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Staying cool in Phoenix during our insanely hot summers is expensive. You can turn your house into a cave with blackout curtains and refuse to open your door to the outside inferno unless you absolutely have to. You can place fans strategically throughout the room and maybe even run a swamp cooler.
But let’s face it. No matter what you do, when you see your next APS or SRP bill, you will want to cry. There’s no relief when you live in one of the hottest places in the country, for your body or your bank account — and this summer is no exception.
Arizonans will pay the most in electricity bills this summer out of any state in the country, according to data from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, which uses electricity prices from the Energy Information Administration electricity prices and and temperature forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Arizonans will pay an estimated $1,060 for electricity between June and September this year. That’s nearly twice the amount that North Dakota residents are expected to pay. Those fortunate Dakotans are projected to pay only $488, the lowest among any state’s residents.
Connecticut had the next-highest summer cooling costs, with residents expected to pay $994 over the summer months. Arizona was the only state with costs in the quadruple digits.
National Energy Assistance Directors Association
NEADA found electricity costs around the country are expected to reach an all-time average high, coming in at $792 — a 40% increase since 2020. For Arizona, and other states like Texas and Florida, it’s simply because it’s unbearably hot. We have to run our air conditioners all the time. It’s literally a matter of life or death. But price increases due to higher infrastructure costs factor in, too.
Last year, electric utility company Arizona Public Service, which serves much of Maricopa County as well as other areas of the state, applied to the Arizona Corporation Commission to increase its rates for domestic customers by 14%, or approximately $20 more per month per customer. It also proposed increasing rates for solar customers and data centers and switching to “formula rates,” which would allow them to increase their prices more easily and with less regulatory oversight.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a former corporation commissioner, has taken APS to task over the increases, saying the utility is imposing them on citizens when data centers are to blame and should shoulder the burden. Her office has intervened in APS’s rate case in the hopes of preventing the hike.
In the meantime, while they duke it out and we watch from the sidelines, might we recommend someone look at whatever our lovely neighbor New Mexico is doing to keep its prices down? Those lucky ducks are only going to pay $584 this summer.
