signal that Arizona is a good place to invest. “Having low, consistent, and predictable energy costs are essential for ensuring that the state remains a livable, workable place for all Arizonans,” she said.

In 2010, the Arizona Corporation Commission unanimously enacted the Electric Energy Efficiency Standard, which requires the state’s regulated utilities to achieve cumulative energy savings of 22 percent by 2020. The standard has delivered more than $1 billion in net economic benefits and saved more than 14 billion gallons of water since 2010.^[2]

Public service corporations achieve the Electric Energy Efficiency Standard by implementing programs and services that help customers save money on their monthly bills. Some programs help businesses save money by eliminating energy waste from their manufacturing production lines, installing new sensors and controls, and upgrading their buildings and equipment, while other programs help residential customers save money by installing energy smart thermostats and more efficient heating and cooling equipment.

Caryn Massey explained programs are funded through a surcharge on each customer’s monthly electric bill, which is reviewed and approved by the Commission based on what is just, reasonable, and in the public interest and based on what can demonstratively return more money back to Arizonans than it costs to provide. “Over the last few years, every $1 invested in energy efficiency programs has returned roughly $4 in benefits for all Arizona ratepayers.^[3] That’s a phenomenal return on investment,” said Massey.

Being new to the Commission, Commissioner Peterson noted that many citizens have no idea that the Commission has a role in setting energy efficiency programs. “As a customer of Tucson Electric Power Company and a small business owner, I can remember when TEP started offering some of these programs to my service area. I was thinking about whether they would be a good fit for my business, but I did not know the Corporation Commission was involved. Now that I am at the Commission, I have a much better understanding of how many roles the Commission plays.”

Commissioner Peterson thanked SWEEP for its time and said she is looking forward to hearing from SWEEP when it comes before the Commission in the future.

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About Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson, MBA, IOM:

Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson was appointed to the Arizona Corporation Commission by Governor Doug Ducey in May of 2019. She is the first Latina to serve in a statewide seat in the state of Arizona.

Lea has been an entrepreneur in our community for many years and served as the President/ CEO of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber from 2009 until November of 2018. The Tucson Hispanic Chamber serves the business community in the bilingual, bi-cultural region of the Arizona-Sonora border and was recognized as the Hispanic Chamber of the Year in 2013 by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The chamber represents over 1800-member businesses and in partnership with the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry is one of the largest chambers in the State of Arizona.

She ran for Congress in Arizona Congressional District 2 in 2018 and won a competitive primary race though lost the general election. She previously served as the Executive Director for Greater Tucson Leadership (GTL) from 2005 to 2009 and owned and operated a Business Brokerage Firm from 2005 to 2009 and a chain of six gasoline stations / convenience stores with 50 employees from 1998 to 2005 in the Tucson region.

Lea has been appointed to serve on the Arizona Judicial Council which advises the Arizona Supreme Court and the Arizona Finance Authority, the state’s bonding authority. She chairs the Board of Directors of Carondelet’s St Mary’s and St Joseph’s Hospitals in Tucson and is the former Chair of the Pima Association of Governments’ Economic Vitality Committee. She serves on the Boards of the University of Arizona Foundation and the Pima County Workforce Investment Board and is the President of the National Association of Women Business Owners in Tucson. She also serves on the national board for the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

She received her undergraduate degrees in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the University of Arizona, and her Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University. She is married with two children.

The Arizona Corporation Commission was established by the state’s constitution to regulate public utilities and business incorporation. The Corporation Commission is Arizona’s co-equal, fourth branch of government. The five Commissioners elected to the Corporation Commission oversee executive, legislative, and judicial proceedings on behalf of Arizonans when it comes to their water, electricity, telephone, and natural gas resources as well as the regulation of securities, pipeline, and railroad safety. To learn more about the Arizona Corporation Commission and its Commissioners, visit http://azcc.gov.

Twitter: @LeaPeterson

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