Clean-energy advocates hope to shift balance of power at SRP in April election

Five renewable-energy advocates hope to win seats next month on the Salt River Project board of directors, where they could vote on matters such as the type of power plants the utility builds and how much it charges its 1 million customers for electricity.

With two such advocates already serving among SRP leadership, the election could shift the public utility to support more policies that promote alternative energy such as solar.

They face incumbents on the board who say the public utility is doing fine with its modest goals for renewable energy, and who warn that relying too heavily on alternative energy could drive up prices.

The candidates are running mostly low-key political campaigns for the April 3 election.

Low-key elections

SRP’s 14 board members, president and vice president are elected by people who own land in the utility territory, a tradition that dates to the formation of SRP 115 years ago, when people in the Phoenix area put their land up as collateral to build the Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River.

The elections might be low-key, but the board’s responsibilities are not.

They make decisions on SRP’s annual budget of about $3 billion that affect more than 1 million utility customers, millions more water users in the Phoenix area and 5,000 employees.

When the CEO/general manager of the public water and power utility wants to raise rates or take other significant action — such as the pending closure of the Navajo Generating Station coal plant — he must seek board approval.

The board approved a controversial rate hike in February 2015 that dramatically raised prices for customers who install solar panels. The issue drew thousands of protestors to public meetings.

“The main thing we are running on is solar,” said Randy Miller, a 39-year-old software engineer running for a seat.

“We need people to care about where their power comes from and they should have a choice to put solar panels on their home. The technology is there. SRP has put policies in place that make it not economically feasible, which is wrong.”

The solar vote prompted renewable-energy advocates to run for SRP board positions in 2016, and two candidates won.

The current slate of challengers is an extension of that effort to change the makeup of the board, which traditionally has been filled with farmers, ranchers and others with a major stake in water.

Miller was so motivated by the solar vote that he bought a new home so he could serve on the board. The home where he previously lived, while served by SRP, was among the thousands of properties ineligible to vote or run for office.

The 2015 vote by the board amounted to about a $50 monthly rate increase for customers who installed solar, but SRP board members decided at the last minute not to impose the same increase on 15,000 existing solar customers. Those customers were “grandfathered” and allowed to keep their old rates.

SRP’s CEO, Mark Bonsall, said the changes were needed because customers with solar were not paying their fair share of the utility infrastructure, like power lines and power plants, that they use when solar panels aren’t making electricity.

The number of people installing solar in SRP territory dropped precipitously after the board approved the new rates.

In October 2014, just before the new rates were proposed, SRP received 677 applications for solar interconnections. SRP approved the rates in February 2015, and in the next 11 months received just 333 applications.

Two seats most vulnerable to challengers

Two of the seats up for election this year are considered more vulnerable to challengers because SRP's acreage-based voting system doesn't apply to them, and everyone's vote carries the same weight.

The first 10 districts in SRP territory are distinct geographic areas akin to city council or legislative districts.

Voters in those districts get one vote for each acre of land they own, down to fractions of an acre. The same goes for their votes for president and vice president.

That means large landowners hold enormous sway, and even people with 10 acres of land can outvote dozens of regular property owners who own quarter-acre lots and share ownership with a spouse.

Four at-large districts still require voters to own land, but they are awarded on a one-vote-per-person basis. The two solar advocates who won narrow elections in 2014 were in at-large districts, while another solar advocate in an acreage-based district lost his bid that year.

With two solar advocates already on the board following the 2016 elections, the five new challengers threaten to divide the board 7-7 should they all win.

The financial reward for winning election are $180,000 and $150,000 salaries for the president and vice president, respectively.

The board members earn $380 for each meeting they attend, which totals between $10,000 and $20,000 a year depending on the number of meetings. They also are offered optional health-care coverage and a meal ticket for the company cafeteria on days meetings run into the lunch hour.

Officials, however, are scheduled to vote for raises of 15 to 40 percent for themselves.

Incumbents rarely lose

Miller is running for an at-large seat and hopes to unseat Wendy Marshall, a 63-year-old financial advisor who has been on the board since 2002, when she won the seat previously held by her father, a citrus farmer.

Marshall faced a challenger in 2014 who spent $60,000 in personal funds on his effort. She easily beat him while spending just $1,400 on her campaign.

So far Miller has raised about $2,000 for his campaign.

Marshall said she welcomes the competition, as it brings attention to the important job of the board.

“It’s exciting that there are so many people that are aware of utilities and our role in the community,” Marshall said. She said her financial expertise and willingness to ask difficult questions of SRP managers makes her a good choice for the board.

“I think solar is a terrific thing — we have added a lot, and will continue to add it — but until battery storage is financially feasible, we need to do it in measured steps,” Marshall said.

Marshall supported the 2015 rate increase for solar customers, but also was among the board members who wanted to grandfather in customers who already had solar. She said she didn’t think it was fair to change the rules on customers who already invested in rooftop solar.

Four-decade member faces challenger

Board member William Arnett, 80, has spent 42 years on the board, fending off several challenges to his at-large seat, and knows the challenges of getting voters to participate.

He recalls one year trying to convince his brother-in-law to vote for him, and bumping into the brother-in-law in public, where he told him he was preparing to mail in his ballot.

“I said, 'The election was last week!' ” Arnett recalled. “That’s an SRP election. You have no idea what’s going to happen.”

Born in Mesa, Arnett previously ran a taxicab business. He has been known to oppose management at times, although he supported the 2015 solar rate hike. When SRP’s managers proposed a $12 monthly rate hike in 2009, Arnett lead the board opposition that reduced it to $6 a month.

He faces a challenge from Corey Hawkey, a 36-year-old who works in sustainability practices at ASU who wants SRP to use more renewable energy.

“I think that this is a great opportunity to change Arizona for the better,” Hawkey said.

He said he is undeterred by the challenge outsiders face running for the board.

“I actually find that one of the most motivating reasons to run,” Hawkey said. “I ask people if they’ve asked SRP for their ballot yet, and they are confused … They have that right to voice who they want to be on the board. It is really empowering for people.”

Turnout for SRP elections is usually less than 1 percent of the more than 680,000 eligible voters. The last election set a record with 3,520 people casting ballots.

By comparison, the Arizona State University student government elections last year saw 5,865 votes cast.

The elections are a challenge for candidates because so few people know they even take place. To cast a vote, landowners must request a ballot from SRP (by phone at 602-236-3048 or at www.srpnet.com/elections). They are not mailed automatically to registered voters like regular elections.

These are the district-based seats that will be part of the election:

District 6

Location: Central Phoenix between 27th Avenue and 24th Street and Dunlap Avenue south to the Salt River.

Incumbent: John “Jack” White, a 78-year-old who retired from SRP after 42 years of service and has represented the area since 2002.

“I think it’s an important issue,” he said of the renewable-energy debate. “We are moving forward. We are taking a financially responsible approach.”

Challenger: Dennis Burke, a 69-year-old writer and researcher, who is helping the World Bank president write a book. Burke is a fourth-generation Arizonan whose family owned a dairy farm and whose grandfather worked on Roosevelt Dam, he said.

“Win or lose, we’re pushing (White) to look more at solar and other renewables,” Burke said.

District 8

Location: Includes portions of Guadalupe, Tempe, Chandler and Mesa, south of Baseline Road to the Gila River Indian Reservation, from 40th Street to Arizona Avenue.

Incumbent: Deborah Hendrickson, a 67-year-old retired attorney who was appointed to the SRP Council in 2000 and elected to the board in 2007.

"Having served at SRP for almost 18 years has really given me a good understanding of the broad issues," she said. "I think my experience as an attorney and settlement judge helps me work with people to resolve issues."

Challenger: Jeffrey Grout, 59, is an energy engineer who works on efficiency projects for large businesses.

"It is really, I think, a fundamental right here in Arizona, with all the sunshine we have, if you want to put solar on your house, it should not be discouraged," he said. "I think the majority of people just want to turn on the switch, have lights go on, and not think about where it comes from. (Solar) is never going to be the answer to everything, but certainly it has a pretty big place here in Arizona."

District 10

Location: The southeast Valley generally south of Baseline Road and east of Arizona Avenue.

Incumbent: Farmer Mark Pace, 65, grows a variety of crops in Maricopa and Pinal counties, all outside SRP territory. He spent 25 years on the SRP Council, a group of 30 elected officials who serve below the board members. He joined the board four years ago, winning an election to replace a retiring rancher.

"I agree with going clean energy, but when it is economically feasible to do it," he said. "Before you’ve got this other stuff, you can’t jump out there and say we will go strictly green energy when it is costing you more than nuclear would cost you or natural gas. It's going to come. The key to going green will be when they get that battery backup on the solar."

Challenger: Sheila Motomatsu is a 52-year-old solar advocate and electrical engineer by trade who worked for the U.S. Department of Energy at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. She retired from that work to raise her two children.

"In 2016 I was looking at putting rooftop solar on my home. I found out it would have been a negative investment if I did. It was not because of the technology. It was because of the rate plan ... I reached out to solar people and sustainability people."

Second challenger: Marcia Barlow is listed as a candidate but The Arizona Republic was unable to reach her.

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