TEP rate hikes to underground utility lines to go before voters

Nicole Ludden An agreement to increase Tucson Electric Power bills to fund the undergrounding of future utility line projects will go before voters in May, the Tucson City Council decided Tuesday.

That additional revenue could be used to cover the costs of undergrounding high-voltage transmission lines, such as TEP’s Kino to DeMoss-Petrie 138-Kilovolt Transmission Line that has faced pushback from the city and residents of historic neighborhoods overordinances that ban overhead power lines in scenic and gateway corridors. TEP has said undergrounding the project would be too expensive.

“We have a number of franchises across the state, it's really standard operating procedure for our operations. With these changes, this franchise will be the most progressive likely in the state, and really tackling some of the issues that are important to Tucson,” TEP’s Chief Sustainability Officer Erik Bakken told the council Tuesday.

Council member Steve Kozachik said public outreach for the proposed franchise agreement"was extremely troublesome," with only 24-hours' notice given before a public meeting was hosted for to provide information and gather community feedback, and expressed dismay at the lack of"specific, measurable, explicit commitments" for climate resiliency funding in the language of the agreement.

Yes, with inflation this high, it's definitely the right time to increase energy costs. Smart move, TEP.

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