Local opinion: Arizona can’t afford to roll back progress on clean energy and health

As 2025 comes to a close, Arizona families are facing an alarming reality: Instead of moving forward on clean energy and health, we’re sliding backward. Across our state, parents like me are trying to protect our children from both scorching heat and rising bills, only to see the federal government strip away the very tools that could help us.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Energy terminated nearly $8 billion in clean energy funding and announced plans to eliminate an additional $16 billion, resulting in a total cut of almost $24 billion. Combined with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which further reduced critical climate and energy funding in Arizona, these devastating cuts threaten programs designed to strengthen our power grid, reduce pollution, and help Arizona families lower their utility costs through initiatives like Solar for All and the Weatherization Assistance Program.

These rollbacks couldn’t come at a worse time. Arizona families are already stretched to the limit. One in six households, or about 425,100 families, can’t afford their energy bills, paying an average of $811 more each year than they can manage. Since 2010, residential electricity rates have risen nearly 28%, even as record-breaking heat makes summers more dangerous and costly. Now, families face even greater financial strain. Tucson Electric Power is requesting another 14% rate hike, on top of a 10% increase just last year. If approved, the average household would pay about $16 more per month, nearly $200 more each year for the same electricity.

From 2013 to 2024, our state lost over 4,000 lives to heat-related causes, with Pima County accounting for about 700. Cutting federal support for grid upgrades, community solar, and efficiency programs removes the very lifelines that help keep our homes cool, our lights on, and our loved ones safe.

As a mom, I feel this every day. When my son steps outside for school, I worry about the air he breathes and whether the power will stay on long enough to keep our home cool during another triple-digit afternoon. For families across Arizona, clean energy isn’t a luxury; it’s a matter of survival.

Federal clean energy programs have delivered tangible, measurable progress, lowering utility bills, creating good-paying local jobs, and reducing pollution. Today, solar is the cheapest source of electricity, and renewable energy projects are faster and more affordable to build than fossil fuel alternatives. Yet despite numerous studies confirming these benefits, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) is moving forward with repealing the state’s Electric Energy Efficiency Standard Rules (EEES Rules), one of Arizona’s most effective and cost-saving clean energy policies.

Rolling back these investments and rules doesn’t save money; it costs us more, both in our wallets and in our health. The consequences are clear: clean energy cuts are leaving Arizonans more vulnerable to high bills, dangerous heat waves, and power outages. And, as always, it’s our low-income communities and communities of color that bear the heaviest burden.

Arizona families deserve a future where our children can play outside without risking their health, and where parents don’t have to dread opening the next utility bill. We deserve leadership that prioritizes our health, safety, and economic stability, not policies that drag us backward. As this year ends, on behalf of Moms Clean Air Force, I’m calling on our leaders to fight for clean energy funding, protect programs that lower costs and pollution, and invest in a future where every child can breathe clean air and every parent can afford to keep their family safe.

The promise of clean, affordable energy is still within reach. Arizona just needs the courage and commitment to keep moving forward.