CALL IN TUESDAY for ACC Public Comment: TEP Energy Phase 2 Solar Rate Case on Net Metering, Sept. 11 @ 10 a.m.

TEP Energy and UES Electric Phase 2 Solar Rate Cases are on the Tuesday, September 11, 2018 Arizona Corporation Commission agenda. This could mean the end of Solar Net Metering* in Southern AZ is imminent. That will make it less cost efficient to install rooftop solar. Please, consider calling in to make a public comment.

Dial-in Phone Number: 1-800-689-9374 (Passcode: 415962 for Public Comment)

*Net metering is a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid. Net metering allows residential and commercial customers who generate their own electricity from solar power to feed electricity they do not use back into the grid.

OPEN MEETING OF THE ARIZONA CORPORATION COMMISSION
Tuesday, September 11, 2018 10:00 a.m. Hearing Arizona Corporation Commission
1200 West Washington Street, First Floor Phoenix, AZ 85007

Commissioners may attend the proceedings in person, or by telephone, video, or internet conferencing, and may use this open meeting to ask questions about the matters on the agenda. The Commissioners may move to executive session, which will not be open to the public, for the purpose of legal advice pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A).

Agendas are also available online at: http://azcc.gov/agendas

Dial-in Phone Number: 1-800-689-9374 (Passcode: 415962 for Public Comment (or 415960 to Listen Only).

For a live broadcast feed or archived videos: http://www.azcc.gov/livebroadcast

For agenda and other information: 

download:https://azcc.gov/Divisions/Administration/Meetings/Agendas/2018/9-11-18.ROM.pdf

You will get 5 minutes when you sign up to request to speak: 

Suggested talking points on the TEP case:

1. Mention how long you have been a TEP customer -- residential or business.
2. Ask commissioners to reject the solar grid access charges as the proposed order recommends; TEP originally asked for charges of $25-30 per month for new solar customers to access the grid, based on system size. The proposed order rejects these charges.
3. Ask the commissioners to oppose drastically lowering the export compensation rate for new solar customers; the proposed order would lower credits to new solar customers by 11%, making it less economic to go solar.
4. Ask the commission not to make it harder for people to go solar in Tucson than in Phoenix; the proposed order gives new TEP solar customers 25% less than what APS gives new solar customers under the recently approved APS rate case.
5. Ask the commission to provide customers much greater certainty after the first 10 years of their solar system; the proposed order only guarantees an export rate for a 10 year period, after which it could go down to an unknown, much lower rate. Most people pay off panels or sign leases for closer to 20 years, so the uncertainty after 10 years may turn off many prospective solar customers.

Additional background on the case:

The commission is hearing “phase 2” of Tucson Electric Power’s rate case, dealing specifically with rooftop solar issues. Last year, the commission approved a bad “value of solar” decision that requires the commission to gradually repeal and replace net metering with the state’s regulated utilities. Net metering has long been a key policy driving rooftop solar in Arizona and many other states; it gives customers retail credit for excess solar energy sent to the utility.

This TEP case has dragged on for more than a year. TEP originally proposed adding numerous charges to new solar customers in addition to repealing net metering and replacing it with a much lower “export rate”. Solar advocates have argued that such drastic changes go against the facts of the case and spirit of repealing net metering and replacing it gradually with a new system.

In April, the Administrative Law Judge at the commission issued a Recommended Order of Opinion on the case. This order is the basis on which arguments will be made in the meeting. In it, the judge recommends:

1)    Rejecting grid access charges sought by TEP;

2)    Accepting a DG meter fee offered by Vote Solar of $2.23 per month;

3)    Implementing an export rate of 9.64 cents which is 11% below current retail rate and 25% below rate approved for APS;

4)    Locking in the export rate for 10 years; after which it may be further reduced;

5)    Among other items.