In February, 2001, the Arizona Corporate Commission (ACC), which regulates the utilities in Arizona, adopted a renewable portfolio standard that will require utilities to generate a minimum of 0.2 percent of their total retail energy sales from renewable sources in 2001. The percentage will increase each year to 1 percent in 2005 and top out at 1.1 percent in 2007.
The Environmental Portfolio Standard, as the new rule is called, requires that solar technologies comprise at least 50 percent of the Environmental Portfolio resources in 2001. The remaining 50 percent can be other environmentally friendly technologies, solar hot water, or research and development on solar electric resources.
To cover the cost of investing in these renewable sources, consumers will pay an Environmental Portfolio Surcharge of $0.000875 per kilowatt-hour. The ACC has set a rate cap for three different categories of ratepayers: $.35 per month for all residential customers, $13.00 per month for most non-residential customers, and $39.00 per month for the state’s largest non-residential users—those using more than three megawatts of power each month.
For more information, including the full text of the order, contact ACC.
