Solar Under Attack in Arizona
We have a fight happening here for solar in Arizona between a large utility company Arizona Public Service (APS) and the freedom of its customers to go solar should they choose it is the right choice for their family.
APS is governed by an elected board called the Arizona Corporation Commission and this board is now considering a plea from APS to do away with net metering.
I remain hopeful that the Arizona Corporation Commission will preserve solar energy in Arizona. It's currently under attack by APS, which does not want to pay fair market value for any excess energy rooftop solar customers send to the grid.
It's called net metering and it is currently active in more than 40 states. It's inconceivable, that in "The Sunshine State" with an abundance of such a natural resource, there are efforts to curtail solar energy.
A little competition may create challenges for APS shareholders that received a $66.1 million dollar profit increase last year by raising rates off the backs of its customer base.
Solar in Arizona creates a choice for customers that are monopolized by APS. Solar creates opportunities and savings for families in Arizona and it's this principle of freedom, choice, and competition that APS is trying to roadblock.
For the first time this year solar in Arizona can actually compete and often beat the price offered by APS and this should now give us a choice as to how we buy our electricity. APS wants to end that choice and that's wrong.
What the ACC and the general public need to know is that solar is a money maker for APS already. Customers that decide to go solar assign APS the Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SREC's) in exchange for the right to have a bi-directional meter.
While Arizona does not currently have a SREC market in place yet, there are states out east that are set up and this is a very profitable venture. For every 1000 KWh's of clean solar energy that is produced -one carbon credit is issued -and this can be spot sold on the secondary market as a commodity. These credits can be banked for ever and since these systems will be operational for over 20 years this bank account APS owns will continue to grow massively over the next two decades.
Carbon Credits, Renewable Energy Certificates, and SREC's will continue to grow as this massive commodities market is developed. The Department of Energy is driving us here in America away from Carbon based fuels such as coal and oil. We are certainly a more advanced society than back in the late 1800's when coal was all the rage for energy.
Solar in Arizona is here to stay and we are simply asking the ACC and APS to not be greedy and do away with a net metering policy. What APS looses in profits from Distributed solar generation it gains in futures and this is much more lucrative than paying customers for slight over generation.
