APS asking ACC to implement 2013 decision on rooftop solar pricing
April 6, 2015 | By
Barbara Vergetis Lundin
In November 2013, when the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) set the grid access charge for Arizona Public Service (APS) customers at $5 per month, or 70 cents per kilowatt, it acknowledged that the charge could be changed in the future. Well, that time has come, according to APS, Arizona's largest utility.
APS has requested that the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) increase the grid access charge to $3 per kilowatt, or roughly $21 per month for future residential solar customers. APS contends that in 2013, the ACC concluded that $21 per month would be an appropriate charge. In fact, in its 2013 decision, the ACC found that the existing pricing model for rooftop solar customers was "defective" and "unfair" to non-solar customers. Commissioners concluded that a monthly charge of $3 per kilowatt would be "reasonable" to cover the cost to operate and maintain the electric grid, but decided to move carefully, begin with a smaller charge of 70 cents per kilowatt, and monitor the issue. APS realizes that the proposal would not fully resolve the cost shift and says it is intended to be an interim solution until the issue is addressed in the next APS rate case or another proceeding. "The growth of rooftop solar doesn't lessen the need for the grid," said APS Chairman, President and CEO Don Brandt. "In fact, it's just the opposite. The continued growth of rooftop solar depends on a modern grid that supports the two-way flow of electricity, accommodates the highly variable nature of solar power while maintaining reliability, and backs up solar power with fast-starting, flexible conventional power sources." APS explains the "misperception" that rooftop solar customers are "off the grid." In fact, APS says, they depend on electricity and other services from the grid 24 hours a day -- in the morning to power appliances before the sun comes up, in the middle of the day to send excess energy back to the system, and to enable major appliances, on cloudy or rainy days, when their homes use more energy than their panels can provide and at night. In light of this, APS says that everyone should pay their fair share. If the commission approves the APS request, future APS customers who choose rooftop solar will still save about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour of solar they produce. Future rooftop solar customers would have the option to choose a demand-based rate and avoid the grid access charge. Solar customers can enroll in an existing plan open to all APS residential customers that includes time-of-use pricing with a demand charge that helps pay for the grid and gives customers control because the charge is tied to a customer's energy usage during peak hours. Customers who add solar and enroll in this rate plan are not subject to the grid access charge. Since 2013, the solar market in APS's service territory has continued to flourish. Almost 8,000 customers installed rooftop solar systems in the APS service territory in 2014, the highest total ever in one year for the state's largest electric utility, which currently has more than 30,000 residential rooftop solar customers. In addition to its APS Solar Partner program, which will add solar to about 1,500 customer homes this year, APS is continuing its efforts to expand the rooftop solar market by working with the Arizona Solar Deployment Alliance -- a group representing local solar installers -- to develop pilot projects that offer new opportunities for customers to go solar and for APS and industry to partner on important research. For more: © 2015 FierceMarkets, a division of Questex Media Group LLC. All rights reserved. |