By Lyndon Rive
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are posted for discussion purposes only.)
I want to respond to APS CEO Don Brandt, and what he wrote in a recent opinion piece in another publication last week entitled “APS serves Arizona. Solar guys? Not so much.”
He describes our business model as being overly reliant upon subsidies. But there is no bigger subsidy than the monopoly status granted to APS and other utilities, which are given a guaranteed rate of return and a captive customer base.
Utilities are all subsidy. They do not need to make an effort to attract customers by striving to deliver the best product. If they faced competition they would not earn 10% returns. Their returns would drop to market rates closer to 6%. This difference between these numbers is a massive subsidy.
