Two Democrats Say the Corporation Commission Is Broken—and Arizonans Are Paying the Price

Arizona voters rarely think about the Corporation Commission — until their utility bill explodes.

That obscure office tucked down the ballot controls electricity, water, railroads, pipelines and utility rates. And according to two Democratic candidates running this year, it has become the most powerful and least accountable board in state government.

“We’re supposed to have a watchdog,” said Clara Pratt, a clean-energy entrepreneur from Flagstaff. “Instead, we have a Commission that works for the utilities — and ratepayers are getting hammered.”

Pratt and aerospace engineer Jonathon Hill appeared together at a Democrats of Greater Tucson meeting, running as clean-elections candidates for the two open seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission. Their message was blunt: rates are rising, oversight has collapsed, and the Commission is failing the public.

A Commission that hits you every month

The Corporation Commission reaches into Arizonans’ lives with relentless regularity.

“It’s the only office that impacts you every single month,” Hill said. “Decisions made by the Commission shape every utility bill you get — and most voters don’t even know that.”

What is the Corporation Commission? In every other state, this body is known as the Public Utility Commission. In Arizona, it regulates electricity rates, service quality, and reliability for investor-owned electric, gas, water, and telephone companies (e.g., APS, TEP, Southwest Gas).

Hill, who ran unsuccessfully in 2024, said one of the biggest lessons from last year was the drop-off in voter turnout.

“If everyone who voted for Ruben Gallego or Kamala Harris had simply continued down the ballot and voted for the Democratic Corporation Commission candidates, we would have won,” Hill said. “That’s how close this is.”

‘Deeply Dysfunctional’ and ‘Unethical’

Both candidates described a Commission that has abandoned its role as an impartial, quasi-judicial body.

Hill pointed to Commissioners publicly endorsing rate cases and power-plant projects before evidence was presented — behavior he called indefensible.

“Imagine walking into court and seeing the judge tweeting support for the other side,” Hill said. “That’s exactly what’s happening.”

Pratt was equally blunt.

“I won’t say ‘corrupt’ because that implies illegality,” she said. “But unethical? Absolutely. Decisions are made before hearings even begin — and they’re always in favor of utilities.”

Rate Shock and Rural Pain

Pratt, who grew up on the Navajo Nation without electricity or running water, said rising rates hit rural communities hardest.

“Rural school districts, tribal communities, working families — they’re the ones who get crushed by double-digit rate hikes,” she said. “Utilities say they’re ‘playing catch-up’ for poor planning. But their lack of planning doesn’t create an emergency for my family.”

Both candidates warned that Arizona is dangerously close to California-style rolling blackouts due to underinvestment in grid resiliency.

Solar power is cheaper than fossil fuels.

The candidates were careful to frame renewable energy not as ideology, but economics.

“The fastest way to lose a room is to say ‘green,’” Hill said. “The fastest way to win it back is to talk about cost.”

Pratt noted that solar and battery prices have collapsed, while fossil fuel costs remain volatile.

“Fossil fuels cost money,” she said. “Sunlight doesn’t.”

Both candidates criticized the Commission for weakening clean-energy targets and undermining net metering — moves that protect utility profits rather than consumers.

What is Net Metering? Rooftop solar customers get credits for excess energy returned to the grid, but often at a lower, wholesale (avoided cost) rate than the retail rate they pay, rather than the 1:1 credit of traditional net metering.

Ignoring Communities in the Project Blue scam

Asked about the controversial “Project Blue” data-center project near Tucson, Pratt said the Commission steamrolled local concerns.

“They approved it without meaningfully listening to the community,” she said. “That’s not oversight — that’s dismissal.”

Hill added that the Commission no longer holds hearings in affected communities.

“They just don’t want to listen,” he said.

Why Democrats Keep Losing — and How to Win

When asked why Democrats haven’t won Corporation Commission races, Pratt cited ignorance and structural power.

“This body is constitutionally created and largely above oversight,” she said. “The only check is voters — but voters don’t know what it does.”

Hill emphasized coalition-building and education.

“You can’t campaign and educate at the same time,” he said. “We need allies explaining the Commission to their members so we can focus on winning.”

The Bottom Line

The Arizona Corporation Commission doesn’t generate headlines — but it generates bills: bigger ones, every year.

“Affordability is the issue,” Hill said. “And the current Commission isn’t on your side.”

For Arizona ratepayers watching their bills climb month after month, 2026 may be their only real chance to stop the Commission’s rip-off of consumers.