Arizona utility export compensation

No single Arizona export rate: the Resource Comparison Proxy method

Arizona does not pay new rooftop exports at one statewide price. For Arizona Public Service, Tucson Electric Power, and UniSource, compensation is set utility by utility through Arizona Corporation Commission rate cases, using the Resource Comparison Proxy, or RCP, method. TEP states that the RCP is used for excess rooftop power, was approved for customers requesting interconnection since September 20, 2018, and is based on average market costs for solar over a recent five year period.

UniSource states the same idea: it buys excess rooftop output at a rate reflecting its average solar costs over the previous five years, under Rider 14. The proxy is a backward looking average of utility scale solar costs, not the retail price you pay.

APS and TEP rates, annual step downs, and the 10 year lock

TEP states that its export rate of $0.0462 per kilowatt hour remains in effect from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, is usually adjusted annually, and cannot fall more than 10 percent annually under Commission rules. Customers are compensated for up to 10 years at the rate in place when they requested interconnection, shown as Excess Generation Credit, per TEP.

APS publishes the same structure by tranche in Rate Rider RCP: a rate for each annual tranche effective September 1, reducible by no more than 10 percent yearly, applicable for 10 years from interconnection. Its schedule lists $0.06857 per kilowatt hour for September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2025, $0.06171 for the next year, and $0.05554 for September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027. Exports are metered instantaneously, per APS.

Per TEP and APS: TEP pays $0.0462 through September 30, 2027, and the APS September 1, 2026 tranche pays $0.05554, each locked 10 years.

Grandfathering, time of use, and what happens after the lock

UniSource states that existing customers were allowed to continue net metering for 20 years from connection, and should expect a transition at 20 years. Customers transitioning to the RCP rate must also take service under a time of use plan, with higher rates when use is highest, per UniSource.

The APS schedule states that after the initial 10 years, the credit is based on the purchase rate then in effect, which may change yearly. Model the first 10 years at your locked rate, and later years at a moving rate.

SRP is separate: an elected board and customer generation plans

Salt River Project is not regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission for these rates. It sets its own rates through its elected board, and customers choose among customer generation plans. SRP states that its Time of Use Export Price Plan has no demand charge, credits exports at a fixed 3.45 cents per kilowatt hour, and tracks delivered and exported energy instantaneously, which it distinguishes from net metering. It states the same rate, with no demand charge, for its Electric Vehicle Export Price Plan.

Other SRP plans differ. SRP states that, as of the May 2026 billing cycle, its Manage Demand plan export rate is $0.0187 per kilowatt hour, recalculated annually each May, with a demand charge based on 60 minute on peak intervals. On February 27, 2025 its publicly elected Board approved retiring select plans, and the two export plans above will be discontinued as of the November 2029 billing cycle, per SRP.