Seven Valley cities have decided to restart the process of shutting off water service for residents who don’t pay their bills. Most have not been doing it during the pandemic. The Arizona Republic found that more than 50,000 residents and businesses were behind on their bills as of the beginning of this year.

Clean water is one of the basic tools of human survival, and a huge percentage of us have easy access to it whenever we want. That hasn’t applied to members of the Hopi Tribe, many of whom have to drive miles to wells and then load up their vehicles to bring the water back home.

The interim manager for the East Valley water and sewage treatment company Johnson Utilities told the Arizona Corporation Commission that water pressure and supply has been increased for customers, but issues related to wastewater treatment continue.

The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority is using CARES Act funds to extend electricity to 510 families — and so far it has reached more than half its goal. In a report given to the tribal president and vice president on Monday, 335 families have now been connected.

This summer was the hottest ever recorded in Phoenix and also one of the driest. That led to high demand for water and electricity.

A power outage briefly affected business and residential areas in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday afternoon.

EPCOR Water Arizona has reached an agreement to acquire the troubled East Valley water and sewage treatment company Johnson Utilities.

Last week, there was another false start at the Arizona Corporation Commission on proposed changes to the state’s renewable energy standards. The commissioners could not agree on whether to focus on reducing carbon or actually mandating renewable sources. Now, they’ll have to revisit the matter next month — maybe.

Salt River Project has announced it won’t disconnect utility services for some limited-income customers through the end of this year in response to COVID-19 hardships.