PHOENIX, AZ — The man in charge of Arizona's largest utility is set to testify in front of state regulators on Wednesday.
Arizona Public Service (APS) CEO Don Brandt is expected to explain how the company handles cutting power to its customers during a public meeting.
It's the next step in the Arizona Corporation Commission's inquiry after the death of 72-year-old Stephanie Pullman. Her power was disconnected in August 2018 over a $51 delinquency and she died shortly thereafter of heat-related complications. The company also disclosed settlements in two other deaths.
A list of sixty-seven questions was sent to Brandt. Commissioner Lea Marquez Peterson tells ABC15 that 25 are from her.
"About how customer service is handled. How they identify people by demographics or age. How you communicate with those are the most vulnerable," she said when asked to describe the focus of her questions.
But most questions about Pullman's death went unanswered in his written responses, with Brandt citing confidentiality rules for customer accounts.
Aside from APS, commissioners have also begun looking into disconnection policies for power, water and gas utilities across Arizona--even ones they don't regulate.
"So that we could best analyze what happened in the past and certainly the policies in the future," Peterson said.
APS critic Stacey Champion says it's about time the public hears from Brandt.
"This is the person who is on all the shareholder calls, he's the person who shows up to receive awards and make speeches," she said.
Brandt is also expected to answer for secret campaign spending.
After years of hiding it, in March APS finally admitted to pumping millions of dollars into various political races, including the corporation commission in 2014.
"It's a very, very wide and very, very deep river," Champion said. "There are a lot of tentacles."
But even with questions answered and Brandt's upcoming November retirement, she isn't convinced that the company is ready to reverse course.
"Unless there are huge changes both at the company level [and] at the Arizona Corporation Commission," Champion says, "with the political spending, with all of these different pieces of how they got to where they are, and why the public perception is as bad as it is--I'll believe it when I see it."
Meeting details:
Wednesday September 4, 2019 at 10 a.m.
1300 W Washington St, Phoenix
