Requests seeking Commissioners’ recusal
expire,
Commissioners reject claims of
bias
Filings that seek a
rehearing on solar cost shift issues and the recusal of three Corporation
Commissioners on that case will expire without formal action by the
Commission.
The filings,
submitted by two former commissioners, Sunrun, and The Alliance for Solar Choice
demand Commissioners Tom Forese, Doug Little and Bob Stump refrain from voting
on an Arizona Public Service request to increase the fee that the energy
provider charges to rooftop solar customers. The requests also seek a rehearing
on the Commission’s decision to set a hearing to review the cost shift created
by solar customers.
No open meeting has
been scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday, the deadlines for the Commission to
consider these filings. By law, if no
action is taken within 20 days, the filings are considered denied. The 20 days expire Wednesday and Thursday.
In August, the
Commission voted to hold an evidentiary hearing to determine if the current
charge to solar customers should be modified.
“After a thorough review of the record, and
having fully considered these matters, I have determined that there are no
grounds for disqualification or recusal that would prevent me from participating
in this decision,” Forese wrote in a filing.
“I did not prejudge
any issue presented and considered the record with an open mind and acted fairly
and impartially in my decision-making,” Stump wrote in a
filing.
“I have duly
considered the allegations and the entire record and I conclude that I have
acted fairly, impartially and without bias in all aspects of this proceeding,”
Little wrote in a filing. “I am not disqualified from decision-making by any
conflict of interest because none exists.”
The Commission may
take up an APS request to modify its August Decision at its Oct. 20 Open
Meeting, according to a filing by Chairman Susan Bitter Smith
