Arizona Solar Center Blog

The popular viewpoint that solar energy is an expensive form of electricity is dwindling, undone by significant cost reductions in recent years. And although the industry itself remains in its infancy, costs have dropped so dramatically that cost parity has been achieved in certain areas.

Five years ago Forbes magazine proclaimed that “a new era for solar power is approaching.”

It isn’t the first time that the promise of solar has been touted as ushering in a new era in energy.

The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) decision on November 14 to impose a monthly fee on future rooftop solar homeowners left many observers wondering whether it was:

The net metering issue before the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) is being framed as an issue of “fairness.” This policy, adopted in 2008 by the ACC as part of the state’s Renewable Energy Standard, was devised to encourage Arizonans to spend large amounts of money out-of-pocket to inject clean electrons into our electrical system – benefitting the grid, the economy, our air, our health. 

For several months Arizona media outlets have repeated a certain inaccurate "statement of fact" about solar homeowners so many times that most people by now believe it to be true. Anti-solar TV ads from out-of-state non-profit organizations have made the same claim: Arizona solar customers are primarily wealthy and live in affluent neighborhoods.