Local opinion: A public power utility isn't 'extreme'

Spring has come to Tucson, and we all know what comes with it — higher temperatures, which means higher electric bills, courtesy of TEP.

I am glad to see that the Mayor and Council are taking seriously the need for changes to update Tucson’s electrical grid for higher temperatures and the need for cleaner energy. But I was dismayed to see Tucson Electric Power CEO Susan Gray, writing in this paper, write off this need for change. In an op-ed published on March 30, Gray celebrated the council for working towards a new agreement with TEP, culminating in a ballot initiative that will be put before voters that only reifies the city’s ongoing relationship with the company that has been overcharging us for years. She gives lip service to the desire for green energy, while committing to the status quo where the company she runs continues to profit handsomely off the electrical needs of Tucson residents.

Gray treats the ongoing commitment to TEP as a foregone conclusion, while the people of Tucson see it as anything but. These past two weekends, public power canvassers met with over 300 people at the heavily attended Bernie Sanders rally and an additional 250 at the Made In Tucson Market, who expressed their desire for the city to take over TEP as a public utility. It is clear that the desire for change goes well beyond merely small changes among the margins at TEP. The people want to change how we get our power, so that we can have a power utility that works for us, not for the shareholders of TEP’s parent company, Fortis.

Susan Gray calls this desire “extreme,” in an attempt to pretend that no one serious could really be interested in pursuing it. This is an insult to the thousands of Tucsonans who have already signed petitions or otherwise advocated for public power. But even beyond this, it is ignorant, to the point of misleading. Over 2,000 municipalities in the United States have publicly owned power utilities, delivering electricity at lower rates than for-profit privately owned utilities, and that doesn’t make them “extreme.” If that is extreme, then what is it called when Fortis brags to shareholders about the increase in profits they made last fall when Tucsonans had to deal with extreme heat?

Gray briefly acknowledges that there is an alternative, that the Mayor and Council have commissioned a forthcoming study looking at the feasibility of taking back public control of our grid. But rather than addressing why people are interested in what this study found out, she says that the council should be “already looking past that study” before it has even been released. The point of this study is to better figure out our options for the future, but Susan Gray is telling us not to even look at it — further proof that Gray is not interested in what Tucsonans want, just what helps her company’s bottom line.

With the results of the study coming soon, Mayor Romero and City Council will have the opportunity to address two of the biggest issues facing Tucsonans, the climate and affordability crises. It is clear the people in Tucson are clamoring for a better deal on our energy needs, and we should be considering every option with the seriousness they deserve, not writing them off before they’re even discussed. Maybe the problem is that Gray, who makes over a million dollars a year based on revenues from your electrical bills, does not know (or does not care) what Tucsonans actually want. Tucsonans are ready for a change.