PHOENIX — There’s a potential disturbance on the way to Arizona’s rooftop solar industry after an Arizona regulator proposed slashing financial incentives for new rooftop solar customers.
Commissioner Nick Myers filed a proposal Tuesday to reduce the price APS pays to future rooftop solar customers by 37% beginning Sept. 1. The commission is scheduled to potentially vote on the amendment Thursday.
Prior agreement sets reduction cap at 10%
According to a financial model approved by the commission in 2017, APS pays a certain amount per kWh to rooftop solar homeowners for excess power generated. That electricity goes to the grid.
The 2017 settlement states the rate APS pays homeowners (Rate Comparison Proxy) is to be incrementally reduced, but not by more than 10% annually. Myers proposes to cut the rate 37% beginning Sept. 1 because he says the RCP rate currently paid to rooftop solar owners is artificially high.
“Incentivizing adoption of rooftop solar through subsidies at the expense of non-DG (rooftop solar) customers is no longer justified,” Myers wrote in his amendment filed Tuesday.
The proposal would not impact existing incentives paid to current rooftop solar owners.
Myers cited statistics showing the percentage of APS residential solar customers continues to go up each year. It now makes up more than 12% of all APS residential customers.
“This data shows the rooftop solar industry is firmly established in Arizona; it is no longer an emerging industry as it was in 2008,” Myers wrote.
Critic: Myers proposal “out of left field”
Environmental advocates and rooftop solar companies tell 12News they feel blindsided by the proposal.
“As a small business owner, in order to operate business, we have to have predictability,” said Jake Bastian, owner of Tempe-based solar installer Icon Power which employs more than 200 people. “To have this come out of left field, it creates additional challenges, additional hurdles in an already tough market.”
Bastian said he estimates current rooftop solar customers in APS territory save $20-$50 per month through the current RCP rate. Meyers’ proposal would create instability in the industry by making it less attractive for new buyers, Bastian said.
“This commission has said they want to create regulatory stability. This would do the opposite. We expect the government to honor their long-term agreements,” Bastian said.
Scientists urge rapid transition to non-fossil fuel sources
Environmental organizations urge governments to provide more – not fewer – incentives for alternative energy resources.
According to NASA and climate-related scientific organizations worldwide, fossil fuel emissions are causing the globe to heat up to increasingly unsustainable levels.
“The severity of effects caused by climate change will depend on the path of future human activities,” says a policy statement by NASA. “More greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more climate extremes and widespread damaging effects across our planet.”
On the federal level, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act provides billions of dollars in incentives with the goal to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but technological, political and economic obstacles remain.
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