Mon, Jul 06, 2009
 This solar net metering system records energy used, and renewed, for Dale and Paula Keyes. When the system produces more energy than they can use, the Keyes' get a credit toward future bills. Photos by Greg Bryan / Arizona Daily Star
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Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.28.2008
Using renewable power sources at home could become a little more attractive under new rules on how ratepayers are compensated for the excess energy they produce with such systems as solar-electric panels.
The Arizona Corporation Commission has proposed new rules on "net metering," or compensation given to ratepayers with renewable-energy systems — mainly grid-connected solar-electric panels — when they generate more energy than they use.
Electric utilities around the state have varying measures in place, generally involving billing credits, to compensate such customers, said Corporation Commissioner Kris Mayes.
The new rules would standardize net-metering practices and require utilities to reimburse customers for excess energy beyond that offset with billing credits.
"There was really no utility in Arizona that was doing true net metering, except for (Arizona Public Service Co.) in a limited way because we ordered them to do a trial program," she said.
The new rules are expected be adopted in final form this summer, after a public- comment period and a mandatory review by the attorney general.
Tucson Electric Power Co. currently gives customers with solar-electric power systems billing credits for excess energy they produce, TEP spokes-man Joe Salkowski said.
Midtown resident Dale Keyes has a two-kilowatt alternating-current solar system on his roof, and his house is net-metered.
"Everything I contribute (to the electrical grid) through our solar panels is simply offset" through billing credits, he said.
If he generates an extra kilowatt hour, he gets credit for a kilowatt hour, he said.
"When our meter runs slower or even negative for a while when we're generating electricity, that comes off our bill," Keyes said.
TEP's current plan allows net-metered customers to carry full credit from one month to the next for any excess kilowatts they produce, Salkowski said.
But at the end of each calendar year, any excess remaining on the books is erased, he said.
Under the proposed new rules, TEP would instead purchase those leftover credits from customers at a rate intended to reflect the cost the utility would bear to provide that power itself, Salkowski said.
Because the rules are not yet final, TEP doesn't know how much those payments will be, he said.
TEP plans to file a tariff, or schedule of rates, for reimbursement under the net- metering rules once those regulations are formally adopted, Salkowski said.
The plan would affect a small number of TEP customers.
At the end of 2007, the company had 420 customers on its SunShare program, which subsidizes solar panels.
But Mayes said the rules may encourage ratepayers to install larger renewable- energy systems.
"What it means, basically, is you can grow into a larger system," she said.
The net-metering standards would apply to any customer-owned renewable generation equipment — including wind as well and solar systems — but no TEP ratepayers are currently net-metered for grid-connected wind generation, Salkowksi said.
● Contact reporter Shelley Shelton at 434-4086 or sshelton@azstarnet.com.
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