Throughout the course of business, Pinnacle West and its affiliated companies interact with a wide variety of stakeholders. These interactions are critical to our business success, and we make great effort to maintain communication and involvement with our stakeholders.  

Our primary stakeholders include shareholders, who own our company; our employees, who manage and operate our company; and our customers. A number of other external stakeholders also share critical interactions with our companies. 

A list of our major stakeholders includes:

• Customers
• Employees
• Investors and the investment community
• Municipalities and community organizations in our service territory
• Native American tribes
• Arizona, New Mexico and federal agencies
• The business community and partners
• Industry organizations
• Non-governmental organizations at the local, state and national level

APS works closely with municipalities, government agencies and the public to build consensus and to proactively plan transmission and distribution resources to accommodate the state’s rapid customer and business growth. As part of the process, APS conducts environmental studies and extensive public outreach to identify sensitive areas with respect to the affected communities. This process is described in more detail in the Land Use and Biodiversity section of this report.

The company also regularly seeks stakeholder feedback through quantitative instruments such as customer surveys. These are discussed in more detail in the Customers section of this report.

APS brings together various stakeholders in special Focus teams to obtain feedback on specific issues or programs, on an ad hoc basis. APS has also formed a stakeholder Demand Side Management (DSM) Collaborative team which works with APS in the development of DSM portfolio projects.

The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station / Redhawk Power Station Community Advisory Panel (CAP) was formed to create a responsive, proactive partnership between APS and the community surrounding the power plants. The CAP provides for a two-way communication vehicle between APS and the community with respect to:

•       Operational issues at the plants that could affect the community
•       Identification of community concerns and issues regarding the plants
•       Assisting APS in distributing information regarding the plants to the community

CAP members are composed of a broad range of local community interests. Typical members will include local residents, members of civic and homeowners organizations, environmental groups, education institutions, business associations and community leaders. 

Throughout this report we provide other examples of how we engage our stakeholders to work in a cooperative and mutually beneficial way.