Here is part of an article I read this week. ".......The electric companies would be allowed to charge those that refuse to install the panelss a 10 percent surcharge on their electric bills to both defray some of the costs to the electric company and to encourage everyone to participate in the plan." What's this all about? I don't want solar panels.
Are you sure this article isn't referring to those who wish to refuse installing a "smart meter" to keep track of electric usage?
Fascinating on how APS has managed to step in it this time, but more on that in a minute. When we first bought our home here we were delighted with how reasonable our energy bills were compared to St Paul MN. Of course both have extremes to deal with and we understood we were trading the high cost of warming our home in the winter with the high cost of cooling it in the summer. It looked like we would end up with a lower overall total utility bills. Throw in the fact the Arizona Corporation Commission had control on regulating increases and it was easy to see how we were going to be better off. But alas, like all things governmental, those increases from APS the 10 years we have lived here averaged almost 5% per year. Nice control eh? But back to the APS/solar discussion. The boys at APS were all hot to trot to get folks to put up solar to help feed their grid. The high initial cost of buying kept folks from doing it in any great numbers. Then someone figured there was a huge market of potential rooftops that would take the plunge if they could structure the deal so there was little or no up front investment. Walla, the birth of solar leasing was launched and the explosion began. The opportunity to protect yourself from the never ending increases APS was serving us brought forth dozens of companies that could get you in for no money down. Suddenly solar installations exploded and APS started doing the math. Their profit margins would suffer as more and more folks installed solar. They've always argued they wanted guaranteed profits margins and the proliferation of homes with solar left them reeling. They turned to the commission for help and the whole net metering issue was on the table. Rather than a frontal assault, they turned to two organizations for help. 60 plus is an organization backed by the infamous Koch brothers. The other is Prosper and is led by former Arizona speaker of the house Kirk Adams. Both hate solar and claim the current subsidies are anti-American. Their contention is if they can't make it own their own, they shouldn't be in business. By the way, the Koch brothers companies have been producing energy for years; one just has to wonder how much they've siphoned off corporate welfare doles? Initially APS stated they had no relationship to those two organizations. Now in a recent article in the Huff Post, the boys from APS had to come clean, you can read about it here. Can anyone say "egg on their face." Anyway, the battle over solar is still being fought. APS is now running ads telling us how much they love solar users in the state of Arizona. The sad truth is always reduced to it's not what you say, it is what you do that counts.
No surprise there Peg; the whole net metering issue is confusing. Suffice to say APS wants their cake and their profits too. We are having solar installed this week and while we were way too late to get the full financial advantage of the programs, in the long we will contain our utility costs over the next 20 years. We no longer will be held hostage to absorbent rate hikes and if we understand that, you can well imagine how APS looks at it. Leasing the system gets folks in for little or nothing down and protects them over the term of the lease. It's that simple.
