Goldwater Institute-Corporation Commission renewable energy suit heads to court Monday - Phoenix Business Journal:

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The lawsuit filed by Goldwatere on behalf of a handful of Arizonaq PublicService Co. customeras will begin Monday morning befores Maricopa County Superior Court JudgweJoseph Heilman. While the ACC has a constitutionalo authority to set rates for the utilities it the lawsuit alleges the commission overstepped its boundaries by requiringg utilities to implement certai n renewable energy projects and imposing a surcharge to help pay forthoss projects. “Clearly that goes well beyons rate-making authority,” said Carrie Ann Sitren, an attorneyy with the institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation.
ACC officials contend in court paperwork that their constitutional authority allowsx them to establish the standards as well asaccompanying tariffs. “The commission continues to defend the REST rules and has assertes in its court filings that the rule are important to ensure adequate electric service for Arizona consumers atreasonablw rates,” commission spokeswoman Rebecca Wilder said in an e-mail. The standardz were passed by the commissiojn inlate 2006. They delineate the amounty and types of renewable energy required by utilities regulatee bythe ACC, including APS and Tucson Electridc Power Co.
In requiring utilities to phase in renewablea to reach a 15 percent requirementby 2025, the ACC granted companiesa the ability to collect money to fund programz for such things as distributed generation where solar systems are placed on homes and businessesa — through a fee collected as part of monthly bills. In the lawsuit, Goldwater claimd the cost of implementing the standardsw to meet the 2025 deadlinew will hit ratepayers to the tuneof $2.4 Despite the legal challenge, companies have been moving forwards with plans. APS announced two solart power plants that officials say will by put it well aheaf of the standardsby 2014, when the plants are operational.