Pending Policies

A brief sheet on UNS Electric’s application for rate design change

Posted on June 7, 2016 by brbarker

Published June 2016

(Download full brief here)

The essentials:

  • UNS Electric, Inc., is a small utility serving approximately 93,000 ratepayers in Santa Cruz and Mohave Counties in Arizona.
  • The utility faces challenges in paying for fixed assets with a declining demand and a business model built on increasing energy consumption.
  • As a remedy, UNS is applying for a rate change focused on increasing the cost of electricity for small volume electricity users, especially those that may benefit from net-metering policies for distributed (primarily solar) generation.
  • Although the utility is small, the rate case is being closely watched, as it may be precedent setting for other utilities.

A Brief on the Draft Amendment to Change Arizona’s Energy Efficiency Resource Standard to a Goal

Posted on November 15, 2014 by brbarker

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The essentials

  • The Arizona Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS) requires regulated electric utilities with an annual revenue of more than $5 million to achieve a cumulative energy savings of 22 percent by 2020, based on historical customer demand. The incremental savings began in 2011 at 1.25% of the previous year’s retail sales. Regulated gas utilities have a similar requirement of 6 percent cumulative energy savings by 2020, also based on historical consumer demand.
  • On November 4th, 2014, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) staff filed a draft amendment to the state EERS that would have the effect of rescinding the mandatory Standard. Instead, gas and electric utilities would be allowed to determine their own custom energy efficiency goals each year, on the basis of cost-effectiveness, during their bi-annual integrated resource planning (IRP) process. The IRP is non-binding.
  • The public has until Tuesday, November 18th, 2014 to submit comments to the ACC regarding the proposal. (Comment submission information can be found at the end of this document).
  • Currently, the Societal Cost Test is used to verify all energy efficiency programs under the EERS. The amended goal would allow the Commission to use three other tests to determine cost effectiveness:

o   The Participant Cost Test

o   The Ratepayer Impact Cost Test

o   The Utility Cost Test

 

 

The ACC seeks an alternative to RECs: APS’s Track and Record brief Part II

Posted on April 15, 2014 by brbarker

Published April 2014

(download full brief)

The essentials

  • Arizona’s Renewable Energy Standard & Tariff (REST) requires that 4.5% of electricity comes from distributed generation (DG) systems such as rooftop solar.
  • Regulated utilities demonstrate compliance with the REST by collecting Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from their customers who have installed DG systems, in exchange for upfront cash incentives meant to help customers finance the installation of the DG system.
  • With the rising demand for DG installations since the start of the REST, the Arizona Corporation Commission agreed to significantly reduce upfront incentives. As a result, the regulated electric utilities lost their guaranteed source of RECs that are needed to demonstrate compliance.
  • During June 2012, Arizona Public Service (APS), Tucson Electric, & Power (TEP), and UNS Electric (UNS) proposed a Track and Record option that would allow utilities to demonstrate compliance by tracking and counting towards compliance any new DG connection added within each service territory, independent of REC ownership.
  • On February 24, 2014, the ACC issued an order indicating that good cause exists for authorizing a one-year waiver to the regulated utilities’ (APS, TEP, and UNS) 4.5% DG requirement. The purpose of this waiver is to allow the ACC time to develop a new method to track utility compliance with REST.

Crowdfunding and Renewable Energy: Could it Revolutionize Large-Scale Renewable Project Financing?

Posted on March 11, 2014 by brbarker

(download full brief)

The essentials

  • Crowdfunding presents a new model for public investment in large-scale renewable projects.
  • Crowdfunding would allow businesses access to an estimated $2 trillion in capital from the general public. It has been successfully applied to financing utility- and commercial-scale solar projects by Mosaic, a California-based start-up company.
  • Rewards-based crowdfunding (as opposed to “donation-based” crowdfunding) is the funding of a company or project by selling small amounts of equity to many investors with an expectation of return on investment.
  • At this time, only residents of New York and California can participate in crowdfunding investments.  However, the 2012 JOBS Act obligates the SEC to issue regulations allowing start-up companies to raise up to $1 million in capital via crowdfunding from the general public across the country.
  • The new crowdfunding regulations will likely be issued in the third quarter of 2014.
  • When crowdfunding regulations are issued, it will allow the general public to invest small amounts in renewable energy with a reasonable expectation of return on investment.

Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE): What it is, and whether it can be implemented in Arizona

Posted on February 21, 2014 by brbarker

The essentials

(download full brief here)

  • Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) offers a path for building owners to fund energy efficiency upgrades and renewable energy projects.
  • Under the PACE framework, a local government provides the up-front capital for a building owner to install an energy efficiency project and/or a renewable energy system on their building. The building owner repays the capital over the course of 20 years through a property assessment tax.
  • PACE is being successfully used in 12 states and Washington, D.C. for commercial properties. Many states also allow PACE financing for residential properties, but most residential financing programs have been shelved for now while the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issues rules related to lien seniority for mortgaged homes.
  • Developing a PACE program in Arizona would require passage of PACE-enabling legislation. PACE-enabling bills have been introduced in past legislative session, but have not been signed into law.
  • During the current 2014 session, State Reps. Orr (R) and Sherwood (D) are sponsoring PACE-enabling bill HB 2206.

Community, virtual and aggregate net metering, oh my!

Posted on January 17, 2014 by brbarker

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The essentials

  • Basic net metering requires an agreement between an electrical utility and an individual customer. That customer must have a single meter that is connected to a single, on-site renewable energy system.
  • Under current net metering rules, Arizona allows community net metering but not aggregated and virtual net metering.
  • Several states have revised their net metering policies to allow a broader swath of utility customers to participate in net metering. These customers include municipalities with multiple buildings, tenants in multi-family buildings and stores in shopping malls.

Introduction to Energy Imbalance Markets: Part I

Posted on May 24, 2013 by brbarker

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The essentials 

  • An Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) would pool in electricity generation within a region and dispatch resources.
  • This could moderate the variability of renewable generation resources and electricity demand on a least-cost basis. Participation is voluntary.
  • The Public Utility Commission Energy Imbalance Market1 has proposed an EIM for the Western Interconnection.
  • The EIM would lead to lower reserve requirements and increases reliability especially during unexpected generation outages and high peak demand.
  • The EIM brings with it concerns about new reliability problems and costs that could outweigh the estimated benefits.

BLM RDEP draft EIS

Posted on March 24, 2012 by brbarker

(download full brief)

The essentials

  • The BLM proposes to support renewable energy development while also protecting and restoring landscapes in Arizona through its Restoration Design Energy Project (RDEP).
  • The RDEP will streamline part of the initial process for renewable energy development on public lands by vetting the areas before renewable energy developers submit proposals.
  • In the BLM’s draft environmental impact statement (DEIS), the BLM identified and analyzed six Alternatives plus the required No Action Alternative.
  • The BLM’s preferred alternative is Alternative 6 Collaborative-based Renewable Energy Development Areas (REDA) and the Agua Caliente Solar Energy Zone (SEZ). Alt. 6 allows for 237,100 acres for REDAs and 6,770 acres for SEZ.
  • The public comment period on the DEIS ended May 17, 2012.

SCM 1004 Recycling spent nuclear fuel; management

Posted on March 24, 2012 by brbarker

(download full brief)

The essentials

  • State Senator Al Melvin (R-26) sponsored SCM 1004, which requests access to money in the federal U.S. Nuclear Waste Fund
  • That money would be used to construct the nation’s first permanent nuclear recycling and waste storage site within Arizona
  • The federal Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future recently found an urgent need for permanent nuclear waste storage for the 65,000+ metric tons of nuclear waste in the U.S.
  • There are multiple significant risks connected with creating a permanent site, including risk from transportation of nuclear waste from the 43 states currently storing the waste and risk regarding potential groundwater contamination