TEP to Offer Residents Rooftop Solar, Expanding Local Renewable Resources
19 December 2014 - 1:05PM
Business Wire
Tucson Electric Power (TEP) has received regulatory approval for
a plan to install rooftop solar panels at customers’ homes and
provide their electric service for a set monthly fee that would
remain fixed for up to 25 years.
TEP’s Residential Solar Program, approved today by the Arizona
Corporation Commission (ACC), will let customers go solar with no
installation or maintenance costs. After paying a $250
administrative fee, participants will pay a fixed monthly electric
rate that roughly matches their current average bills, generating
significant savings if TEP’s rates or energy costs increase in the
future.
“This innovative program will expand the availability of solar
power across our community at a stable, affordable price without
compromising the reliability of our electric system,” said Philip
J. Dion, TEP’s Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Customer
Solutions.
The first-of-its-kind program will be made available next spring
to 500-600 customers in 2015. The company will seek participants in
areas where TEP’s solar arrays would maximize benefits for the
local electric grid that serves all customers. System size
requirements, proximity to the grid and opportunities to integrate
advanced inverter technologies will be considered. TEP will also
look for sites where solar panels can be positioned to maximize
output that more closely coincides with peak demand.
TEP will partner with local solar companies to install and
maintain the systems, contributing to Arizona’s growing green
energy economy. By installing the most cost-effective, reliable
rooftop solar systems possible, the program will provide superior
community and customer benefits.
ACC Staff, the state’s Residential Utility Consumer Office
(RUCO), environmental advocates and local solar installers filed
comments with the ACC in favor of the proposal. It was opposed by
out-of-state solar lease providers who, in seeking to block the
program, would have limited the market for rooftop solar power
systems in Tucson.
“Our program will provide additional customer choice and new
green energy options for our customers,” Dion said. “Participation
will not be limited by customers’ FICO credit scores, which opens
the program to many Tucson residents who do not qualify for private
solar leases.”
TEP will own and operate the systems, adding them to the
company’s expanding renewable resources. Those resources will grow
this month with completion of a 35-megawatt (MW) solar array near
Green Valley and a nearly 18-MW system at Fort Huachuca in Sierra
Vista. By the end of 2014, TEP expects to have more than 340 MW of
total renewable generating capacity, enough to meet the electric
needs of more than 71,000 homes.
Solar energy is an important part of TEP’s increasingly diverse
generating portfolio. The company is reducing its overall coal
capacity by more than 30 percent over the next five years through
increased use of renewable power, energy efficiency and natural-gas
generation, including a newly acquired share of the Gila River
Power Station in Gila Bend.
“TEP’s Residential Solar Program offers participants a unique
opportunity to acquire rooftop solar in a way that enhances the
reliability of the electric system, while giving the customer the
flexibility and price protection they want,” said Carmine Tilghman,
Senior Director of Wholesale, Fuels and Renewable Resources for
TEP. “Unlike other consumer options, this program is not subject to
automatic, annual price increases or unnecessary restrictive
provisions. It also provides greater consumer protections under the
ACC’s oversight.”
The fixed monthly fee paid by program participants will be based
on their average historic energy usage. TEP will not change the fee
unless customers’ average annual usage changes by more than 15
percent after joining the program. The ACC could change the fee in
the future, but participating customers could choose to withdraw
from the program at that time if the new fee is applied to them.
Otherwise, the fee would remain in place for the 25-year expected
life of the solar power system.
“This new program offers a sustainable way to expand our
community’s renewable energy resources while significantly
minimizing the cost shift to other customers, supporting local
solar installers and bolstering our system to support the safety,
reliability and affordability of our local electric service,” Dion
said. “TEP has been serving this community for more than a century,
and this program is just part of how we plan to meet our customers
evolving energy needs for another century to come.”
Additional details about the TEP Residential Solar Program are
available online at tep.com. Customers can register their interest
in the program on the site and sign up to receive future email
updates.
TEP provides safe, reliable electric service to approximately
414,000 customers in southern Arizona. For more information, visit
tep.com. TEP and its parent company, UNS Energy, are subsidiaries
of Fortis, which owns local utilities that serve more than 3
million customers across Canada and in the United States and the
Caribbean. To learn more, visit fortisinc.com.
Tucson Electric PowerJoseph Barrios,
520-884-3725jbarrios@tep.com