The Inflation Reduction Act provides good incentives for folks to invest in rooftop solar systems – offering homeowners a 30% tax credit on the purchase of the system. That brings the ‘payback’ time way down from 11 years to 7 years at current utility rates (depending on the utility of course).
When rooftop solar people make more electricity than they need they can either buy a battery to store it or sell it back to the utility at something called a Rate Comparison Proxy rate (for APS ratepayers).
At the moment, APS rooftop people can sell their power back to the grid at $.076 per kWh. The Arizona Corporation Commission allows APS to reduce that buyback rate by 10% per year in accordance with the Value of Solar decision from the Commission a few years ago.
See: Arizona has rooftop solar energy pricing that works. Why fuss with it?
Corporation Commissioner Nick Myers wants much deeper cuts.
A couple months ago proposed cutting the APS’ buyback rate by an additional 37%. The new rate would only be $.053 per kWh. That proposal is on the ACC agenda this Wednesday.
See Myers’ Proposal to Drastically Cut Buyback Rates
People buy rooftop solar systems for many reasons. Some financial, some ethical and some for a combination of both. While the federal tax credit of 30% in the Inflation Reduction Act is an important factor, energy buyback is also a factor, especially when it comes to customers sizing their systems.
Achieving carbon neutrality to mitigate climate change will require a public policy full court press. Discouraging rooftop solar customers from investing in systems that generate more energy than they sometimes need reduces the clean rooftop solar energy that could be generated.
We wrote comments into the Arizona Corporation Commission docket urging the Commission to vote NO on Myers’ proposal. You can Email your comments to the ACC by sending them comments via this link
I also urge you to take a few minutes and send your comments directly to the Commission for the docket. You can also call in to the meeting or go in person. This Toolkit teaches you how to do it. It’s not complicated.
