Arizona should be a national leader in solar energy. With more than 300 days of sunshine per year, our state is primed to benefit from clean, affordable and decentralized power. But instead of making it easier for homeowners to adopt solar, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) is actively working against them.

For years, the ACC has been slashing solar export rates under the Resource Comparison Proxy (RCP), allowing monopoly utilities like Tucson Electric Power (TEP) and APS to buy homeowners’ excess energy at artificially low prices and resell it at full market value. This practice discourages solar adoption, limits energy independence and forces more Arizonans to remain reliant on high-priced utility power.

Regulators should protect consumers, not utilities.

The ACC’s constitutional mandate is to regulate utilities in the public interest, yet its recent policies benefit corporate profits over Arizona homeowners. Every year, the ACC lowers the amount utilities are required to pay for customer-generated solar power, effectively allowing utilities to pocket the difference.

This isn’t about consumer protection; it’s about corporate favoritism. Why should homeowners be paid pennies per kilowatt-hour for the same electricity that utilities turn around and sell for a premium? If utilities claim to support a free market, they should be required to pay fair market value for the energy they purchase, not exploit homeowners who invested in solar.

What needs to change?

Arizona residents deserve better! The ACC must:

Restore fair solar compensation 

Revaluate the RCP ensuring homeowners receive a just market rate for the power they generate. Utilities should not be allowed to profit off private solar production while underpaying customers.

End unnecessary fees and penalties on solar customers

Fix rate structures designed to make solar financially unviable. Arizona should make it easier, not harder, for working people to save money by producing energy.

Increase transparency 

Require utilities to disclose how much solar energy they buy from customers and resell at a markup. The public has a right to know how much utilities are profiting from solar customers’ contributions.

Arizona has the natural resources and demand to be a clean energy leader, but if the ACC continues its anti-solar policies, working people will continue to pay too much for energy. The Commission should be working for Arizona consumers and local independent energy producers, not the huge corporations lobbying against them.

It’s time for action

Arizona’s energy future shouldn’t be dictated by utilities whose primary concern is maximizing shareholder profits. It should be shaped by policies that encourage energy independence, sustainability and fair treatment of consumers.

The ACC has the power to correct course, restore fair compensation, and ensure that Arizona remains at the forefront of the clean energy movement. But if they continue to prioritize monopoly utilities over homeowners, lawmakers and voters must step in to demand real accountability.

The choice is clear: Stand with solar customers, or continue letting corporations rig the system against them.

Sylvia French is an entrepreneur, advocate for sustainable energy, and founder of Sollara Carbon, an Arizona-based company developing carbon nanosheets from biochar for clean energy applications.