/ Modified nov 5, 2015 4 p.m.

Tucson Electric Seeks $12 Monthly Rate Increase

Proposal would restructure rates, including changing subsidies for solar.

Power lines desert spot

Tucson Electric Power Co. said Thursday it wants a rate increase beginning in 2017 to include a restructuring of how it charges for electricity. Part of the package would be a change in subsidies for buying solar-generated electricity from its customers.

"The proposal would increase typical residential bills by approximately $12 per month, on average, over the course of a year," TEP said in a press release.

The utility filed the rate proposal Thursday with the Arizona Corporation Commission and said it will make a case for a return on what it said has been $1 billion in infrastructure investments in the last four years.

"A new pricing plan that combines a basic service fee, lower usage-based rates and a charge based on customers’ highest hourly energy use" will be part of the proposal, the press release said.

It said "new solar customers also would receive fair market prices for the excess energy their systems produce," and indications were it would mean a reduction in what it now pays. TEP has argued for higher fees on rooftop solar houses and for paying at the market rate rather than what it has said was a rate that is nearly twice what it pays for solar electricity from large-scale solar operationns.

TEP said part of its plan is to generate 30 percent of its electricity from solar sources by 2030. Under state mandate, it must generate 15 percent by 2025.

Solar energy advocates have opposed the utility's attempts to change what it pays customers for their excess solar-generated electricity and have accused it of trying to centralize solar generation under its operations rather than encouraging individual rooftop generation.

The corporation commission must approve any rate increases for utilities and will be expected to conduct studies and hearings of TEP's rate case.

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