On February 27, 2025, the Salt River Project (SRP) district held its final vote with regard to the price determination. The final price plans, approved by the SRP board, do not reasonably compensate for the solar customers for the energy they export to the grid, discouraging solar development and suffocates the growth of clean and local energy.
SRP serves more than 2 million customers in Arizona and has long had one of the worst sun rates in the country. An elected Board of Directors makes decisions for the usefulness, which means that SRP works with limited possibilities for public involvement and supervision compared to other large utilities that the Arizona Corporation Commission regulates. In the run -up to the final vote, STEM Solar played a leading role in participating in the procedure and arguing for improvements to the sun remanslations of SRP.
“SRP claims to be a champion for clean energy survival, but as we have seen in the past and in today’s voting, that is not the case,” said Kate Bowman, Voice Solar’s Interieur West Regulatory Director. “Adoption on the roof of solar energy is three times higher in neighboring areas. This shows that SRP’s policy discourages families from installing solar energy, to keep communities again from benefiting from clean, local energy. “
The SRP sign approved a new monthly service costs of $ 30 for a typical residential customer, an increase of 50% for most houses and more than twice the average monthly fixed reimbursement for comparable utilities. In the long term, the high monthly service costs will lead to higher costs for everyone. Since a larger part of a family’s utility account is collected by a fixed costs, their possibility to save money by maintaining energy is limited. When families invest in energy efficiency or solar energy on the roof to lower their monthly utility accounts, utilities helps to build expensive new power plants and infrastructure, which ultimately falls the utilities for everyone.
Moreover, the compensation of SRP for the exported solar energy (3.45 ¢/kWh) is lower than what the utility pays to generate or buy electricity, a practice that provides the clients of electricity kisses to the grid. In contrast to other utilities in Arizona that offer a 10-year-old locked export rate of solar energy, SRP is planning to update its rate annually, making it difficult for families to predict savings.
The SRP board has also committed itself to creating a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) program that would compensate for customers who use their battery storage to provide energy to the grid in times of high energy costs or energy shortages. The program is intended to improve the benefits of solar energy on the roof, but it remains uncertain whether participating against the matte solar frame plan of SRP.
“SRP is unable to embrace the clean, local energy sources that its customers want to embrace. Under these new rates, solar development among SRP customers will remain far behind at other utilities in Arizona, “said Bowman. “SRP had the opportunity to build a more resilient, fair and sustainable energy seeker for Arizonans. Instead, SRP, by under evaluating the power of solar energy, keeps communities against local economic growth, lower energy costs, energy independence and a cleaner future. “
News item from STEM SOLAR
