A Deadly Arizona Duo

Caution- Not a cool topic a head…

The optional subject line I was considering was:
Heartless business leverages killer heat wave to teach 72 year old woman a lesson in paying bills

But thought that maybe I didn’t need to inflame too much about this story because there is a lesson or two in it for all of us. (Other than to be outraged).

First up, a quick description and a link to the actual story…
About 5 years ago, APS cut off a 72 year old woman’s power in the middle of a heat wave. She was found deceased in her home a few days later during a welfare check- coroner reports death was caused by “environmental heat exposure”.

Apparently, the overdue bill of ~176 had a partial payment of 125 just a few days before the power was cut off…

For $51 dollars, an elderly woman got her power cut off in September 2018, in Phoenix- temps were ~107F.

“A Phoenix woman died after her power was cut over a $51 debt. That forced utilities to change”

https://www.kgun9.com/news/state/a-phoenix-woman-died-after-her-power-was-cut-over-a-51-debt-that-forced-utilities-to-change

There was a lawsuit, and it was settled out of court- and quite possibly had a clause that prevented family from discussing details because, supposedly, they stopped answering calls or questions about it.

This case drew public outrage and changes were made. Changes we should be aware of.

The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) that oversees our monopolistic utilities issued a moratorium on summertime shutoffs in 2019 and permanently banned them in the hottest months last year.

“Electric utilities can choose to pause disconnections from June 1 through October 15, or pause them on days forecasted to be above 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. APS; Tucson Electric Power, which serves Arizona’s second largest city; and UniSource, which provides power in Mohave and Santa Cruz counties, chose the date-based option.”

Lesson- TEP is not supposed to shut off power from June 1st through October 15th for late bills.
Lesson- Deadly temperatures can arrive outside of those date ranges.
Lesson- keep an eye on our at risk friends and family. Especially those who are prone to ‘not ask for help’ because they would be the last to share they needed money…

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Not sure if you’ve noticed or not but TEP has been struggling the last two weeks with monsoon storm related power outages.

Foothills had an outage last a few days that triggered the Red Cross to open a cooling station at a local school and now there’s another extended outage.

“Storm Damage Restoration Ongoing on Southwest Side”

https://www.tep.com/southwest-outage/

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No matter where you are at, I hope you can stay cool.

Never been a better time to figure out some sort of power back up for events like this. Even if it is just something like a solar powered battery/inverter so you can run your freezer/fridge to not lose the food in it.

Gotta do something.

Probably the best thing to do is look into rooftop solar with battery- and have it set up so that you can run ‘off-grid style’.

It will be expensive, but we’re talking about upgrading, not cost savings. (A system without the battery might be more appropriately considered in the cost savings realm).

Anyways, if you are looking into rooftop solar for your home, click here to be notified when Tucson Solar Insider Desk Guide for Buying Solar is released.

Be Good!
Curtis