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APS’s Track and Record Proposal Part III

Posted on January 25, 2016 by

Published January 2016

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The essentials

  • See our previous brief sheets for background on What a Renewable Energy Credit (REC) is and the background on why the Arizona Corporation Commission is addressing how utilities obtain the Renewable Energy Credits needed to comply with the Arizona Renewable Energy Tariff and Standard (REST).
  • 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 purchasing Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from their customers who have installed DG systems, typically with 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.
  • In June 2012, utilities 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.
  • The REST rules had not been updated since they were approved in 2006.
  • The Utilities Division Staff (“Staff”) of the ACC proposed seven options to modify the REST rules. Ultimately, the ACC adopted a modified version of APS’s Track and Record option.
  • The adopted modifications require a utility to include in its compliance reports the actual kWhs of energy produced within its service territory from DG. A utility must differentiate between kWhs for which it owns the REC, and kWhs produced in the service territory for which it does not own the REC. Those kWhs for which a utility does not own the REC will not count towards compliance, but will be “acknowledged” by the ACC for informational purposes only. The REC remains with the producer of DG energy, unless purchased by a utility.

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