PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona utility regulators have adopted a new policy on how solar customers pay for their power.
The Arizona Corporation Commission voted Tuesday to end net metering for new solar customers and to phase out the practice for existing solar customers after 20 years.
“I think we’ve accomplished something pretty historic today. We have been able to take an important step,” Commission Chairman Doug Little said. “Perhaps the decision we’ve come to today is not the perfect decision, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.”
The commission voted to gradually adjust rates for net metering. New customers will be locked into set rates for 10 years, starting on the date they adopt solar energy.
Net metering means utilities are required to purchase excess energy created by rooftop solar panels, offsetting customers’ costs of drawing energy from the grid at night or when their panels are not making enough energy to serve their needs. The practice is a key incentive for solar customers.
Currently, utilities pay rooftop customers the full retail rate, usually around 12 cents per kilowatt, for excess power that their solar panels send back to the grid.
The state’s largest utilities, including Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power, as well as several smaller utilities and cooperatives have rate cases pending at the commission. Those cases will determine the amount utilities pay for solar energy.
Solar groups criticized the commission’s decision, saying it hurts solar customers.
The Alliance for Solar Choice said the commission’s decision “disregarded the full, long-term value that rooftop solar brings to Arizona and the long-term certainty that Arizonans need when contemplating a solar investment.”
Last year, the Nevada Public Utilities Commission ended net metering and did not grandfather in existing customers. Major rooftop solar companies pulled out of the state in response.
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