“Starting when we’re sworn in, S.R.P. will be the largest utility in the country with a majority vote of clean energy supporters,” said Ken Clark, who is one of the team’s newly elected candidates and will represent a swath of north-central Phoenix. “There has been a pent-up demand, especially in Arizona, for people to have their energy freedom, to have solar panels, batteries and more energy-efficient measures.”
The Salt River Project’s elections, open only to property owners, have always been low-turnout affairs, held separately from other state and local races. This year’s was different, thanks largely to Turning Point’s funding and organizing, but the results suggest the group’s strategy may have backfired: Liberal organizations used Turning Point’s involvement to raise awareness about the contest and urge participation from new voters.
“I oppose everything they stand for,” said Bill Callan, a 55-year-old Tempe resident, referring to Turning Point. He has been eligible to vote for three decades but did not cast his first utility ballot until Tuesday, saying, “It’s never mattered before.”
The clean energy candidates support a faster transition to renewable resources, incentives for the installation of solar panels and higher rates for data center developments. Their opponents represented the utility board’s traditional leadership, which has been wary of solar and other renewable technologies and has argued that abandoning fossil fuels would raise prices and lead to blackouts.
The newly elected board president, Chris Dobson, and vice president, Barry Paceley, have spent years in utility leadership and have advocated a mix of energy sources, including natural gas. They have said that they are not ideologues, and Mr. Paceley said before the election that outside groups, like Turning Point, were not involved in their campaigns.
