Phoenix, Ariz.— At the Arizona Corporation Commission’s (ACC) July 8, 2026, regular open meeting, Chairman Nick Myers joined the Commission in a 4-0 vote to repeal the Electric Energy Efficiency Rules and Mandate (A.A.C. Title 14, Chapter 2, Article 24). The order also directed staff to prepare and file with the Office of the Secretary of State the paperwork needed for publication in the Arizona Administrative Register.

The Commission adopted the Electric Energy Efficiency Mandate in 2010, requiring retail electric utilities to achieve 22% of annual EE savings as a percentage of retail energy sales by 2020. Arizona Public Service (APS) and Tucson Electric Power (TEP) have both exceeded this standard.   

“This final vote to repeal these rules concludes a long journey that began in February 2024,” stated Chairman Myers. “It is certainly time for the Commission to finally repeal this outdated one-size-fits-all mandate from 2010 that has subsidized certain industries at the expense of ratepayers.”

“Current Demand-Side Management and EE programs will continue in effect and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the Commission,” said Chairman Myers. “These programs, when properly structured, play an important role in our utilities’ energy mix and certainly fit within the Commission’s all-of-the-above approach when it to comes to meeting Arizona’s energy needs. However, for years, the EE mandate basically handed a blank check to utilities because any time you mandate programs, the utilities will seek to financially recover those costs from ratepayers. Evaluating DSM and EE programs on a case-by-case basis is the more prudent approach rather than imposing an arbitrary mandate that inevitably leads to subsidies and cost shifting.”

For more information, please contact Chairman Myers at myers-web@azcc.gov.