Information and Perspective by Warren Woodward
(January 27. 2015)
Last Sunday I sent out an email with a link to an article about APS getting U.S. congressmen and women to send letters that APS had essentially written for them. My email said this:
More APS sleaze, in case you missed it. Big money to both Democrats and Republicans to get what they want. http://azcir.org/2015/01/16/aps-employee-drafted-anti-solar-letter-signed-by-az-congressmen/
I got a reply from State Senator Judy Burges saying this:
Warren: Would you be kind enough to tell me just where you fit into this issue and how this letter impacts you directly? Thank you, Judy
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2 Comments
I would like to compliment Warren Woodward on his well written response to Senator Burges. I’m quite frankly surprised that Senator Burges wouldn’t understand how Mr. Woodward fits into the issue. I would expect anyone in State and Local government, as a requisite of their job description, to already understand how all Arizona public utility users fit into all matters of these public utilities.
First and foremost, public utilities are not banks and if they are laboring under the impression they are banks our Local and State governments should reset the thinking of these public utilities. They are service providers to the citizens of Arizona, the utility end users and customers! Now is a good time to reeducate our public utilities on the meaning of the word customer.
In fact, the citizens of Arizona are the customers of our State and Local governments. I should point out that should our State and Local governments be modeling their governing practices and customer service after the Federal Government they are making a mistake of monumental proportions! The customer may not always be right, but they are The Customer!
I sincerely hope that more Arizona citizens will weigh in on this matter. To put it another way, Mr. Woodward has reminded us that all levels of government in the United States are acting too big for their britches! The time has come to reign that in and reestablish all levels of government as the customer service organizations they are!
Correction: I said APS’s charitable donations amounted to $17.5M/yr. I was going on memory which was a mistake. According to the APS website, their charitable donations in 2013 amounted to $9.6M. That does not change the points I made about same but I do like my facts straight.
Warren Woodward