Attorney General Kris Mayes has formally contested a decision by state utility regulators to approve a private energy agreement for “Project Blue,” a massive data center complex in Tucson. In a filing submitted on Monday, January 5, 2026, Mayes argued that the approval lacked transparency and created a dangerous precedent that could lead to significant electricity rate increases for Arizona families. This legal challenge in Southern Arizona arrives just as public records in Northern Arizona reveal a similar pattern of secret negotiations surrounding a $2 billion data center project in the City of Page.
The Fight Against “Secret” Utility Rates
In the Tucson case, the Attorney General is challenging a December 2025 decision that allowed Tucson Electric Power (TEP) and the developers of Project Blue—Humphrey’s Peak Power LLC and Beale Infrastructure Group—to set their own electricity rates behind closed doors. Mayes asserts that this “loophole” allows private parties to bypass the constitutional authority of the Arizona Corporation Commission, which is mandated to protect ratepayers from unfair price hikes. She warned that allowing a utility and a customer to “choose their own rate” is a recipe for massive cost shifts onto ordinary citizens…