Lauren Kuby and Sandra Kennedy are on a mission.
To win seats to the Arizona Corporation Commission and team up with Commissioner Anna Tovar to form a majority that will protect consumers, fight corruption, practice good government, and chart a course for the Grand Canyon State that modernizes utilities, devises a water conservation plan, and charts a course for expanding the clean energy portfolio of the state.
Please click on the just-released video ad from the Kuby for Corporation Commission Campaign to understand what is at stake in this election.
Kuby and Kennedy (who is seeking reelection to the Commission) are running as a team to make the fourth (and largely unknown) branch of the Arizona Government what it was designed to be: a political organ that serves as corporate watchdogs, consumer advocates, and energy visionaries with the goal of making the state the Solar Capitol of the nation.
Ms. Kuby, a former Vice Mayor of Tempe, graciously took the time to discuss her candidacy for the Arizona Corporation Commission.
The questions and her responses are below.
- Please tell the voters, at least three reasons they should vote for you over your opponents in the race for the Arizona Corporation Commission.
“Number 1. When I’m elected and Sandra Kennedy is re-elected, we will join Commissioner Anna Tovar to create a majority of three Democratic women on the Corporation Commission who are going to fight for everyday Arizonans. We all have a proven track record as consumer champions, corporate watchdogs, and solar advocates. So that’s Number 1.
We haven’t had a Democratic majority on the Commission in three decades, so it’s about time. I think people understand that women tend to be excellent leaders in the environmental arena, and we have this grand opportunity to create a majority in this powerful commission of only five members.
Number 2: Our Republican opponents, who shall go nameless, are out of the mainstream and will take us backward, just as we are poised to lead. They hold extreme views contrary to Arizona’s values, which is really no surprise— Most Republican candidates up and down the ballot are out of the mainstream and extreme. Our opponents really put the crAZy into AZ. They want to kneecap the regulatory functions of the Commission and take away powers from a constitutionally created body and give them to a dysfunctional legislature, which does a poor job of engaging residents in solutions to problems we face.
Our opponents are also election deniers. Not a good omen for serving on a commission that includes a quasi-judicial role where you weigh evidence and testimony and make evidence-based decisions. So my Number 2 contention is that Sandra Kennedy and I better represent the voters in our state, who want to see a clean energy transition and environmental protection. (see the “What Voters Want” survey conducted by The Center for the Future of Arizona, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group: https://www.arizonafuture.org/the-arizona-we-want/arizona-voters-agenda/#anchorEnvironment)
Number 3: The time is now. There’s an amazing opportunity to seize the day and propel the clean energy transition before it’s too late. Arizona is on the frontlines of the climate crisis, as we experience more frequent and intense wildfires, a historic drought, polluted air, and record-breaking extreme heat – all of which disproportionately impact the most vulnerable among us – be they seniors, children, the poor, and those who are homeless. The groundbreaking IRA (the Inflation Reduction Act) is bringing solutions and federal actions to the fore. Arizona is poised to lead, not just the Southwest, but the country (if not the world) in the adoption of renewable energy, As the sunniest state in the nation, we can become the solar capital of the US. We can lead (and are leading) nationally in electrification as well. Observers have already deemed Central Arizona as “The Electric Valley.” So, the third reason I’m running is we’re in a climate crisis, we need to decarbonize by 2030, and we’re at the cusp of leading the Southwest and the nation toward a renewable energy transition.
My election, and Sandra’s reelection, will shift our energy policy toward a renewable energy future that is equitable and serves the public interest, not the interests of corporations.
- Please advise what are at least three major issues in the Arizona Corporation Commission race this cycle. Please explain.
“Issue 1: adopting consumer rules that were either ignored, expired or failed in this current Corporation Commission. One is the renewable energy standard (reaching 100% renewable energy by a date certain). We failed to adopt a renewable energy standard to replace the existing one passed by Commissioners Kris Mayes and Bill Mundell 16 years ago. It is now universally understood that our renewable energy standard saved lots of money for rate repairs. It saved lots of water, too – 23 billion gallons, demonstrating the interrelationship between water and energy in our state. When you save water, you save energy. When you save energy, you save water.
Sandra Kennedy and Kris Mayes enacted the strongest energy efficiency standard 15 years ago, which resulted in over $9 billion of savings for ratepayers as we avoided having to build 15 power plants to meet growing demand. Energy efficiency is the cheapest, biggest, and best resource we have to reduce energy costs – it can get us 30% toward a 100% renewable energy standard.
So, that’s the first thing to focus upon in 2023: to restore and renew and refresh the rules that protect public health by adopting renewable energy standards and energy efficiency standards for the state of Arizona. By setting those standards, we’re setting a strong policy signal — the best way to encourage the monopoly utilities to move forward with more demand management, more incentives, more rebates, and supercharging their work empowering cities to accomplish their 100% renewable energy goals for city operations.
You’re going to hear my Republican opponents say that solar is more expensive and that we can’t pick winners and losers. But the market has already decided solar is cheaper. It’s three times cheaper than coal. It is two times cheaper than gas. Gas has extreme volatility in its pricing, as we’ve seen from what’s happening in Ukraine. We need to be adopting and embracing solar. It saves money for consumers and the cost of solar power is protected from inflationary hits by its very nature. The sun is plentiful and, we are, after all, the sunniest state in the nation.
Issue 2: Drought response and mitigation. As I travel the state, I hear more about drought than almost any other environmental issue. Arizonans are feeling the truth that we are in the worst drought in 1,200 years. The Commission can play a large role in drought response and mitigation, as it regulates more than 350 private monopoly water utilities. These utilities can be small or large and consolidated like EPCOR. Some of these utilities need to update their infrastructure and irrigation. And many do not offer water conservation programs, such as rebates and incentives for customers, both commercial and residential. I think the commission’s response to drought should be to introduce more rules for the non-municipal water utilities that it regulates. I know from all my years of service on the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association as Tempe’s representative, that many Arizona cities, especially Tucson, are modeling best practices in water conservation. Tempe does a lot with demand management as well. Using Smart Water Meters, installed for residential and commercial water users across the city, you receive a message you when you have a leak. These meters have saved millions of gallons of water in Tempe. Nonmunicipal utilities can do the same by installing smart water meters, offering water audits, rebates, and other incentives to conserve and I expect that Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, as well as recent state investments, will help jumpstart conservation measures in neglected areas of our state.
Issue 3: Equitable decarbonization. We understand the discussion about reliability and affordability. The Commission regulates utilities and sets rates. Electricity must be reliable, of course; we need to ensure the lights will switch on and the water faucet will turn on as well.
We must decarbonize our energy system by 2030 and the cheapest way to do it is through renewable energy adoption and energy efficiency. The beauty of renewables is that they build resilience in our energy system.
Commissioners need to consider justice and equity in all of our decision-making. So that means when you’re talking about water rates, there needs to be a certain amount of water that’s essentially free or low cost (“survival water”) as water represents life.
The biggest example of equity policy before the Commission is the docket focused on a just and equitable transition for coal-based communities in Navajo Nation, Hopi lands, and Arizona’s rural communities. Coal plants are shuttering, as they should – they are uneconomical and have broad public health impacts. We decimated the water and land as we extracted from rural and indigenous communities to build our great cities. These communities have economies so dependent on coal that when they shutter, people can be left behind; we leave devastation in our wake. So, the commission needs to establish a process for shuttering coal plants that will enable a just transition and not abandon these communities. The beauty of renewable energy is that when you establish a solar plant with battery storage to replace a coal plant, you have less maintenance and operations. You don’t need as many workers. We must be mindful that we need to have the utilities invest in a resident-led transition to provide educational opportunities, healthcare, job retraining — whatever it is that the community wants to see happen.
- Please describe your campaign strategy to reach voters in all of Arizona’s 15 counties.
“As a publicly financed clean elections candidate, I’m freed from fundraising and empowered to travel around the 15 counties, meeting with many community groups, because I want to hear about the concerns of the people of Arizona. That’s the luxury of being a clean elections candidate. I wish every candidate had that luxury because when you’re a candidate you need to get in front of as many voters as possible and learn about their issues. That is a favorite part of campaigning — meeting people where they are and hearing their unique concerns. Ultimately, though, we are united with our concerns that Arizona faces serious challenges with drought. We’re all concerned about environmental protection, our rivers, and our lands. We’re concerned about air pollution, water pollution, water supply, and water demand. We have these shared concerns, even though my Republican opponents would like to divide on that topic. I don’t think that is a unifying, not divisive, topic of concern.
My race is a down-ballot race. And so, my messaging to voters will encourage people to vote for a full ballot. Start at the bottom, start with school board members, who are on the front lines, and vote up.
The Corporation Commission is the most important office that no one’s ever heard of, yet it impacts their daily lives. If you flip on a light switch and turn on a faucet, or cross a rail track, you are impacted by the Commission. Arizona is one of only seven states with constitutionally created commissions, and one of only 13 states that elect their commissioners. The framers of the 1912 AZ Constitution were worried about the influence of railroad lobbyists at the time and didn’t want to give the governor the unbridled power to appoint commissioners. It’s such an important office, but when people have heard about the ACC, they tend to hear about it in the context of it being corrupted by the utilities it regulates.
I joke that we should change the title to the “Consumer” Commission because it really serves as a consumer bureau for the state of Arizona: setting rates and rules for monopoly utilities, regulating securities and investments, as well as pipeline and railroad safety. I’m trying to get that word out everywhere on how important this race is, how important the commission is. You will see me on Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok, which induces laughter from my daughters and other social media avenues.
- Please describe how you will convince independents and disaffected Republicans to vote for you.
Environmental and climate issues can bring people together for a common cause. We all want clean and accessible water; we all want clean air. We came together in 1980 and passed the historic Groundwater Management Act. We don’t have active management areas in most of rural Arizona and need to update that landmark legislation to accommodate our new reality. I contend that climate is a great convener and the way I can prove that statement is through reports from The Center for the Future of Arizona. They’re an unbiased, nonpartisan group, and they did an exhaustive Gallup poll that determined that 74% of Arizonans want to see a clean energy transition. What’s stopping that from happening? Well, I contend it’s corruption. We have commissioners handpicked by the very utilities that are being regulated. Now one prominent utility monopoly swears that they are not going to pour dark money into the Corp Comm race this year, (though they may give to somebody else who runs dark money ads), but all the utilities continue to give boatloads of money to legislative candidates. Sadly, that money has a corrupting influence, with many politicians not doing the job that Arizonans want them to do, which is to lead on the clean energy transition, a transition that will be an economic boon for the state, create healthier communities, cleaner air, and cleaner water.
Who doesn’t want cleaner air and cleaner water?
So, when I talk to Independents or Republicans, I speak about clean air and clean water: goals that unite us and don’t divide us. And there are many Republicans supportive of energy independence. And that means restoring net metering and distributed (rooftop) solar as high priorities at the Commission. Most Arizonans want the ability to harvest their own electricity and save money while they’re reducing pollution.
I believe that the issues of energy and water are uniting and that we need to tackle these urgent issues as a state and show our residents that we can still do big things. We need to take the same bipartisan approach that brought us the 1980 Groundwater Management Act and apply it to drought, resilience, mitigation, and the clean energy transition. I think Arizonans want to see leaders who have that vision for bringing us together and not like my Republican opponents who mock climate concerns and say that climate solutions are just ‘feel-good initiatives. I agree with them in that it does feel good to enact federal-state-local policies and create new jobs and healthier communities!
When you have cleaner air, everyone thrives. When there are fewer coal-powered plants you have less asthma and fewer hospital visits, which benefits individuals and the larger community. It’s important to note that Maricopa and Pima Counties have amongst the dirtiest air in the country. Maricopa, for example, suffers from the fifth-worst ozone pollution and seventh-worst particulate pollution. The American Lung Association gives us failing grades. Arizonans suffer, and your zip code is one main determinant of your life expectancy.
My Republic opponents forget when you move towards a clean energy economy when city government electrifies their fleets when taking more fossil fuel spewing vehicles off the road and adopt electric vehicles, the result is cleaner air and healthier families.”
- Is there anything not covered in the first four questions that you’d like the readers to know about you or your candidacy?
“You can see from the primary results that there are voters that didn’t understand that you can vote for two candidates for Corporation Commission (there are two seats up this year). A single shot in this instance is not the right choice. Don’t single-shot. Vote for two. Vote for two to turn Arizona blue in 2022! It’s crucial that folks vote a full ballot and vote for TWO commissioners to propel a clean energy future that will save consumers money and create good jobs. We can create a majority of consumer champions, corporate watchdogs, and solar advocates on the commission – the most powerful branch of government that nobody knows about.
I’m also excited about the Inflation Reduction Act. Although it’s not a perfect piece of legislation, it will reduce utility costs for everyone, reduce pollution emissions, and empower Arizona to become the solar capital of the world. There’s so much energy-related research being done at, NAU, ASU, and UA — in battery technology, in demand management, and incentivizing folks to save water and energy. I’m eager to lead in this time of great change and great promise for Arizona’s energy future.”
Please click on the below social media sites to find out more about Lauren Kuby and her candidacy for the Arizona Corporation Commission.
👉 What is the Corporation Commission? https://vimeo.com/616544770?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=146942751
👉 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOUNdkCkcIBCSl_oeqx49jA
👉 tiktok.com/@laurenkubyforcorpcom
Lauren Kuby is Running to be the People’s Advocate on the Arizona Corporation Commission
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