By Ryan Randazzo, The Republic | azcentral.com
Regulators are studying how solar, batteries and emerging technology will affect utilities.
Many of the technologies take revenue away from electric companies, but rely on them for consistent power.
Commissioners are considering how they might allow new technologies to thrive while keeping utilities solvent.
If Arizona regulators struggled with how much to bill 20,000 or so customers with solar panels, imagine the fight when customers are able to generate their own power with backyard hydrogen fuel cells or store their solar power in batteries and disconnect from their utility at night.
Those are some of the concerns prompting Arizona Corporation Commissioner Bob Burns’ inquiry into emerging technologies that threaten to upend the way electricity is generated, sold and regulated.
Hearings began Thursday, with experts from several technology companies giving presentations to the commission for informational purposes only.
