3 GOP candidates running narrowly ahead for Arizona Corporation Commission
Three Republican candidates including the lone incumbent on the ballot were running narrowly ahead of three Democratic contenders in early returns for the Arizona Corporation Commission.
Statewide, Republicans Rachel Walden, Rene Lopez and incumbent Lea Marquez Peterson had anywhere from 17.2% to 16.4% of the total votes counted so far for three seats on the commission.
That compared to a range of 16.2% to 15.3% for Democrats Ylenia Aguilar, Joshua Polacheck and Jonathon Hill.
In the most populous county — politically divided Maricopa County — Republicans Walden and Lopez and Democrat Aguilar had the most votes of the six candidates so far. The three Republicans had overwhelming leads over the Democrats in suburban Pinal County and in more rural Yavapai and Mohave counties.
Statewide, nearly 44% of all votes cast in the race had been counted as of 8:45 p.m., The Arizona Republic reported. Three seats are open on the five-member commission, which Republicans now control by a 4-1 margin.
In heavily Democratic Pima County, the three Democrats running all had commanding leads. Aguilar, the leading Democratic vote getter in the county, had 62% of all votes counted so far in the county.
The Corporation Commission contest has drawn national attention , largely because of the sharp division between Republican and Democratic candidates over the use of fossil fuel-powered energy sources versus renewable energy supplies.
Republicans have argued that pushing too hard for renewable energy supplies such as wind and solar will raise rates, but Democrats point to research that now shows renewable energy projects have lower long-term costs than fossil fuel plants that burn coal and natural gas.
Critics have also pounced on rate increases the commission has approved in the past two years for Tucson Electric Power, Arizona Public Service and UNS Electric, a sister company of TEP's. Electricity rate increases have generally been higher in the past two years than they had been before, and Democrats have used those increases to paint the current commission as being captive of large utilities and their investors, many of whom are from out of state.
Republican candidates have largely defended rate increases as necessary to insure reliable supplies and the growth of adequate energy resources to meet an expected surge in customer demand.
Specifically, the commission's current 4-1 Republican majority has also been targeted for approving four new gas plants in Mohave County without environmental reviews.
It also drew criticism for approving a plan to charge Arizona Public Service Co. customers a $2 to $3 monthly fee if they have rooftop solar panels. It's also drawn controversy by approving construction of a new natural gas power plant in the Casa Grande area and expanding an existing gas plant in Maricopa County.
And sometime in the next year, the commission will have to decide whether to scrap standards that previous, Republican-led commissions had approved to require the state to have 15% renewable energy supplies by 2025 and to require utilities to have reduced energy use by 22% through efficiency measures by 2020. The commission started the process toward removing these requirements back in February but still must make final decisions to remove them.
Contact Tony Davis at 520-349-0350 or . Follow Davis on .
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