(NEWS RELEASE) The AriSEIA Board of Directors sent a letter to the SRP Board of Directors calling on them to reject management’s proposed rate tariff for solar customers within SRP territory. Calling the proposal “extremely puzzling” given the utility’s history of being supportive and even offering incentives for rooftop solar, AriSEIA says the devastating results can already be seen as the number of solar sign-ups in SRP territory dropped from over 500 per month to a few dozen after the utility’s Dec. 8, 2014 announcement.
“Whether intentional or not, what the SRP board is about to do is kill the market for owned or leased solar anywhere in their service area,” said Mark Holohan, President of AriSEIA. “They’re justifying their decision on bad management recommendations based on faulty analyses from consultants cherry picked to provide a predetermined conclusion that solar harms SRP and other customers.”
AriSEIA suggests the SRP board take the following steps:
- Reject the current proposed E27 and commercial solar proposals.
- Direct a revised study be undertaken with input on the assumptions and study methodology from stakeholders.
- Direct SRP management to work cooperatively with the solar and distributed energy industry over the coming year to develop tariff structures, if necessary, which apply fairly across customer types to assure an orderly path forward for the prudent adoption of these innovative technologies.
- Direct management to limit any revisions in tariff structures to generally applicable changes that do not discriminate against solar customers.
AriSEIA believes that a proper study will show that solar customers are “paying for the grid” when the benefits are fairly valued, as other states have found. By taking time to ensure SRP is properly charging customers using solar and other distributed energy solutions while providing tariff structures, which allow appropriate adoption of these technologies, will promote economic prosperity while protecting all SRP customers.
A copy of the letter may be downloaded here.
