We asked about the SRP election results—here’s what readers had to say

Over the past few months, we’ve talked a few times in this newsletter about this year’s SRP election and what it means for Arizona.

The election finally happened last week, and the slate of candidates supporting renewable energy made some gains.

Here’s more from The Associated Press:

“The election … saw a surge of interest from voters amid rising household electricity prices and pushback against massive data centers in the battleground state and elsewhere, as national politics gives a jolt to once-low-profile elections for control over utilities.

It also drew the attention of Turning Point Action—better known for its role mobilizing young conservatives behind President Donald Trump—which attacked the renewable energy advocates as ‘radical environmentalists.’

The slate of clean energy advocates picked up two seats on the 14-member utility board, giving them an 8-to-6 majority in votes that come before the board. However, incumbents backed by construction firms and data center developers held on to the offices of president and vice president, keeping their agenda-setting power over what votes are presented to the board.”

I asked what you all thought of the election results, and here’s what you said:

💬 “We applied for the SRP mail in ballot. We subsequently received a post card saying that our request was denied because ‘we are out of their service area.’ We’ve been paying SRP bills monthly for 5.5 years at this address, so this was either gross ignorance or gross negligence. Both of us are quite busy and didn’t have time to call them and argue. My feeling on this is that the election is a sham.” — Stephen D.

Editor’s note: This may not necessarily be what happened in Stephen’s case, but it’s worth nothing that eligibility to vote in SRP elections is determined by land ownership, which excludes many SRP customers from voting.

💬 “While not a customer this a big step in the right direction! For too many years utility companies have just wanted more with no benefit to customers. They pay to much attention to investors and not the actual users who are captive  by the utilities monopoly. Utilities continue to to benefit investors while failing to protect users. They fail to properly maintain systems and update equipment properly in order to provide dividends while putting maintenance on users. Maintenance are a business expense that should be paid prior to distributing dividends especially due to the monopoly they hold.” — Rob J.

💬 “Thanks for the opportunity to share my take on the SRP election. I’m amazed that ‘down ballot’ seats were won by clean energy advocates, but the President and VP were decidedly won by incumbents backed by developers. It’s similar to the last presidential race, a Republican President and VP were elected by Arizona along with two Democratic Senators. Fascinating outcomes.” — Samantha J.

MORE: We asked about Arizona’s worst roads. Readers had plenty to say