Arizona Corporation Commission
1200 W. Washington Street Phoenix, AZ 85007 Re: Application of APS & TEP for Approval of Revisions to Resource Comparison Proxy (Dockets No. E-01345A-23-0110 & E-01933A-23-0108) Chairman and Commissioners, Vote Solar, Solar United Neighbors, and the Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association (AriSEIA) urge you to support Arizona families and businesses who wish to invest in their own energy resources by reducing the proposed step down of Arizona Public Service’s (APS) and Tucson Electric Power’s (TEP) Resource Comparison Proxy (RCP) rate for 2023. The Commission outlined directions for calculating the RCP in Decision 75859, and the Plan of Administration for each utility’s RCP rate requires the utility to submit an updated RCP calculation annually for Commission approval and specifies that the RCP “may not be reduced by more than 10% each year.”[1] The Commission has the opportunity to provide consumers looking to save money on their energy bill with relief by reducing the RCP step down less than 10%. This also provides the Commission with the opportunity to support businesses in Arizona by saving jobs. Arizona families and businesses continue to face unusual economic challenges driving up the cost of basic necessities like electricity. Over the last year, consumers experienced a 6% increase in electricity costs[2] following on the heels of a 12% increase in electricity costs the year prior, the largest 12 month increase in nearly 20 years.[3] Rooftop solar is an important tool that ratepayers can utilize to help reduce their utility bills and increase energy resiliency at their home. As interest rates continue to increase to their highest levels in decades, Arizona families and businesses who must rely on long-term financing to afford the upfront cost of a solar installation may find that going solar is no longer an affordable option. Currently, any homeowner looking to finance rooftop solar will find interest rates as high as 11.99%. This makes solar very unaffordable for any homeowner who cannot buy their system outright. Any further reductions of the RCP will reduce the number of Arizona households who are able to benefit from their private investment in solar. Additionally, further reductions to the RCP will depress solar adoption in Arizona and limit opportunities to leverage distributed energy resources for demand response purposes to benefit grid resiliency. Increasingly, customers who invest in solar choose to pair their installation with distributed battery storage. This creates an opportunity for utilities to leverage customer-sited battery storage as a “virtual power plant” that can help provide reliable power to the grid in the evening hours or during summer heat waves. As investments in solar become less affordable, the growth of other innovative distributed energy resources like battery storage will stagnate. Further, there are more than 300 solar companies operating in Arizona. These companies employ more than 8,000 people in Arizona alone and have contributed $16.5 billion dollars to the state, with $1.5 billion invested just last year.[4] Residential rooftop solar installers are reporting a nearly 20% decline in business year over year since 2022, with nearly 35% declines in revenue. This is likely to result in workforce reductions of 20%. Individual installers are considering job cuts of dozens of jobs with an average, annual pay of $62,500 a year. A decline in solar will also result in declines in the roofing industry and other energy efficiency contractors, such as HVAC, windows, and insulation. High interest rates paired with a declining export rate will exacerbate this problem, resulting in a significant impact to the state’s economy. We respectfully request that the Commission reduce the step downs proposed by APS and TEP, as included within the Staff’s proposed order, in an effort to support families and businesses and provide them with an extended opportunity to capitalize on the power of the sun to reduce their energy bills. Thank you for your consideration of this important matter. Sincerely, Autumn T. Johnson Executive Director AriSEIA autumn@ariSEIA.org Adrian Keller Arizona Program Director Solar United Neighbors (SUN) akeller@solarunitedneighbors.org Kate Bowman Interior West Regulatory Director Vote Solar kbowman@votesolar.org [1] See Appendix H, Arizona Corporation Commission, Decision No. 76295, (Aug. 18, 2017), https://docket.images.azcc.gov/0000182160.pdf?i=1657139837798 (emphasis added). [2] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index Summary, (May 2023), https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm. [3] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Prices Up 8.6 percent over year ended May 2022, TED: The Economics Daily, (June 14, 2022), https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/consumer-prices-up-8-6-percent-over-year-ended-may-2022.htm. [4] Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Arizona Solar Census, Q1 2023, available here https://www.seia.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/Arizona.pdf.
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AriSEIA filed surrebuttal testimony today in the APS rate case at the Arizona Corporation Commission. The testimony focuses in large part on the APS response to our Bring Your Own Device/Virtual Power Plant program, revisions to rates with storage, and the solar cost of service study.
AriSEIA filed exceptions and four proposed amendments today to modify components of the Arizona Corporation Commission's (ACC) Recommended Opinion and Order in the Tucson Electric Power (TEP) rate case. We filed amendments seeking to implement a Bring Your Own Device/Virtual Power Plant (VPP) program, implement design changes to several rate tariffs, refund an over-collection on solar customers, and create an affirmative duty on the utilities to notify the ACC to changes in approved fees. A vote is expected on August 8th.
Before the Arizona Corporation Commission
Commissioners Jim O'Connor – CHAIR Lea Márquez Peterson Anna Tovar Kevin Thompson Nick Myers IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY FOR A HEARING TO DETERMINE THE FAIR VALUE OF THE UTILITY PROPERTY OF THE COMPANY FOR RATEMAKING PURPOSES, TO FIX A JUST AND REASONABLE RATE OF RETURN THEREON, AND TO APPROVE RATE SCHEDULES DESIGNED TO DEVELOP SUCH RETURN DOCKET NO. E-01345A-22-0144 SIERRA CLUB, ARIZONA SOLAR ENERGY INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION (ARISEIA), AND SOLAR ENERGY INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION (SEIA) JOINDER IN OPPOSITION TO ARIZONA FREE ENTERPRISE CLUB’S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO INTERVENE AND OPPOSITION TO THE MOTION TO RECONSIDER Sierra Club, AriSEIA, and SEIA join in Arizona Public Service’s (APS) opposition to the Motion for Leave to Intervene filed by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC), which was filed on June 23, 2023. We also oppose AFEC’s Motion to Reconsider filed July 7, 2023. The Notice of Intent to File a Rate Case was filed on June 1, 2022. APS’ application was filed on October 28, 2022. A Procedural Order setting the intervention deadline as February 16, 2023, was filed on December 2, 2022. On December 8, 2022, the intervention deadline was moved to March 3, 2023. Direct testimony on the revenue requirement was due on June 5, 2023 and direct testimony on rate design was due on June 15, 2023. By that time, approximately 34 entities had been granted intervention in this matter, public comment sessions have been held, and significant media attention has been applied to this proceeding. Additionally, the hearing is already scheduled to run for 5 weeks. AFEC filed for intervention 16 weeks after the intervention deadline, 3 weeks after the revenue requirement testimony filing deadline, and more than a week after the rate design testimony filing deadline. To grant intervention now would prejudice other parties because we will not have adequate time to review and respond to the interests AFEC purports to have in this proceeding without delaying the hearing. Further, discovery is well underway. Allowing intervention at this point creates the potential for voluminous and burdensome discovery requests to any other party in the proceeding only 5 weeks before the discovery deadline. Finally, and most concerning, there is a substantial risk that AFEC’s interests could increase the duration of the hearing, thereby increasing costs to ratepayers, the Commission, and all of the other parties. This is especially concerning to nonprofit organizations with finite resources as additional hearing days can dramatically increase the cost to intervene. AFEC says they “do not intend to provide testimony or cross examine witnesses, our intention with intervention is for the ability to present evidence to support our perspective and ensure the interests of ratepayers are adequately represented.”[1] This fundamentally misunderstands the nature of rate cases. A party cannot introduce “evidence” absent a witness, because due process requires the person sponsoring an exhibit to be cross-examined. If AFEC solely wants to present public comment, they do not need to be an intervenor in the case. Further, there are multiple parties already in the case who represent the interests of ratepayers, such as RUCO and Wildfire. AFEC has not provided any information as to how they are better suited to represent ratepayers than the organizations whose primary function is to do so or how they can possibly “present evidence” without delaying or prolonging the proceeding. AFEC had the same opportunity as all of the other parties to timely intervene in this proceeding. For these reasons, we ask that AFEC’s Motion to Reconsider be denied. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED this 7th day of July 2023. By /s/ Patrick Woolsey Louisa Eberle - AZ Bar No. 035973 Patrick Woolsey (Pro Hac Vice) Nihal Shrinath (Pro Hac Vice) Attorneys for Sierra Club By /s/ Autumn Johnson Autumn Johnson (035811) Attorney for AriSEIA and SEIA [1] Arizona Free Enterprise Club Motion to Reconsider, Docket No. E-01345A-22-0144, Filed July 7, 2023, P.3, L. 15-18. Arizona Corporation Commission
1200 W. Washington Street Phoenix, AZ 85007-2996 RE: Salt River Project (SRP) Coolidge Expansion Project Certificate of Environmental Compatibility (CEC), Docket No. L-00000B-21-0393-00197 Chairman O’Connor and Commissioners, The Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association (AriSEIA) filed joint comments opposing the SRP CEC on March 11, 2022. That filing is attached, as is a filing from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) on March 14, 2022. None of the underlying reasons for our opposition have been resolved and we remain opposed to SRP’s Application to Amend Decision 78545, filed on June 14, 2023. First, we are concerned with how quickly this application was filed and then docketed for an open meeting. We received notice of this filing at 4:30 pm on June 14th. We received notice of it being on the revised June open meeting agenda at 10:06 am on June 15th, which is only six (6) calendar days before the open meeting and three (3) business days before the open meeting. This is an inadequate amount of time for interested parties to respond and a vote should not be taken at the June 21st open meeting. Further, SRP has clearly known about this arrangement much longer than other interested stakeholders, which is reflected in the fact that their supporters had ample warning to file supportive comments in the docket. This is not the case and a significant disadvantage for those in opposition. Finally on this topic, it is worth noting that almost all of their letters in support are the same organizations that supported granting the CEC before any proposed settlement. Therefore, their support is not contingent on the settlement or anything that has happened since the CEC was filed in 2021. Second, none of the underlying reasons why AriSEIA opposed the CEC in the first place have been addressed. SRP first proposed the Coolidge Expansion Project two years ago in the summer of 2021. One of our largest complaints was that SRP made the decision to invest nearly $1 billion dollars in almost 1 GW of new gas at the Coolidge Generating Station with no competitive bidding process in violation of their own Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). It has been two years and SRP has issued multiple all-source requests for proposals (ASRFPs) since and they have still not solicited or made public any bids to substantiate this project or its massive cost. There is simply no legitimate reason why SRP could not have done so in the last two years. It is highly unlikely that this Commission would allow Arizona Public Service (APS) or Tucson Electric Power (TEP) to do similarly with no competitive bidding process. Third, the statutes that permit the CEC review clearly state that the Commission shall consider the cost of the facilities when determining to grant the CEC. SRP has never provided a rate impact analysis regarding this project. We simply do not know how much it will cost ratepayers. Further, SRP has not docketed any data that reflects the total cost of the project nearly two years later. If the project was $1 billion in 2021, how much does it cost now with 1) significantly increased interest rates, 2) millions of dollars in negotiated concessions, and 3) the dramatic increase in fuel prices we have seen in both TEP and APS fuel adjustor dockets, as well as the increase SRP’s board also voted to pass recently for their own fuel adjustor? It is not prudent to only include capital costs. Any resource acquisition should also include the operations and maintenance (O&M) costs for that plant/resource, as ratepayers pay the total cost. It is simply imprudent to grant this CEC now. SRP should complete its currently pending IRP (called Integrated System Plan or ISP by SRP) process to determine what resources are needed and when and then should issue an ASRFP like every other utility in the state to determine the best project at the lowest cost. If the winning proposal is for a thermal resource, SRP should apply for a CEC, as required. There is no reason for the Commission to deviate from a process it would require of TEP and APS for SRP, certainly not for a CEC that has already been denied twice by this Commission and lost in court, as well. Attached are two letters filed in opposition in March of 2022. As the Commission makeup has changed since, please review them. Please do not vote on the SRP’s CEC application to amend at the June open meeting and when you do vote, please vote no. Respectfully, /s/ Autumn T. Johnson Executive Director AriSEIA (520) 240-4757 autumn@ariseia.org AriSEIA filed direct testimony on rate design today in the APS rate case. The testimony covered a BYOD/VPP program proposal, a recommendation to disallow cost recovery for APS' uncompetitive microgrid program, rate design changes to several commercial storage rates, a change to how demand charges work for commercial customers installing EV chargers, a robust critique of APS' solar cost of service study, and community solar.
Arizona Corporation Commission
1200 W. Washington Street Phoenix, AZ 85007 Re: In the Matter of the Five-Year Review of the Rules of Practice and Procedure before the Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee, Arizona Administrative Code Title 14, Chapter 3, Article 2, Docket No. ALS-00000A-23-0063 Chairman and Commissioners, We appreciate the opportunity to weigh in on changes to the Line Siting rules. Below you can find our joint recommendations regarding changes to R14-3-201 through 220. We Recommend Changes to All Requirements to File Written Copies of Documents and/or Mail Documents. Numerous provisions of the rules require filing hard copies of documents and/or mailing documents. We recommended that all of these sections be updated to permit electronic filing and to remove all requirements to file any print copies. If for some reason a print copy is required, such as an exhibit that may not lend itself well to a print version, only one print copy should be required. Further, service should be permissible via electronic means and should not require mailing. R14-3-217 may be entirely unnecessary given this change. We Recommend Updating Outdated Language. There is no reason that the presiding officer should be presumed to be male. The language should be updated to remove personal pronouns. If this is not possible, alternating pronouns or using something like “s/he” or another generic term would be suitable. Recordings of the Proceedings Should Also be Available on the Arizona Corporation Commission’s “Live” Page for Streaming and for Archived Recordings. All Line Siting proceedings, including meetings and hearings, should be available to watch from the Commission’s “Live” page and a recording of all meetings and proceedings should also be available as an archived video on the same page. We recommend creating a tab for “Line Siting” on the archive portion of the webpage. The Rules Should Allow That Hearings Be Held at State Buildings Other Than the Capitol and That Notice Should Be Provided Electronically. R14-3-208(B)(2) says hearings can be held at the State Capitol in Phoenix. We recommend an option to hold the hearing in Phoenix, but think the Commission and other state buildings should also be an option for hearings. Further, public notice should be provided by means other than filing in the newspaper. Direct outreach to residents within a specific vicinity should be provided, as well as electronic notice via social media, email, radio, etc. should be utilized. The Rule Should Expressly Allow Intervenors to Issue Data Requests. R14-3-211 should be updated to expressly indicate that intervening parties may issue data requests, along with the response time for responses. We Recommend Requiring That a Free Read-Only Version of the Transcript Be Provided to all Intervenors and the Public. Procedural orders for Line Siting already require applicants to provide a read only copy of the hearing transcript to be publicly available on the applicant’s website. R14-3-212 should be updated to reflect this and the transcript should also be available on the Commission’s website, not just the applicant’s website. We Recommend “Days” be Clarified as Calendar or Business Days. R14-3-215 should clearly specify if the Committee is using business days or calendar days to calculate deadlines or time periods provided under the rules, as well as what happens if the final day falls on a non-business day. We Recommend Ex Parte Communications Be Treated More Seriously. R14-3-220(D) should be updated to require disclosure of any ex parte communications received by a member of the Committee, as well as a requirement to recuse oneself, should the Member have initiated or responded to the ex parte communication with anything other than a notice that such communication was prohibited. Thank you for considering our recommendations to this important update to the Line Siting rules. Respectfully, Patrick Woolsey Sierra Club Environmental Law Program patrick.woolsey@sierraclub.org Autumn Johnson Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association (AriSEIA) autumn@ariseia.org AriSEIA filed a reply brief today in the Tucson Electric Power (TEP) rate case focusing on mechanisms to improve the use of storage for residential and commercial customers to benefit the grid widely. TEP has ignored and attempted to delay any such programs throughout the proceeding and for several years prior to the case.
AriSEIA filed its opening brief in the TEP rate case on May 26th highlighting our recommendations on the revenue requirement (including return on equity (ROE) and common equity ratio), as well as rate design (including community solar, a bring your own device/virtual power plant proposal, tariff re-designs for R-TECH and LGST-SP, and ending the distributed generation (DG) meter fee).
Arizona Corporation Commission
1200 W Washington St. Phoenix, AZ 85007 RE: Proposed Changes to the Public Comment Process, Docket No. AU-00000A-16-0141 Chairman O’Connor and Commissioners: Please consider the following comments on the Arizona Corporation Commission’s (ACC) pursuit of modifying how it considers public comment and implements a version of Robert’s Rules of Order for Thursday’s Staff Open Meeting. We wish to express our concern about the Commission’s vote during the May 1st Staff Open Meeting to keep these proposed changes private and away from public viewing. While keeping sensitive information confidential is reasonable, shielding proposed rule changes or procedures that will determine how everyday Arizonans participate at the Commission is not. We recognize that the proposed changes are meant to guide the operations of the ACC. However, that operation has a compelling public interest, and the document should be widely available. The commissioners are elected, and the ACC is considered a public agency for purposes of the public records law, open meeting law, and other provisions intended to ensure transparency and accountability. The ACC must allow meaningful opportunities for public comment. Not doing so would run contrary to the ACC's mission and leave commissioners to hear overwhelmingly from those monopolies it is charged to regulate. Those monopolies have disproportionate resources to lobby the ACC, and public comment is a critical counterbalance. Considering these concerns, we offer feedback on the proposed rule changes released upon a public records request below: Rule 2. Requiring that people register in advance to provide public comment will severely limit participation by everyday Arizonans, everyday ratepayers, who are most affected by the ACC's decisions. It is challenging enough already for them to participate in these processes, but this would make it even more so. Sometimes people do not know if they can get time off work ahead of time. They may only understand how an item affects them once they hear more about it. Frequently, last-minute amendments can alter agenda items and significantly change a proposal; individuals may want to respond to that as well. Rule 3. As nonprofits, some of which have a significant membership base, we represent individual ratepayers, people who cannot otherwise be at the ACC, whose voices would not be heard if we did not speak up for them. Curtailing our participation and our opportunity to address important issues before the ACC will also silence their voices. It is inappropriate to require various stakeholders or individual entities, such as nonprofits, to designate a spokesperson. Different organizations cannot speak for each other and, even if they were, the ACC needs to hear various perspectives on the issues before it, even if the recommendations are consistent. Requiring the designation of a spokesperson devalues individual experiences and perspectives and further disadvantages those that disagree with the utilities, which have far more power and resources in these matters. Rule 4. Public commenters should be granted a minimum of three minutes to speak. Again, there should not be a deadline to sign up to speak as long as the item has not been concluded, and as the rule is drafted now, the public comment period could be shorter than three minutes. Time limits should only be utilized when necessary due to the significant length of an agenda item. Otherwise, this rule only serves to limit public voices. Rule 6. Further, no public comment should ever be limited to one minute. That is not a meaningful amount of time to convey important and often complex information. See our comments above on Rule 2, as well. Rule 7. As long as an individual wishes to comment and the item has not concluded (i.e., voted on or completed and the next item is called), those who wish to speak but have not been afforded their three minutes should be permitted to speak. Talking to ACC staff should also not be prohibited. Staff represent the ACC as stakeholders in various proceedings, and communication should be encouraged among stakeholders not limited. As has been discussed at several meetings, Staff also need more resources and capacity. Commissioners have mentioned the number of empty positions multiple times. Therefore, stakeholders should be able to engage with Staff should there be an inadvertent error or miscommunication. It is also imperative that stakeholders have the opportunity to reply to comments made by the utilities, Staff, or Commissioners during a proceeding. Limiting a stakeholder’s comments to three minutes with no opportunity to reply makes the conversation more likely to be one-sided with the utilities offered numerous opportunities to speak. The ACC’s processes and procedures already make it difficult for many average Arizonans and most of the ratepayers to participate. The rules you have before you now will not facilitate their participation but will only make it more difficult. We ask that you not vote on changes to the public comment process on the May contingency date and instead post these proposed changes to the docket so that all stakeholders and at least some of the larger public have the opportunity to review and file comments and any changes be addressed at an Open Meeting, not a Staff Meeting, so that they also have the opportunity to speak. We recommend a 30-day time period between posting the proposed changes and any vote. |
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