Since 1954, APS has supported and spurred growth within our state by extending power up to 1,000 feet at no cost to the consumer. This reflected the pioneer spirit that brought our forefathers west of the Mississippi. An integral part of the American Dream for anyone throughout our proud nation is home and land ownership. Many people have a dream of building a new home or business. We believe this most recent policy of eliminating the no-cost extension is drastically lowering the price of property, and placing an unreasonable economic burden on new home builders and new businesses. This policy has far reaching negative effects on our economy as a whole.
Anyone who bought property in the last 50 years with power 800-900 feet away thought they were getting electricity at no cost. They did their research and made their investments. Now, when he or she goes to build or sell their property they find out that the power extension cost is approximately $25,000.00. The value of their property just went down $25,000.00. This scenario is repeated all over the state of Arizona.
Here is an excerpt from the current APS extension policy (service schedule 3):
“All estimated costs of extending service to applicant, as determined by Company, including backbone infrastructure costs, shall be paid by the applicant prior to the Company extending facilities.”
We have letters and estimates showing these costs to be from $7,800 to $22,457 depending on the distance of the extension. If a person purchased an acre of land for $25,000.00 to build a new home would they have enough money to pay $25,000.00 for the cost of the extension?
And to further add insult, when a new home builder pays $20,000 for a line extension with APS he will not receive any reimbursement in the future from subsequent home builders using this same power extension. So instead of having APS provide power extensions at no cost, currently new home builders are extending power at no cost to neighboring properties.
Further compounding the aggravation for the consumer is the fact that APS is a monopoly. They cannot call another service provider, and they are without choice. We believe that being forced to pay these fees is an abuse of power.
Salt River Project is also a monopoly, but is currently extends power up to 1000 feet at no cost for its new customers. APS still provides 1000 feet of no costs extensions on the Native American Reservations. Where is the fairness? Where is the choice? Where is the reason?
What about jobs? This will have a trickle down affect on the entire construction industry. Many land owners are going to have to give up their dream of building a new home because of the added costs of power extensions. What about low cost housing such as manufactured homes? The added power costs are having a huge negative impact upon this industry. At a time when Arizona should be attracting new jobs, potential new businesses owners are burdened with unreasonable charges to hook up to the grid. Do we really want anti-growth policies?
In Article 15 Section 3 of the Arizona Constitution it states “The corporation commission shall have full power to, and shall prescribe..............just and reasonable rates and charges to be made and collected, by public service corporations within the state for service rendered therein, and make reasonable rules, regulations, and orders, by which such corporations shall be governed in the transaction of business within this state” The current APS electrical extension policy is not just, or reasonable.
We have set up this website to act as a conduit for concerned Arizona residents to voice their opinion and be heard. With enough support and protest we will enact our inherent right as citizens in our great republic to demand positive change and to better our state. It is our hope to convince the Arizona Corporation Commission to re-examine the current APS power extension policy.