A Court Killed APS's $3 Solar Fee Twice. APS Wants $6 in December.

If you have rooftop solar on an APS meter, the $2 to $3 “Grid Access Charge” the utility tacked onto your bill is legally dead. Again. And APS is asking regulators to bring it back at roughly double the price.

The court fight is mostly won. The money fight is in December.

How a fee nobody asked for got approved

Here’s the part that sank it. APS never proposed a solar fee in its 2022 rate case, and the public notice never mentioned one. The Arizona Corporation Commission adopted it anyway in 2024. Then it held a rehearing where, the court found, the presiding judge cut off the State’s expert witness, and it reaffirmed the fee.

In June, a unanimous Court of Appeals panel threw it out. Judge Daniel Kiley’s opinion put the problem in one sentence: “Although the Commission determined that APS does not provide any unique services to residential solar customers, the Commission nonetheless authorized APS to impose a unique charge on those customers.”

Translation: regulators found solar owners get nothing extra, then charged them extra.

APS asked the court to reconsider. At the end of October, it refused. APS now says it will go to the Arizona Supreme Court so it can “ensure appropriate rates for residential customers with rooftop solar.”

Why $3 is the small number

More than 165,000 APS homes have solar, ABC15 reports. If you’re on a newer plan, the charge is a line on your bill. If you’re on a legacy plan, it’s baked into your base rate where you can’t see it.

Meanwhile APS’s pending rate case, Docket E-01345A-25-0105, asks to raise the Grid Access Charge for solar customers on current plans, to roughly $6 a month by Solar Power World’s count. APS’s own filing also asks to shift more costs onto solar customers on the legacy plans: E-12, ET-1, ET-2, ECT-1R and ECT-2. That’s on top of a roughly 14% overall increase, about $20 a month for the average home.

Do the math. At $2.50 a month, the fee costs you $30 a year. At $6, it’s $72. Over 20 years of panel life, that’s $1,440 instead of $600, before any other rate change.

None of the court coverage, the Attorney General’s release, or the solar groups’ statements we read mentions refunds of what you’ve already paid. Don’t count on one.

The verdict: this is questionable. A fee that couldn’t survive a fair hearing shouldn’t come back bigger just because the second try follows the rules.

What to do before December

Pull your last APS bill and look for “Grid Access Charge.” If it’s still there after the June ruling, call APS and ask why, and ask whether it will be credited back. Write down who you spoke to.

Then file a public comment on Docket E-01345A-25-0105 through the commission’s online comment form. Keep it short: your plan, your fee, and the number APS wants. A vote is expected in December.

Shopping for panels in APS territory? Plug $6 a month of fixed cost into our solar calculator before you sign, and check our Arizona solar page. Regulators also cut what APS pays for your exports on September 1. Here’s our breakdown of that export rate cut.

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