One of the things I learned from my economics studies is that regional economies depend on exports of products to grow and prosper. These base industries inject new income into the economy that goes to support employment of the producing company as well as its vendors and suppliers. The income of these workers is then spent, in part, on products and services provided by other local businesses, thus supporting additional jobs and creating more income. The end result is that the local economy is boosted by more than just the jobs of the producing company.
Constructing and operating the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station is one example. The utility consortium which joined APS several decades ago to build the plant continues today to contribute substantial economic benefits in terms of jobs, income and taxes to Arizona’s economy. A little more than half of the power produced at Palo Verde is exported to other states as part of the joint partnership with the other utilities.
Turning attention away from economics and focusing on another . . .ah, discipline – “politics” (assume with me that politics is a discipline, well at least a subject we can discuss) my friends and acquaintances tell me that deep-down, lots of people just don’t like utilities. They need them – they just have difficulty “liking” them.
That’s likely the reason why every time a utility company wants to increase a rate because its costs have gone up, the ACC gets a mailbag full of customer letters complaining about rates being too high, and just how greedy these large corporations are (smaller ones if you’re a water utility). Yet, these same complaining folks can depend on water to drink and flush toilets, lights coming on at the flick of a switch, and on-demand power and fuel to run air conditioners (furnaces in the winter), flat screen televisions and every other gadget in the house. Utility regulators rarely hear from utility customers about the good things utility companies bring to our community.
My point, though, is that there are other benefits, besides just the utility services, which they bring to our community.
Utility companies are also engines of economic growth and prosperity. I mentioned the construction and operation of the Palo Verde nuclear plant as one example.
Economists at Arizona State University recently completed a study for Arizona Public Service documenting that company’s overall impact on Arizona’s economy. The bottom line is that APS’ economic reach in Arizona is huge.
According to the study, each APS job supports 4.21 additional jobs in the state. These additional jobs include the employees of APS’s suppliers, the indirect jobs created by local spending of the direct employees of APS and its vendors and the additional jobs created as a result of spending revenues from the additional related taxes collected by governments. Including direct and indirect employment, APS supports 39 thousand jobs or 1.2 percent of total Arizona employment. In terms of the total contribution to state income, APS’s direct and indirect effects account for $3.4 billion, or 1.3 percent of Arizona total gross state product.
APS is just one utility company. Imagine combining the economic impacts of the other utility companies serving Arizona like Salt River Project, Tucson Electric Power, Southwest Gas, Qwest (now CenturyLink), Arizona American Water, Global Water, Arizona Water, the Cooperatives and on and on. And, of course, there’s the undeniable value in the services our utility companies provide to support Arizona’s ability to compete in the global economy. Our factories and offices also depend on utilities to keep the lights, air conditioners, furnaces, phones, computers, spigots, etc., on, and to do so at reasonable cost.
You get the picture. Arizona utilities might be under-appreciated, but they are definitely important to the economic well-being of our state.
Turning attention away from economics and focusing on another . . .ah, discipline – “politics” (assume with me that politics is a discipline, well at least a subject we can discuss) my friends and acquaintances tell me that deep-down, lots of people just don’t like utilities. They need them – they just have difficulty “liking” them.
That’s likely the reason why every time a utility company wants to increase a rate because its costs have gone up, the ACC gets a mailbag full of customer letters complaining about rates being too high, and just how greedy these large corporations are (smaller ones if you’re a water utility). Yet, these same complaining folks can depend on water to drink and flush toilets, lights coming on at the flick of a switch, and on-demand power and fuel to run air conditioners (furnaces in the winter), flat screen televisions and every other gadget in the house. Utility regulators rarely hear from utility customers about the good things utility companies bring to our community.
My point, though, is that there are other benefits, besides just the utility services, which they bring to our community.
Utility companies are also engines of economic growth and prosperity. I mentioned the construction and operation of the Palo Verde nuclear plant as one example.
Economists at Arizona State University recently completed a study for Arizona Public Service documenting that company’s overall impact on Arizona’s economy. The bottom line is that APS’ economic reach in Arizona is huge.
According to the study, each APS job supports 4.21 additional jobs in the state. These additional jobs include the employees of APS’s suppliers, the indirect jobs created by local spending of the direct employees of APS and its vendors and the additional jobs created as a result of spending revenues from the additional related taxes collected by governments. Including direct and indirect employment, APS supports 39 thousand jobs or 1.2 percent of total Arizona employment. In terms of the total contribution to state income, APS’s direct and indirect effects account for $3.4 billion, or 1.3 percent of Arizona total gross state product.
APS is just one utility company. Imagine combining the economic impacts of the other utility companies serving Arizona like Salt River Project, Tucson Electric Power, Southwest Gas, Qwest (now CenturyLink), Arizona American Water, Global Water, Arizona Water, the Cooperatives and on and on. And, of course, there’s the undeniable value in the services our utility companies provide to support Arizona’s ability to compete in the global economy. Our factories and offices also depend on utilities to keep the lights, air conditioners, furnaces, phones, computers, spigots, etc., on, and to do so at reasonable cost.
You get the picture. Arizona utilities might be under-appreciated, but they are definitely important to the economic well-being of our state.
