AriSEIA Pens Op-Ed About APS Solar Customer Discrimination

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Same APS discrimination against solar customers 

Arizona Public Service likes to tout itself as somehow new and different. It is not the APS we remember involved in scandals at the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) or opposing renewable energy like with Proposition 127. They have new leadership and clean energy goals now. But if you are paying attention, APS consistently makes decisions that undermine renewable energy and hurt solar customers.

Last year, APS opposed the adoption of community solar in Arizona. Community solar is an option for customers that want rooftop solar, but cannot install rooftop solar either because they are renters, or live in multifamily housing, or have an older roof. It allows them to participate in the clean energy transition while also increasing a distribution grid resource and saving them money on their electric bills. The ACC ended up adopting a policy to kill any advancement of community solar in Arizona.

APS continues to ask for annual decreases in the export rate solar customers are paid for the extra solar power their rooftop panels produce and they sell back to the grid. APS buys it at a fraction of what it sells it to your neighbors for. APS has consistently fought against you having any options to sell that extra power elsewhere, including supporting HB2101 in 2022, which eliminated competition in the electric sector in Arizona.

APS simultaneously has advocated for increased fixed fees on solar customers. APS has nearly 200,000 customers with rooftop solar and it has advocated for all of them, every single one, to pay 15% more for the same power than their neighbors without rooftop solar. That new fee is the subject of ongoing litigation at the ACC and APS has most recently advocated for 74,000 of those customers to be completely excluded from the hearing entirely. These customers got solar years ago and are on rate plans called “Legacy Solar.” 

If APS is successful, not only will these customers be subject to APS’ discriminatory fees on solar, but they will be deprived of their due process rights, as well. APS has also argued (and won!) that the evidence used to substantiate this discriminatory fee on solar customers not be evaluated in the hearing. So, the evidence used to substantiate the fee is not part of the hearing in which the ACC decides if the fee is even legal.

Earlier this year, the ACC ordered APS to start a pilot program that aggregates the household batteries that customers pay for with their own money to offset energy APS needs when demand from customers is especially high. APS was ordered to undergo a stakeholder process and work collaboratively with the community to develop a fair program. Instead, APS has come up with a program that will almost certainly fail, because it inadequately pays for the resource it takes from customers. 

APS will continue to penalize solar customers unless the utility is held accountable. APS does not like solar customers because solar customers pay for their solar panels themselves. APS does not own them and does not earn a profit margin off of them. APS’ nearly 200,000 solar customers need to pay attention and need to tell the ACC that APS must stop its needless attacks on solar customers. 

Unfortunately, the ACC just sided with APS and determined that some solar customers may, indeed, be excluded from the rate case rehearing and that the underlying evidence APS provided to justify the discriminatory fees on solar customers will not be evaluated. This raises serious concerns about the validity of the rehearing. The public needs to reach out to the ACC in support of solar. You can file a comment with the ACC and be sure to reference Docket No. E-01345A-22-0144.
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Autumn Johnson is executive director of the Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association.