Arizona Public Service Co., the state’s largest utility, has filed a long-anticipated request with its regulator, the Arizona Corporation Commission, to raise costs for new solar customers.
The utility says solar installations have been recently soaring and imposing a higher monthly fee on those customers would help stabilize energy costs for non-solar customers.
APS is proposing a $21 average monthly fee for only new solar customers within its territory. That’s up from the utility’s current $5 solar fee that the Corporation Commission approved after the contentious, highly publicized net-metering debate in 2013.
Raising costs on solar has been a growing trend this year among Arizona utilities.
Salt River Project, the state’s second-largest utility and which is self-regulated, imposed a $50 average monthly charge to new solar customers in February. Tucson Electric Power filed a request with the Corporation Commission last month to reduce the rate it pays solar customers for their excess power that's sent to the grid.
Utilities argue that imposing higher fees on solar (or in TEP’s case, reducing payments to solar customers) would help keep electricity costs down for non-solar customers.
Solar customers generate some of their own power, which reduces their monthly electricity bills, but they still need to be connected to the grid when the sun is down. Utilities and the solar industry are at odds as to whether this shifts costs of improving and maintaining the grid to non-solar customers.
Considering how contentious past solar debates have been in Arizona, the months ahead with APS’s new proposal should be lively.
