More of the Same Expensive Dependence on Fossil Fuels in TEP and APS 2026 Energy Plans

PHOENIX — Arizona utilities Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP) and Arizona Public Service (APS) filed their 2026 Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) on Friday that evaluate how utilities will obtain energy for the next 15 years. While their plans include new renewable energy and storage, they continue to spend on fossil fuels, building new gas, and in the case of APS, extending coal use. Instead of facilitating a timely transition to affordable, clean energy, both utilities — and especially APS — continue an expensive dependence on fossil fuels that keep ratepayers in a dangerous cycle, paying the price for decades.

📌 The Core Development

Arizonans already experience some of the highest electric bills in the country, with some of the most planned gas in the country. Yet, instead of easing energy burden and saving its customers millions of dollars, APS prolongs costly coal operations at the Four Corners coal plant, worsening climate impacts, increasing air pollution, and threatening public health.

🔍 Background & Sector Context

Of all the state’s utilities, APS has the most planned fossil gas , adding over 4,000 MW of gas by 2041. APS’s gas projects include the planned Desert Sun Power Plant and the Redhawk Expansion Project, which includes constructing eight new methane gas-fired generating turbines in Maricopa County. It has also signed a coal supply contract extension to resuscitate its Four Corners Plant , abandoning APS’s previous plan to exit the plant in 2031 and instead extending coal-fired operations to 2038. In a pending case before the Arizona Corporation Commission, APS is also proposing a 14% rate hike that would increase the average residential customer’s utility bill by roughly $240 per year.

📊 Industry & Real-World Impact

TEP’s energy plan includes coal to gas conversions of units 1 and 2 at its Springerville plant by 2031 rather than retirement of those units as TEP had previously proposed. TEP plans to exit its share of the Four Corners coal plant by 2031, but also plans to add 300 MW of new fossil gas generation. TEP had previously committed to reduce carbon emissions 80 percent by 2035 but now says in its plan that it won’t achieve that goal.

🔮 Strategic Outlook & What Lies Ahead

The public can submit comments on both utility energy plans. Both APS and TEP’s plans will come before the Arizona Corporation Commission to be approved or rejected.

“Arizonans across the state support a timely transition from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy by 2050, but what the utilities have presented in their energy plans further delays our move from gas and coal to solar and wind,” said Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter Director Sandy Bahr . “We’re seeing these utilities protect their own bottom lines, instead of making the most economical decisions for ratepayers like you and me. More than ever, we need to embrace a clean energy future to protect our health, the climate, and our wallets.”