Mayes calls on the AZ Corporation Commission to examine the APS customer's heat death

The Attorney General of Arizona, Kris Mayes, calls on state pension regulatory authorities to investigate the death of a public service in Arizona, whose power had been separated. Warmth was a factor In the death of the 82-year-old woman.

The Arizona Corporation Commission prohibits APS of eliminating the power of customers from June to mid-October to prevent heat deaths. But Katherine Korman died last year in May, in a week when the temperatures were in the upper 90s and low 100s.

In A Letter this week to the CommissionMayes points out that the spring temperatures have increased. And she said that the need for air conditioning can be a question of life or death.

In 2024 there were 602 warm deaths in Maricopa County. According to Maricopa County Public Health. Of these, 23% occurred inside. Air conditioning was present in most deaths in the inner heat, but was not functional. There was no electricity in 13 cases.

Mayes, who previously worked in the Commission, said that the role of the chosen surplus authorities was to protect consumers.

“The obvious lack of measures of this commission in relation to the death of Ms. Korman is remarkable,” wrote Mayes.

Commissioners have said little about the case since this first registered by 12 messages last month. But in an exchange for X, Commissioner Nick Myers the son of Korman accused Because he didn't look for his mother. Myers also wrote that additional rules are not necessary for the shutdown of pension companies, and he questioned the existing guidelines.

In her letter, Mayes asked the commissioners to examine the case of Korman and to determine potential improvements in the use of separation rules.

“I understand first -hand, the difficult position in which they are all. It is not least to compensate for interest payers and pension interests, to develop an inferior separation policy and to alleviate unintentional consequences of separation moratoriums such as biloning interest debts,” wrote Mayes.

But Mayes compared the separation of the electricity of customers in hot weather with the elimination of a patient's life support.

“Such a mourning approach to the health and security of the installment payers is unnecessary,” said Mayes.