What’s the Status of Net Metering for TEP & UNS Electric Customers?

Update Wednesday, September 5th, 2:25pm. The Arizona Corporation Commission has placed consideration of TEP and Unisource Electric rate cases on the agenda for their September 11th-12th Open Meeting. At least until the ACC makes their decision, customers can continue to submit applications for solar electric systems with net metering.

Net metering for TEP and Unisource Electric customers has been a long saga. Although we expected net metering to disappear early in 2018, the case has dragged on due to a variety of factors.

Most recently, the Arizona Corporation Commission considered TEP and UNS Electric net metering at their June 12th open meeting. In an unexpected move,after a vigorous discussion, Commissioner Andy Tobin removed the item from consideration. You can view the June Open Meeting (click on Item 23 to go directly to relevant section of the video). We are glad that Commissioner Tobin and the rest of the Commission are carefully considering how their actions would affect consumers and solar installers in Tucson.

To be frank, there’s a lot going on at the ACC right now. This includes troubles with Johnson Utilities, such as dry taps and overflowing sewers, which has prompted an ACC administrative law judge to recommend appointing an interim manager for the utility and the ACC to schedule a special open meeting on July 24th.

Separately, ACC Executive Director Ted Vogt resigned in early due July to a significant conflict of interest related to his wife’s work advocating for Arizona Public Service. The Commission recently appointed an Interim Executive Director to replace Vogt.

After the June Open Meeting, we thought that the TEP and UNS Electric case would probably be decided at their July 19th Open Meeting, but it was not put on the schedule for that meeting.

Where does this leave us? There is still some continued back and forth between Commissioner Tobin, TEP/UNSE, and solar advocates in the docket, but the case hasn’t yet been scheduled for the next regularly scheduled open meeting, which is on August 14th-15th. Based on how busy the Commission is, we don’t think it’s likely that they will schedule a special open meeting before then, but it is certainly possible.

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter, and we’ll let you know when the ACC places this on their schedule. In the meantime, net metering is still available for TEP customers! Systems must be installed within 180 days from the time we submit your completed interconnection application to TEP or UNS Electric. We still have a few open spots in our schedule for late this year or early 2019.

Questions or thoughts? Share them in the comments below!