The Salt River Project (SRP) is not a retirement community classic rock band. It's one of Arizona's primary energy companies. They have a problem: Arizona has too much sun. Arizona residents have begun installing solar panels on their roofs to cut energy costs. This cuts into SRP's profits. SRP has decided to increase taxes on its customers, across the board, but with the major focus
being on those who already have or want to have solar panels.
The proposal mirrors a failed attempt by Arizona Public Service Co. last year to add $50 to $100 in fees on rooftop-solar customers. In that case, state regulators eventually decided on a fee averaging about $5.
SRP is a municipal utility and will not need regulatory approval, as APS does, to put the fees in place.
SRP says they need to cover both fixed costs of maintaining the grid as well as infrastructural investments they have made in recent years. The problem, as with most all of these energy companies' attempts at taxing solar energy, is that they are actually trying to make solar energy prohibitively expensive. Most solar advocates appreciate that, in some cases, energy companies have a real argument for how much customers pay when it comes to the maintenance of the grid. However, that's not really what SRP is trying to do.
"SRP might as well simply outlaw solar within its service territory if it is going to hit people with a $50 to $100 charge for their right to use the sun," said Court Rich, attorney for the Alliance for Solar Choice.
"This proposal means that as of December 8, there will be no more solar industry in SRP's service territory, and they make this decision without public input and without a board vote," he said. "Do the members of the SRP board really want to be known for taxing solar out of existence in the sunniest state in the country?"
But don't worry! Traditional energy Arizonians will be allowed in on the fun as SRP is
packaging this proposal along with a general 3.9 percent hike for all customers. Arizona customers should have gotten used to this already as
SRP increased their rates 10 times between 2002-2008. They increased it again in 2012.
Of course, my guess is that there is no correlation between Salt River Project's unchecked rate increases over the past decade and the huge increase of Arizona residents moving to solar.
In October, 677 customers applied for solar interconnections with the utility, more than three times the number in October 2013, and the utility has even cut its solar incentives since then.
Is the sun to blame or their own greed?