Here’s How Many Times Tucson Utilities Shut Off Power

TUCSON, AZ — Utility disconnections during hot Tucson summers are getting extra attention after the heat-related death of a Sun City West woman whose power was shut off over a $51 past-due bill in 2018. State officials last month adopted a summertime ban on power disconnections as a result.

A month ago, the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates the state’s 16 utility companies, unanimously approved the ban on power shut-offs from June 1-Oct. 15. Gov. Doug Ducey had championed the change, saying that it was long overdue.

Several utility companies voluntarily suspended summer disconnections after the death of Stephanie Pullman, 72, who was found dead in her home after her power was shut off on Sept. 7, 2018. She had not paid her electric bill for several months, The Associated Press reported. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office cited “environmental heat exposure” as the cause of death.

The average summertime temperatures in Tucson range from around 100 degrees in June, July and August to 95 degrees September and 85 degrees in October.

The Arizona Daily Star reported Friday that Tucson Electric Power Co. disconnected customers’ utilities 15,400 times for nonpayment last year, according to documents filed with the utility regulators as part of the summertime ban.

That was only about one-third the rate of the much larger Phoenix-based Arizona Public Service Co., which serves 1.2 million customers. It cut off customers’ power about 110,000 times last year. That utility was sharply criticized after cutting off Pullman’s service, and has settled two lawsuits related to heat-related deaths after power disconnections in 2018 and 2011, according to the Daily Star’s report.

UniSource Energy Services, a sister utility to Tucson Electric Power that serves about 95,000 customers in Santa Cruz and Mohave counties, disconnected power about 3,600 times last year, the Daily Star said.

Arizona Public Service Co. said in a statement to the Arizona Family news outlet that it supports the news rules and protecting vulnerable Arizonans in extreme weather “is a challenge that requires collaborative solutions.”

The utility said it had voluntarily suspended hot weather utility cut-offs for customers struggling to pay their bills a week before the Arizona Corporation Commission voted, and will not resume disconnections until mid-October, as the new rules require.

Under the hot-weather utility shut-off ban, utilities can’t disconnect power during dangerous weather conditions, if the customer has paid at least half of the delinquent balance in the past 25 days, or if the past-due amount is $75 or less. Utilities also can’t tack on late fees or add interest to past-due balances, but must provide payment plans to cover the delinquent amount.