Low-income Arizonans are already dealing with financial stress stemming from the ongoing government shutdown and other federal cuts. Now, they’re also dealing with price hikes on their utility bills.

At a recent town hall in Sun City about this issue, Attorney General Kris Mayes said that electricity prices in Arizona have risen faster in the past two years than in the previous nine. And those costs may get even higher in the coming months.

Americans have access to more clean energy technologies in our daily lives than ever before. Solar panels, electric vehicles, heat pumps and other clean energy tools are getting better, cheaper and more widely available with every passing year – creating the opportunity to build a cleaner and healthier energy future for America, one household at a time.

Phoenix is among 33 cities across the globe joining a collaboration to mitigate the impacts of extreme heat. The new Cool Cities Accelerator was announced at the C40 World Mayors Summit in Rio De Janeiro this week.

Heat kills more people worldwide each year than any other type of weather-related disaster.

Hundreds of thousands of Arizonans have incorporated clean energy technologies into their lives according to Clean Energy Across America, a new report unveiled Wednesday by Environment Arizona Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group. The report recommends tips and policies to help more Americans adopt clean energy, even as federal tax credits phase out. The analysis comes as the Arizona Corporation Commission takes steps to start rolling back renewable energy standards.

A new report that ranks states based on climate-related risks and how they impact human health has some not-so-great news for Arizona. The data from the Commonwealth Fund ranks Arizona 45th in the country.

The organization has been evaluating state health care system performance for a while, but recently started looking at a new set of indicators to figure out how a state population’s health was affected by the environment and specific climate-related events and disasters.

Google recently courted the township of Franklin, Ind., so that it could construct a giant campus to house the computer hardware that powers its internet business. But the company needed to rezone more than 450 acres in the Indianapolis suburb, and residents weren’t having it.

Now more than ever, retirees on fixed incomes need and deserve safe, efficient homes; they’re a lifeline.

Programs like WAP — the Weatherization Assistance Program — give families and seniors like me the security and peace of mind we deserve, helping us lower costs, protect our health and stay resilient through extreme weather.

With Arizona’s abundance of sunshine, advocates for solar energy are worried that the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to cut the $7 billion Solar for All program is sending the state and country backwards, right when energy demands are as high as the summer temperatures.

State Rep. Sarah Liguori, D-Phoenix, along with advocates for the solar industry held a press conference outside of a Phoenix home Tuesday afternoon that utilizes solar energy to underscore the importance of the technology.

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.”