EPCOR consolidation, rate hike aren’t a done deal; let’s fight

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OPINION — I don’t blame Sun City and Sun City West residents who are ticked off because EPCOR is pushing to raise our water costs by roughly 30%, or maybe I do!

Election cycle after election cycle, voters in the Sun Cities faithfully back Republican candidates running for the Arizona Corporation Commission without holding them accountable to utility consumers. Well, you get what you vote for.

Look at what this unchecked oversight has brought us just recently:

• APS rate: An 8% electricity rate increase enacted in early 2024.

• Skyrocketing water and wastewater brackets: Enforced revenue increases of 14.5% for water and 35.2% for wastewater in the San Tan District, alongside aggressive Cactus State Utility adjustments.

• On June 29, 2026, EPCOR initiated its latest offensive, a massive rate application looping the Sun Cities into a water district consolidation. Massive? Yep! A 30.1% increase overall.

By contrast, look at SRP, a nonprofit utility answering directly to its own elected board rather than the ACC. As a result, its historical rate adjustments have kept its average cost per kWh roughly 18% below its ACC-regulated peers.

As for EPCOR, drive through our neighborhoods and you see desert landscapes, drought-friendly plants and gravel, not grass. Why are we being financially consolidated with pool-intensive, lawn-loving master-planned developments?

In my opinion, we are actively being punished for our conservation efforts to fund multi-million-dollar infrastructure rollouts in high-growth zones.

EPCOR — which is a wholly owned Canadian company — is getting as fat as a Canada goose at the expense of fixed-income Arizona seniors.

Because the ACC review process takes roughly a year, this 30% hike is not a done deal yet. We still have time to fight. Let’s flood the ACC public docket and remind these commissioners that they answer to voters.

This writer is using a pen name. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.