PHOENIX β The head of the stateβs largest electric company is stepping down, but not before utility regulators get a chance to grill him next month on company practices and policies.
In a formal announcement Wednesday, Pinnacle West Capital Corp. said Don Brandt will retire as president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board, effective Nov. 15. That follows 16 years with the parent company of Arizona Public Service, the last decade holding the three top slots.
But Pinnacle West spokesman Alan Bunnell said Brandt intends to honor his commitment to testify at the Arizona Corporation Commission as scheduled Sept. 4. Regulators already have prepared a list of 67 written questions they want him to answer and are coming up with more.
Commissioners already have some in mind based on Wednesdayβs announcement.
Some now appear aimed less at Brandt than at Jeff Guldner, current president of the APS subsidiary, who will be taking the reins of Pinnacle West. And that goes to the question of what, if anything, will change under the new leadership.
ACC Chairman Bob Burns, who has been battling Pinnacle West for years, including court battles over access to records of βdark moneyβ spending on campaigns, called the companyβs behavior until now βunacceptable.β
βI think we need to do everything we can to change that,β said Burns, a Republican on the five-member panel. βWhoeverβs in charge, if they donβt change their behavior, thereβs problems.β
Democrat Sandra Kennedy, another member of the commission, said she has similar questions.
βIβm trying to give Guldner the benefit of the doubt,β she said. βBut heβs going to have to change the culture of the company.β
It was under Brandtβs watch that Pinnacle West funneled $10.7 million through other organizations that, in turn, spent heavily in the 2014 commission race to elect a panel of only Republicans. The recipient groups refused to disclose the source of their money, citing their status as βsocial welfareβ organizations that exempts them from some of the same campaign finance laws that apply to others.
In 2016, the company openly spent $4.2 million to keep the commission an all-Republican affair.
It did not participate in the 2018 campaign but instead spent $32 million to quash an initiative that would have required regulated utilities like APS to get more of their energy from renewable sources.
More recently APS has come under scrutiny following reports that several customers died after their power had been cut off.
That led to commissioners seeking answers from Brandt about company policies, like notifying people in person before the plug is pulled.
Bunnell said Brandt will be at the commission Sept. 4 as scheduled.
And the timing of his retirement?
βIt has nothing to do with the disconnect issue and the current climate,β Bunnell said.
The change in leadership, however, could bring some peace to the battles between the commission and the utility, especially with regulators seeing the policies of the company being simply the policies instituted by Brandt.
βI couldnβt be happier,β Kennedy said of her reaction to Brandtβs retirement.
βIβm hoping all of this is a problem with Brandt,β she said, adding that she is hoping for changes with new leadership. βAnd I guess only time will tell.β
Burns was a bit more circumspect when asked how he believes Brandt has run the company.
βI guess that wouldnβt be a very good thing for me to be very honest about,β he said.
But Burns said he does believe that it was Brandt who set the agenda for the activities of Pinnacle West, including the millions poured into electing certain commissioners.
βAnd I think their behavior was unacceptable and I think we need to do everything we can to change that,β he said.
