NEW Sierra Club Report: Arizona Utilities doubling down on fossil fuels, putting New Mexico renewable progress at risk.

Arizona/New Mexico - Today, the Sierra Club released its annual Dirty Truth Report, which grades 75 utilities across the country on their plans to retire coal by 2030, stop building new gas through 2035, and transition fully to clean energy by 2035. The report shows Arizona utilities are failing to protect the state's communities and businesses from rising costs spurred by record demand and worsening climate impacts by continuing to push for costly fossil fuels over more affordable and cleaner renewable energy. In contrast, New Mexico's utilities, specifically PNM, are pushing forward on all new resources powered by clean energy.

Each of the Arizona's three major utilities - Arizona Public Service, Tucson Electric Power, and Salt River Project - earned dismal ratings in the report amid their embrace of costly, polluting gas power plants, the abandonment of affordable renewable energy commitments, and the Arizona Corporation Commission's (ACC) lax regulation, promoting coal and gas, while proposing rollbacks of renewable energy and energy efficiency standards.

For its part, Arizona Public Service (APS) earned an "F" in 2025 - down from a "D" in 2024. While the report only accounts for actions up until July 1, 2025, the utility likely has cemented the lowest possible grade for 2026 based on its recent decision to delay the retirement of its costly Four Corners coal-fired power plant by seven years, until 2038. In the utility's 2023 Integrated Resource Plan, analysis indicated that retiring Four Corners early, in 2028 instead of in 2031, would save Arizonans $139 million in reduced costs - but APS ignored all that by delaying retirement until 2038, which will lead to higher costs for ratepayers and more pollution for people in surrounding communities.

"Arizona Public Service, with the aid of the Arizona Corporation Commission, has earned a grade even lower than an F due to its complete disregard for the health and prosperity of Arizona families and businesses. Because of their decisions to embrace costly fossil fuels and the delay of the retirement of the Four Corners coal-plant, more families will get sick and our bills will go up," said Ylenia Aguilar, Senior Organizer for Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign in Arizona.

Meanwhile, in New Mexico PNM received a B grade. While they continue to be saddled with the Four Corners plant due to Arizona's bad decisions, as a 13% owner in Four Corners need to push for an the promised 2031 closure of the plant which is the basis for PNM's compliance with its state renewables requirements.

"New Mexico passed the Energy Transition Act in 2019 helping to soften the economic blow of the closure of the San Juan Generating Station. Because of our visionary legislation, PNM is replacing the coal fired electricity at San Juan with all renewables and batteries, saving customers money and providing for worker severance, restraining and funding for income gaps and health care. APS's 180 reversal under pressure from Donald Trump and NTEC's insistence on taking the plant over to run in perpetuity with the false promises of carbon capture, put our climate, communities and economy at risk. PNM is leading on renewables in New Mexico and needs to push back on the other owners of the plant to ensure our clean and affordable renewable future," said Camilla Feibelman, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Director.

The other major Arizona utilities have also gone dirtier since the Dirty Truth 2025 analysis wrapped up in July. Tucson Electric Power extended the use of two coal-fired generating units at its Springerville power plant, announcing plans to convert both units to burn gas by 2030 rather than replacing them with lower-cost renewable energy. And, while advocates from across the state secured the retirement of Salt River Project's coal-fired Coronado Generating Station, the utility took another step backwards by announcing plans to convert Coronado to a gas burning facility while renewable options were ignored.

The Sierra Club notes that the ACC has undermined any meager progress made by utilities through its consistent failure to hold utilities accountable with regulatory action and even going so far as to repeal the state's renewable energy standard. That decision has left Arizona far behind at a time when renewable energy offers an affordable, reliable, and clean solution to record energy demand.

"Utilities are not making the grade, and the Arizona Corporation Commission is actively lowering the bar. All of Arizona's utilities and the ACC are failing the people they are supposed to serve. Our state is on the frontlines of the climate crisis and the affordability crisis, and we deserve partners who recognize that, not actively make things worse. Instead, these utilities are doubling down on whatever will make the quickest buck while everyone else pays the price," Aguilar said.

Faced with rapidly increasing load projections, many utility companies are failing to meet this critical moment by championing renewable energy-instead, they are backsliding on their commitments and doubling down on fossil fuels. Across all 75 utilities, the companies scored an aggregate of 15 out of 100 points, earning an F. This marks the lowest score since the first year of this report in 2021, and the first time the score has ever dropped below the inaugural report.

In an interactive webpage, users can see their utility's score and what progress - if any - the utility has made toward transitioning to cleaner, more affordable energy since the first version of the report in 2021.

"It is alarming that for the first time since 2021, utilities are regressing on their clean energy transition," said Sierra Club Chief Program Officer Holly Bender. "By adding more gas and keeping costly coal plants online, utility companies are ignoring renewable energy-the cheapest form of energy-and forcing their customers to pay more. As energy costs rise and extreme weather becomes more frequent, now is the time to phase out polluting, volatile, expensive fossil fuels and invest in stable, reliable, and affordable, clean energy."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.