{"id":108448,"date":"2025-01-31T10:47:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T15:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/\/?p=108448"},"modified":"2025-01-31T10:47:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T15:47:48","slug":"vote-solar-and-other-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-solar-fee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/\/2025\/01\/vote-solar-and-other-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-solar-fee\/","title":{"rendered":"Vote Solar and other groups file lawsuit challenging Arizona solar fee"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On January 28, the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest (ACLPI) and Earthjustice filed an appeal in the Arizona Court of Appeals on behalf of Vote Solar challenging the Arizona Corporation Commission\u2019s decision approving a discriminatory charge on customers with solar. The solar fee is imposed by the utility Arizona Public Service (APS) and results in higher electricity prices for households with solar panels. APS is a regulated utility that provides power to approximately 1.4 million households and businesses across Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>The charge, which APS calls a \u201cGrid Access Charge,\u201d was first approved by a 4-1 ACC vote on March 5, 2024 when the ACC also approved a rate increase for APS customers. As a result of the ACC\u2019s decision, the roughly 200,000 APS customers with rooftop solar must now pay more than their neighbors without solar for equal amounts of electricity service.<\/p>\n<p>The ACC conducted a six-day rehearing in October and November 2024. During that rehearing, Vote Solar and other parties repeatedly demonstrated that the solar fee is illegal and discriminatory under both state and federal law, including the Arizona Constitution and the <a href=\"https:\/\/\/2019\/02\/despite-utility-pressure-purpa-has-continued-to-diversify-the-energy-market-40-years-strong\/\">Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA)<\/a>, which is designed to ensure fair competition and promote renewable energy sources. The ACC nevertheless decided on December 31, 2024, to maintain the solar charge despite its lack of factual support and illegality.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe rehearing was an opportunity to further investigate APS\u2019 justifications for imposing a charge on solar customers,\u201d said Vote Solar\u2019s Interior West Regulatory Director, Kate Bowman. \u201cNow, with a fuller picture of the flaws inherent to the solar fee, we hope that the Arizona Court of Appeals will apply the law and invalidate this unfair and unlawful tax on solar customers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the only regulated utility in the country that imposes a discriminatory solar charge, APS\u2019 solar-specific charge undermines the ability of homes and businesses to invest in clean energy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs Arizona families face rising energy bills and record-breaking heat, rooftop solar panels are one of their only options to reduce their reliance on the monopoly utilities that have saddled them with rate increase after rate increase,\u201d said Bowman. \u201cBy approving the Grid Access Charge, the ACC undermines Arizonans\u2019 right to choose energy independence. We will keep fighting this discriminatory treatment until all Arizonans have equal access to clean energy resources and fair utility rates.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>News item from Vote Solar<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On January 28, the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest (ACLPI) and Earthjustice filed an appeal in the Arizona Court of Appeals on behalf of Vote Solar challenging the Arizona Corporation Commission\u2019s decision approving a discriminatory charge on customers with solar. The solar fee is imposed by the utility Arizona Public Service (APS)&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10031,"featured_media":89835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post","9":"entry","10":"has-post-thumbnail"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vote Solar and other groups file lawsuit challenging Arizona solar fee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On January 28, the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest (ACLPI) and Earthjustice filed an appeal in the Arizona Court of Appeals on behalf of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/\/2025\/01\/vote-solar-and-other-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-solar-fee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vote Solar and other groups file lawsuit challenging Arizona solar fee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On January 28, the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest (ACLPI) and Earthjustice filed an appeal in the Arizona Court of Appeals on behalf of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/\/2025\/01\/vote-solar-and-other-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-solar-fee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Solar Power World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-31T15:47:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/APS-.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"770\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kelsey Misbrener\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SolarPowerWorld\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SolarPowerWorld\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kelsey Misbrener\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/2025\/01\/vote-solar-and-other-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-solar-fee\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/\/2025\/01\/vote-solar-and-other-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-solar-fee\/\",\"name\":\"Vote Solar and other groups file lawsuit challenging Arizona solar fee\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/2025\/01\/vote-solar-and-other-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-solar-fee\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/2025\/01\/vote-solar-and-other-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-solar-fee\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/APS-.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-31T15:47:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/#\/schema\/person\/991cc4e7d08833c06937cd91f6776d93\"},\"description\":\"On January 28, the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest (ACLPI) and Earthjustice filed an appeal in the Arizona Court of Appeals on behalf of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/2025\/01\/vote-solar-and-other-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-solar-fee\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/\/2025\/01\/vote-solar-and-other-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-solar-fee\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/\/2025\/01\/vote-solar-and-other-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-solar-fee\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/APS-.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/APS-.png\",\"width\":770,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"1. Arizona Public Service (HQ: Arizona): Thanks in part to new progressive leadership, Arizona Public Service set a goal to reach 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050. The utility also set a near-term goal of a resource mix of 45% renewable energy by 2030. 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