TEP wants to change net metering rules in Arizona

March 26, 2015 | By Jaclyn Brandt

Tucson Electric Power (TEP) is proposing a new net metering plan that would lower the amount a utility is required to pay to a customer who is selling their solar back to the grid. The application to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) asks to lower the required amount TEP pays to large-scale solar customers.

Solar panels on the Grand Canyon National Park Visitor Center. Credit: Ser Amantio di Nicolao/Wikimedia Commons

According to TEP, their proposal is "a new net metering plan to ensure that customers who install new rooftop solar power systems pay a more equitable price for their electric service while still enjoying significant bill savings."

"Our proposal will allow the continued expansion of southern Arizona's solar energy resources while preserving safe, reliable and affordable electric service at more equitable prices for all of our customers," said David G. Hutchens, TEP's president and chief executive officer in a statement.

TEP said the bill credits would even the playing field, so all customers pay the same price for their energy use from TEP. However, they said customers who install solar will still save money on their energy bill. In a statement, the company explained, "Users of rooftop solar power systems rely just as heavily on TEP's electrical system as other customers -- more heavily, even, since TEP must manage their systems' intermittent output. But they pay far less for TEP service under current rates, due in part to net metering rules that allow them to exchange excess solar energy for free, on-demand utility power."

Current solar customers will be grandfathered in if the proposal is approved by the ACC, as well as customers who file their requests by June 1, 2015.

"The generous subsidies provided by current net metering requirements were an effective short-term incentive for a costly, relatively new technology," Hutchens said. "Now that solar power is far more popular and affordable, we can achieve our renewable energy goals and preserve significant bill savings for solar power users without creating unmanageable cost burdens for our other customers."

For more:
- read this application

http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/tep-wants-change-net-metering-rules-arizona/2015-03-26