Rachel Walden, Republican candidate for the Arizona Corporation Commission, knows that many Arizona voters have a bit of a learning curve when it comes to the ACC.
The government agency regulates Arizona utility providers and approves the rates consumers pay. While rate cases get a great deal of media attention, the Commissioners also protect consumers from fraudulent investments by utilities corporations.
Walden’s says she has always been interested in politics and how things work. She has worked in financial services, handling accounts for large corporations, and says she is familiar with the regulatory and record keeping side of business. She says that experience will help her serve on the ACC.
"I think that we're in a sort of ideological battle about things. And ultimately for me it's about preserving our freedoms and there's ways that we can do that and make sure that Arizona has a robust economy." Rachel Walden
Walden ran for her local school board in Mesa because she was concerned about her kid’s futures. She says her motivation to run for the ACC is similarly linked to protecting the future for Arizona kids.
Walden says she does not see the role of the ACC as anything more than a regulatory check and balance on monopolies in the state and to make sure that ratepayers pay a just and reasonable rate for services.
Walden says what separates her from the Democrats running for the ACC is a desire to protect against the agency going beyond its mandates and setting energy policy for the state. She says Democrats see a more hands-on role for the Commission. Walden says mandates would force companies into a position to raise rates even more.
"Do you think that Arizona needs to transition to a 100 percent renewable portfolio or do you think that we should have renewable but other sources of energy too?" Rachel Walden
The Mesa Republican says in recent times corporation commission candidates have used the agency as a way to guarantee state/government pensions. She says that may have fed a general disinterest in the ACC on the part of the public, and candidates did not have to campaign very hard to gain or keep their seats.
But Walden warns energy demand in Arizona will only increase, suggesting utilities will need to generate more as people and businesses move to the state.
She says that makes the ACC the hot place to be as big decisions about how to chart the path forward come before this often-ignored government body.
