APS customers had until August 31, 2017 to submit complete interconnection applications to APS in order to be grandfathered under earlier solar policy.  Basic rates have increased and net metering was eliminated, replaced by a fixed purchase rate that starts at $0.129 per kwhr and will decrease in the future.  Further details are posted in a link below.

Quick APS Links:

News Release (Aug. 15, 2017)
Summary for Residential Customers
Summary for Business Customers
Solar Grandfathering Fact Sheet (also see the note below for additional information)

The Arizona Solar Center has put together an unofficial summary of the new APS rate schedules for new solar customers, click here.

On August 21, 2017 APS emailed the following information to Stakeholders (but it does not seem to be on the APS website):

Stakeholders,

The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) has approved a decision in our rate review, and we are happy to share some details with you affecting our solar customers. We appreciate your support in delivering this message to customers and will be glad to help you with any questions you may have. For your reference, attached are letters that were sent to customers regarding grandfathering. Other resources are available at aps.com/gosolar.

Grandfathering

• Current solar customers that are interconnected to the APS grid will remain grandfathered for 20 years from the date of interconnection.
  • The grandfathering stays with the premise. Systems transferred to a new premise will require a new application, and the customer would no longer be eligible for EPR-6.
  • Over the terms of the grandfathering period, a customer may not increase the capacity of their grandfathered solar system by more than a total of 10% or 1 kW, whichever is greater.
• Customers who submit a complete application by 11:59 p.m. August 31, 2017 will be eligible for grandfathering. The system would need to be installed and have AHJ approval by February 28, 2018 in order to qualify. A complete application includes all of the following:
  • Customer Application
  • Executed Contract
  • Disclaimer
  • Consumer Acknowledgement
  • Installer Application
  • Three Line Diagram
  • Site Plan

On January 18th APS emailed the following information to Stakeholders (but it does not seem to be on the APS website):

Stakeholder Communication January 18, 2018

Stakeholders,

We hope you all had a great holiday, and Happy New Year!

The February 28, 2018 installation deadline for grandfathering is quickly approaching, and we want to remind you of the following:

• Upgrading a Service Entrance Section (SES) can take up to 4-6 weeks.
  • When submitting your service request, best practice is to include a copy of the permit and site photos
• Derates are currently taking 2-3 weeks to schedule depending on volume.
• An installed system means that APS has received the approval (green tag) from the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) by February 28.
  • If there is a delay by the AHJ, APS would require proof that the request for inspection was made with reasonable time for the AHJ to process prior to the deadline. i.e. copy of the request sent to the AHJ. 
    • If you know that a municipality takes two weeks to inspect, your request should be in by February 14.
    • If your inspection is not completed by the deadline, be sure to keep the proof of your inspection request to provide to APS.
  • As a reminder, the high volume of applications and grandfathering deadline will increase inspection requests to the AHJs. Please plan accordingly.

All applications that do not meet the firm February 28 installation deadline will be eligible for Rate Rider RCP (Resource Comparison Proxy). If the system is over 10 kW, we will review the application again for RCP qualification. If the system does not meet the qualifications, we will notify all parties on the application.

Rate Changes – The deadline for grandfathered solar customers to change rates was August 31, 2017. Requests after that date to change from one grandfathered rate to a different grandfathered rate will not be accepted. Please be sure to advise customers that if they are grandfathered, they can either:

• Keep their current rate plan, or,
• Choose a new rate plan, which would effectively forfeit their grandfathering.

A letter will be sent to customers to remind them of the deadlines mentioned above.

Sincerely,

APS Renewable Energy Team