The Arizona Department of Transportation is seeking bids to construct 34 electric vehicle charging stations along state highways.

The stations will mark another development to create a statewide charging network for accessibility for traveling electric vehicles.

Anna Cicero, a retired educator who lives in Chandler with her daughter and grandson, held her utility bill up while speaking behind a podium in the Rose Garden of the Arizona Capitol. She spoke passionately about rising utility rates and their effects on her family.

“I can try to find cheaper eggs or just skip cholesterol,” Cicero said. “But I cannot switch to a cheaper electrical company.”

Arizona regulators want to eliminate mandates and financial incentives for power companies that are intended to save money for all consumers and promote renewables. Public meetings about Arizona’s energy efficiency (EE) standards and solar “REST” rules are scheduled for November and December as the Arizona Corporation Commission considers scrapping the mandates.

For as long as 55-year-old Hopi Chairman Tim Nuvangyaoma has been alive, high-voltage power lines have cut across Hopi lands in northeast Arizona, carrying vast amounts of power long distances throughout the Southwest.

But residents of the Hopi Reservation have never been connected to that grid. Instead, tribal members have relied on a single power line that runs roughly 30 miles east and west across high desert punctuated by three distinctive mesas, home to 12 distinct villages, including some of the oldest inhabited communities in the United States.

A renewable energy company plans to develop more than 2,000 acres near Phoenix for a utility solar energy project set to generate energy for around 70,000 Arizona homes.

A subsidiary of California-based Avantus Clean Energy expects to begin construction in the fall of 2026 on its Pinyon Solar Project, which will include solar technology and battery storage facilities.

Data centers are the backbone of everything from Google searches to movie streaming. Now, with artificial intelligence adoption accelerating, the demand for these massive facilities and the power they consume is growing rapidly across the Valley.

More than 125 data centers already operate in Maricopa County, with many more seeking to establish operations in Arizona. The expansion has created excitement among entrepreneurs while raising concerns from city leaders about costs and infrastructure.

Policymakers and community leaders in Arizona are calling on Congress to restore alternative energy tax incentives stripped in the federal budget reconciliation bill.

The sun shines at least 300 days a year in Arizona, making it a perfect place to invest in solar energy. Solar advocates want federal lawmakers to allow state residents to take advantage of the green power source.

Arizona regulators have started the process to repeal efficiency rules requiring the state’s largest utilities to achieve annual energy savings.

The energy efficiency rules, first adopted by the Arizona Corporation Commission in 2010, require utilities like Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power to “achieve 22% cumulative energy savings” by 2020.

It may be the most common metric that power companies use when making their case to raise rates: Peak demand. Utilities also use this crucial data to forecast future energy needs.

But only one of Arizona’s three largest utilities provided to 12News data reflecting how each customer class contributes to peak demand records. Consumer advocates say this is difficult to believe, considering the growing threat that one class of customers – data centers – pose to grid capacity.

Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes both announced efforts on Monday to combat rising energy prices.

Hobbs signed an executive order that she says is designed to streamline the development of new electricity generating infrastructure across Arizona.