Cholla - courtesy APS Cholla Power Plant. Photo Courtesy APS By Nolan Madden Arizona Public Service Company has informed The Tribune-News that the utility will power down Units 1 and 3 at Cholla Power Plant at Joseph City seasonally, to be operated conditionally only during the summer months. The decision follows an internal meeting of APS executives on Feb. 2, as explained by a formal statement issued Feb. 3 by corporate communications spokesperson Steven Gotfried: “The Cholla plant needs to become more flexible and economically viable. Because of very low natural gas prices, Cholla’s Units 1 and 3 have not been needed for load this winter, other than coming online for environmental testing. “Current forecasts suggest that these market conditions will remain for some time. If this is the case, Units 1 and 3 may only be needed during the summer seasons. “The meeting yesterday (Feb. 2) was to announce internally that an initiative is now underway where plant management and employees are creating a plan to decrease costs and increase flexibility while maintaining safety and environmental compliance. “This is not a result of EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) regulations, but economic reality.” The news follows the Oct. 1 retirement of Cholla Unit 1. “The reason for retiring the unit is that we don’t use Unit 2 much during the winter months,” Gotfried said at the time. APS is the operating agent for Cholla Unit 4, which is wholly owned by PacifiCorp, and is not authorized to speak on its status.