For SRP customers (or maybe even APS) (homes, school)

[Voebe]

I was very surprised to just learn that SRP has a council for which the public can vote! It's apparently something of a secret.

The reason this may potentially be a big deal at the moment is that currently SRP gets very little of our electricity from solar power, only about 4% (and you may be aware of the barriers to someone setting up one's own home for solar). There are apparently some new forward-thinking candidates who want to push for solar. And if more comes from solar, our consumer prices should start to decline, so it'll save us money, as well as being better environmentally.

It's a complicated set-up, depending on where you live, and it's possible that even if APS is your company, you may still be eligible to vote. It was suggested that the easiest way to find out if you're eligible is to ask to have a ballot sent to you. You can request a ballot now, and I think voting is in March.

SRP Election Information Line: 602-236-3048.





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[Mike from back east]

One of these days I hope a large electric utility declines to spend $2B to build a new coal-fired plant and use that money instead to pay for solar on homes. By my quick back of the envelope math, that $2B would cover 100,000 homes at an average cost of $20k per home. But with 1.4M SFHs in the metro area it may not be feasible, but I'd like to see some B-school professor assign this to a class to ferret out.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Voebe

I was very surprised to just learn that SRP has a council for which the public can vote! It's apparently something of a secret.

The reason this may potentially be a big deal at the moment is that currently SRP gets very little of our electricity from solar power, only about 4% (and you may be aware of the barriers to someone setting up one's own home for solar). There are apparently some new forward-thinking candidates who want to push for solar. And if more comes from solar, our consumer prices should start to decline, so it'll save us money, as well as being better environmentally.

It's a complicated set-up, depending on where you live, and it's possible that even if APS is your company, you may still be eligible to vote. It was suggested that the easiest way to find out if you're eligible is to ask to have a ballot sent to you. You can request a ballot now, and I think voting is in March.

SRP Election Information Line: 602-236-3048.





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It's never been a secret to those of us who get services from SRP. No need to make it sound like something other than it is. Can you share how you think it is "possible" that someone is eligible even if they get no services from SRP?

Only people who live within certain areas can vote in this election. People who are eligible to vote in this election have already been contacted to be sure their address is correct, etc.

[KurtAZ]

Not sure how using solar is going to cause consumer prices to decline when SRP charges you to opt for getting your power from a solar farm vs. regular generation. It is a negligible amount but there is still a charge and it doesn't change your usage rates.

[Potential_Landlord]

To be fair we have to add power storage (battery) costs for solar as we can control when to produce power in a conventional power plant, but we can't control the sun to produce on demand.

[Voebe]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

One of these days I hope a large electric utility declines to spend $2B to build a new coal-fired plant and use that money instead to pay for solar on homes. By my quick back of the envelope math, that $2B would cover 100,000 homes at an average cost of $20k per home. But with 1.4M SFHs in the metro area it may not be feasible, but I'd like to see some B-school professor assign this to a class to ferret out.

Sounds good to me!

Originally Posted by observer53

It's never been a secret to those of us who get services from SRP. No need to make it sound like something other than it is. Can you share how you think it is "possible" that someone is eligible even if they get no services from SRP?

Only people who live within certain areas can vote in this election. People who are eligible to vote in this election have already been contacted to be sure their address is correct, etc.

Someone explained it to me, but it was so complex that it didn't fully register. It has to do with legalities that go all the way back to the inception of SRP. But when I heard this, I remembered an oddity that has always puzzled me: I'm an APS customers, but sometimes I get refunds from SRP. Again, I've asked, but it still makes no sense to me. But that makes me think that I may be in that odd category - and it may be the same for others. No harm in inquiring, right? I certainly would never trust a company to reach out to customers on their own.

[observer53]

https://www.srpnet.com/about/governa...g-district-map

Here's a map that's interesting.

SRP isn't a "company" at all, so the election notice requirements are very different than for stockholders in a company.

[jgustav]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

Not sure how using solar is going to cause consumer prices to decline when SRP charges you to opt for getting your power from a solar farm vs. regular generation. It is a negligible amount but there is still a charge and it doesn't change your usage rates.

Correct, SRP has a monthly service charge for home solar generation depending on the system size. From the SRP website -

Solar customers pay a slightly higher monthly service charge than non-solar customers. Customers with systems of 200 amps or under pay a monthly service fee of $32.44, and customers with systems over 200 amps are charged a monthly service fee of $45.44. This helps SRP recover fixed costs to support grid capacity. If you’re on a demand price plan, you’ll also pay a demand charge.

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by jgustav

Correct, SRP has a monthly service charge for home solar generation depending on the system size. From the SRP website -

Solar customers pay a slightly higher monthly service charge than non-solar customers. Customers with systems of 200 amps or under pay a monthly service fee of $32.44, and customers with systems over 200 amps are charged a monthly service fee of $45.44. This helps SRP recover fixed costs to support grid capacity. If you’re on a demand price plan, you’ll also pay a demand charge.

That pricing is for customers that have solar panels on their property. The other program I was referring to is the SRP Solar Choice program where you can pay SRP to supply your property with either 50% or 100% solar generated energy (SRP Solar Farm, not your own panels).

[Potential_Landlord]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

That pricing is for customers that have solar panels on their property. The other program I was referring to is the SRP Solar Choice program where you can pay SRP to supply your property with either 50% or 100% solar generated energy (SRP Solar Farm, not your own panels).

So with "100% solar" you get no power at night or on rainy days? Or is this a scam?