Email Service/Global Consent

What is Email Service?

Service is the act by which a party to a case provides copies of each filing it makes in the case to the other parties to the case, or by which a Commissioner, the Commission’s Executive Director, or the Commission’s Hearing Division provides copies of a filing made in a case to the parties to the case. Traditionally, service has been done either through personal delivery or, more commonly, through sending copies of filings through the U.S. Postal Service by first class mail.1 The Commission’s rules (Arizona Administrative Code (“A.A.C.”) R14-3-107(B)) allow for service to be made by mail, and to be deemed complete when a true copy of a filing, properly addressed and stamped, is deposited in the U.S. mail with first class postage prepaid.

Both to accommodate parties who have requested the ability to provide and receive service by email, and to reduce the amount of paper used and postage paid by the parties and the Commission in each case, the Commission has created a process that allows each party to a case to choose to receive service of all filings in the case by email, at a designated email address, rather than by U.S. mail or personal service. When a party has completed a consent to email service, and the consent to email service has been approved through a Procedural Order, the party will no longer receive hard copies of filings made by a Commissioner, the Commission’s Executive Director, or a Commission Division. Instead, service of each such filing will be made (automatically) by sending an email to the party’s designated email address. Each email identifies the case by docket number and includes a link to a PDF version of the filing. A party may still receive hard copies of filings made by other parties, if the other parties choose not to provide service by email, but the approved consent to email service allows every party to provide service to the consenting party by email.

Parties who do not consent to email service may not receive some documents, such as Amendments to Open Meeting Agenda items, before the Open Meeting at which they are considered.

¹ There are specific and more stringent requirements for service in cases involving the Commission’s Securities Division. See A.A.C. R14-4-403.

How do I Consent to Email Service?

To consent to email service in a case, you must be the representative for a party to the case (e.g., applicant, respondent, intervenor), and you must complete the following steps:

Ensure that you have a valid and active email address to which you have regular and reliable access (“designated email address”);
Complete a Consent to Email Service using either the form available on the Commission’s website (click here) or a substantially similar format;²
File the Consent to Email Service (a) by filing the original and the number of copies specified in the Filing Requirements with the Commission’s Docket Control, or (b) by eFiling;
Serve the Consent to Email Service on each other party on the service list; and
Unless you have had consent to email service approved in another docket using the same designated email address, send an email containing the party name and the docket number for the case to HearingDivisionServicebyEmail@azcc.gov from the designated email address.

A party’s Consent to Email Service does not become effective until the Hearing Division issues a Procedural Order approving the use of email service for the party. The Hearing Division issues a Procedural Order approving a party’s Consent to Email Service only after the party has completed the steps above, as applicable, and the Hearing Division has verified the party’s designated email address. (Verification can be done using the verification email from a previous case, if applicable.)

² Remember to fill out the form as the party, if the party is a company or organization rather than you as an individual.

What is Global Consent to Email Service?

Several years ago, the Commission created a process for Consent to Email Service, to allow each party to a case to choose to receive service of all filings in the case by email, at a designated email address, rather than by U.S. mail or personal service. Until now, the process for Consent to Email Service has been docket specific, requiring that a person involved in multiple cases before the Commission file a Consent to Email Service in each docket in order to receive email service for each case.

Global Consent to Email Service changes that. Global Consent to Email Service will allow a person who is (or may become) included on the service lists for multiple Commission cases to designate that the person desires to receive service by email for all existing cases in which the person is on the service list and all future cases in which the person will be on the service list. A person's Global Consent to Email Service, once it is approved, will make it unnecessary for the person to file any additional Consents to Email Service. When the person becomes involved in a new docket in the future, the system will recognize that the person has an approved Global Consent to Email Service, and the person will automatically be opted in to receive email service.

If you are not a party representative on any docket, you will not benefit from completing a Global Consent to Email Service. Instead, you can best stay informed of the filings made in the Commission cases in which you are interested by following the dockets for those cases. See How to Follow a Docket.

How do I Complete a Global Consent to Email Service?

To sign up for Global Consent to Email Service, you must have an ACC Portal Account. If you do not yet have an ACC Portal Account, go to https://efiling.azcc.gov/login, click on "Register," and complete the registration process.
Sign into your ACC Portal Account at https://efiling.azcc.gov/login.
Click on the "Global Consent to Email Service" box.
Fill in the contact information fields, including the email address at which you desire to receive all future service in Commission cases. This is your "designated email address." Make sure that this is a valid and active email address to which you have regular and reliable access.
Read the information about accepting electronic notification as legal service, and check the box if you accept electronic service, at your designated email address, as legal service in any Commission proceeding in which you are now a party or become a party in the future. (This will also apply to rulemaking and generic proceedings in which you are or may become involved as an interested person.)
Click on "Sign up."
A green window will pop up stating that your Consent has been submitted.
You will receive an email from "ACC eFiling Registration" stating that your request has been received and is currently under review. (Your Global Consent to Email Service is not active until it has been approved; during the review period, you will continue to receive service as you were receiving it before you submitted your request.)
When your Global Consent to Email Service is approved, you will receive an email from "ACC eFiling Registration" stating that your Service by Email request has been accepted.
You will receive an email, at your designated email address, whenever a filing is made in any docket in which you are on the service list.

Remember: It is your responsibility to ensure that your designated email address is kept current. If you need to change your designated email address in the future, you must use the "Global Consent to Email Service" application on the ACC Portal. If you edit your email address only within your ACC Portal account profile, your email address for service will not be changed.