SRP – A New Vision for the Future

Expand the right to vote

The only people who can vote in SRP elections are homeowners/landowners within a designated territory established in 1937! Among nearly 1,000,000 accounts in SRP’s electrical service area, less than half are eligible to vote for the Board of Directors and Council. Renters can’t vote at all, and there are large geographic areas including Ahwatukee, Queen Creek, and Fountain Hills where even homeowners cannot vote, even though they get their electricity from SRP. Moreover, for all but the four at-large seats on the Electric (“District”) Board, voting is by acreage: a farmer with 1,000 acres gets 1,000 votes. A homeowner on a quarter-acre gets a one-quarter of a vote. This system disenfranchises low-income and renter populations, as well as many people who happen to live in the wrong place. It over-represents large landowners and under-represents homeowners who are the majority of SRP’s customers. The voting system is just not fair. I will work with other reform-minded SRP Board members to find ways to expand eligibility to vote and give more SRP customers a voice in SRP elections.

 

Keep electricity rates low

SRP’s electricity rates are slightly above the national average, and the cost of fossil fuels based electricity is expected to continue to rise in the coming years. The price of solar energy has decreased by 70% since 2008 and is expected to continue to fall. (See graph below.) At present, the cost of renewable energy is often lower than power from fossil fuels. As our nation and the world incorporate the environmental and public health costs of burning fossil fuels, those sources of energy will become increasingly less competitive and increasingly subject to risk and regulation. I support increased use of renewable energy: consumer and commercial rooftop solar power, utility-scale solar energy, as well as wind, geothermal, and other renewable energy sources that are price competitive because these energy sources don’t have any fuel costs, now or in the future. I look for additional ways to cut inefficiencies and return savings to our customers in the form of rate stabilization or decreases. I support policies that keep rates as low and stable as possible for low-income and fixed-income customers.

Embrace clean power