APS and the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) are allowing ordinary customers to bankroll the explosive growth of data centers and other massive electricity users. The APS rate structure spreads the added cost of serving these high-demand facilities across homes and small businesses, while the ACC has failed to force a fairer system that makes large load users pay the full cost they create.
Independent analysis shows residents and smaller businesses have been charged hundreds of millions of dollars for increased power costs driven largely by corporate users like data centers. APS defends the arrangement, and the ACC has not adequately intervened despite clear evidence that the current allocation is unfair. Until regulators require large load customers to cover their true costs, homeowners will continue subsidizing data center expansion through their electric bills.
