The Arizona Corporation Commission may issue revised resource planning rules for electric utilities. These rules were previously suspended, but the Commission (the state agency responsible for regulating utilities in Arizona) is considering reinstating the resource planning process. In addition, Arizona Public Service Company has conducted public workshops to gather input for its resource planning process and may voluntarily file a resource plan for Commission review in early 2009.

The State of Arizona needs to implement incentive rate structures that encourage utilities to invest in renewable energy and energy-efficient management policies.

Separating utility revenues from consumption, known as decoupling, would eliminate the incentive to sell ever-larger amounts of power. It also would eliminate the disincentives associated with demandside resources, such as distributed generation and energy efficiency.

In addition, assured cost recovery mechanisms would help utilities recover the additional expenditures associated with building renewable energy projects.