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Net Metering Program
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Arizona Public Service net metering in Arizona

Eleven of Arizona’s fifteen counties, including much of metropolitan Phoenix, Flagstaff, Prescott and Yuma. The largest utility in the state and the one whose export rate the Corporation Commission sets each year. Neighboring Phoenix suburbs can be on APS or on SRP, and the two pay very differently.

Type
Investor owned
Accounts
1.4M

What they credit you

5.554 cents, locked ten years, falling for whoever is next

Published terms

APS buys exported power under tariff RCP at the tranche rate in force when you apply. For interconnections from 1 September 2026 that is $0.05554 per kWh, held for ten years. The 2017 tranche was $0.12900.

Month to month
Credits carry forward on the bill; anything over $25 left after the December bill is paid by check.

Published terms · checked 2026-09-05 · source

Installers serving APS customers

Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.

Not sure which to choose?

These are real companies operating in APS territory. Bold Energy is listed first because it is the company we introduce first. That order is our choice, not a score. The other companies are ordered by reviews, years trading and BBB grade. None of them pays us for placement. Pick the one you want and we will call you to arrange it.

Ordering combines three things we read from primary sources: Google review count and rating, years trading taken from the company’s Better Business Bureau profile rather than its own marketing, and its BBB letter grade. BBB accreditation is shown but never scored, because it is a paid membership rather than a mark of quality.

Check any contractor license yourself at the state register. Do that before you sign anything, with any company, including ours.

What this looks like on a APS bill

An average Arizona household, against a system sized to cover its year. The energy charge is the part that goes to zero. The fixed monthly charge underneath it is the part that never does, and it is the number that decides whether a system pays for itself.

Meter readingkWh
Energy charge$163.19
$163.19
We have read this provider’s own tariff. What it still bills you at zero is set out below, with the sheet it came from. The energy line above uses the statewide average. See what they still bill
DirectionReading…

Meter reading falling from 41926 to 41626 kilowatt hours. A 1,075 kilowatt hour month against 1,375 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 300 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $163.19 to $0.00 at 15.18 cents per kilowatt hour.

Arizona average household use, 1,075 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 15.18¢ per kWh. Your utility still bills a fixed monthly customer charge that no system offsets, so this is the energy part of the bill, which is the part that goes away.

APS requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in APS territory.

APS does not credit the power you send back at the rate it charges you to take it.

That does not make solar a bad idea in APS territory. It changes what you should build. When exports are worth a fraction of retail the credit stops being the return, and the job becomes using more of your own production inside the house, which usually means a larger array than a one for one utility would need.

Sizing is where that gets decided, so ask about it directly. Arizona sets no simple kilowatt limit: APS’s own rider requires only that the system be on site, behind the billing meter, and serving the customer’s load, with any size then subject to the state interconnection requirements. APS sets its own limits. Ask APS what it allows before you accept that a bigger system is off the table.

A battery then does two separate jobs. It moves daytime production into the evening so you use it instead of selling it, and it keeps the house running when the grid goes down. That second job is not a bonus. Panels on their own shut off in an outage, by design, so a roof full of them powers nothing during a storm. That is the part we will not refer around.

So we treat it as a requirement, not an upgrade. We will not refer you for a panels-only system in APS territory, and you should be skeptical of anyone who quotes you one without raising storage first.

Our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement

What your installer should be telling you

The tranche rate may be cut by up to 10% each September, and only the rate is locked, not the retail price you pay. Confirm the tranche your application will land in before you sign, and confirm what solar-specific charges are on the bill after the June 2026 court decision.

What APS bills you anyway

In a month when your production covers everything you use, the energy charge can reach zero. This does not. It is the floor under every bill, and it is the number that decides whether a system pays for itself.

The charge
About $16.02 a month ($0.458 a day plus $2.09), and $0.242 per kW of panels if the grid access charge is still billed
How it is set
A home with solar cannot take APS’s simplest plan, R-1, which is “available to full requirements residential Customers who do not have an on-site distributed generation system.” Solar homes take a time-of-use plan instead. On Time-of-Use 4pm-7pm Weekdays (TOU-E), the Basic Service Charge is $0.458 a day, about $13.93 a month (effective 8 March 2024, Decision No. 79293). The Renewable Energy Adjustment Charge, which for other homes is 0.6214 cents a kilowatt hour capped at $2.49, becomes a flat $2.09 a month for homes that connected solar after 1 February 2013. That makes about $16.02 before any energy. TOU-E also lists a Grid Access Charge of $0.242 per kW-dc of panel nameplate each month, about $1.94 on an 8 kW system, which would take the floor to about $17.96. The Arizona Court of Appeals vacated that solar charge in June 2026 and sent it back to the Commission, but the tariff APS posts still includes it, so look for it on your bill. Energy on TOU-E is 34.396 cents a kilowatt hour from 4 to 7 p.m. on summer weekdays, 12.345 cents off-peak, and 3.495 cents in the winter weekday super off-peak from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., before the power supply and other adjustors. Exports earn the RCP rate, 5.554 cents for applications from 1 September 2026, held for ten years. APS has a rate case pending, with a decision expected in December 2026 and new rates in 2027.

Arizona Public Service Company: Rate Schedule TOU-E, A.C.C. No. 6154, Revision No. 3, effective 8 March 2024 (Decision No. 79293); Rate Schedule R-1, A.C.C. No. 6148; Adjustment Schedule REAC-1, A.C.C. No. 6245, Revision No. 21, effective 1 March 2026 (Decision No. 81646); Adjustment Schedules LFCR (effective 1 December 2025), CRS-1, SRB-1 and TEAM; Rate Rider RCP, Tranche 2026 · checked 2026-10-02 · source

Applying to APS

What APS itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.

What a new system is paid today
Tariff RCP puts the Tranche 2026 rate, for interconnections from 1 September 2026 through 31 August 2027, at $0.05554 per kWh. That is the number, from APS’s own filed tariff.
The same tariff shows what it used to be
Tranche 2017 was $0.12900. Then 0.11610, 0.10450, 0.09405, 0.08465, 0.07619, 0.06857, 0.06171, and now 0.05554. Nine tranches, each lower than the last, all printed on one page of the tariff.
Your rate is locked for ten years, and only ten
"Each Customer’s initial RCP rate will be applicable for 10 years from the time of their interconnection." After that, "the bill credit will be based on the purchase rate in effect at that time, and may change from year to year."
Waiting a year costs you the difference
The rate is set by the tranche in effect when you submit the interconnection application, provided you finish within 180 days. The tariff allows 270 days where a third party or APS caused the delay. Miss the window and you fall into the next, lower tranche.
Exports are metered instantaneously
"The Company will meter this Export Energy on an instantaneous basis." Power sent out at noon is bought at 5.554 cents; power drawn back at eight in the evening is sold to you at the retail rate. They are two separate transactions, not a net.
Leftover credit is paid out in January
After the December bill, credits above $25 are paid by check automatically. Anything at or below $25 carries into the following year.
There is no simple size cap
The generator must use solar photovoltaic panels, be interconnected to the distribution grid, and be "on-site, installed behind the billing meter, and must serve the residential Customer’s load". Systems of any size are then subject to the state interconnection requirements.
The extra solar charge was struck down in June 2026
The Arizona Court of Appeals vacated the grid access charge APS levied on rooftop solar customers, holding the Commission denied due process because the public notice gave no sign a solar-specific fee was under consideration. APS has proposed roughly $6 a month in its current rate case. Ask what is on your bill and under what authority.

From APS’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source

APS net metering questions

Does APS offer one for one net metering?
No. APS buys exported power under tariff RCP at the tranche rate in force when you apply. For interconnections from 1 September 2026 that is $0.05554 per kWh, held for ten years. The 2017 tranche was $0.12900.
What does APS pay for power sent back to the grid?
5.554 cents, locked ten years, falling for whoever is next. Credits carry forward on the bill; anything over $25 left after the December bill is paid by check.
Do I need a battery with APS?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because APS does not credit exports one for one, the return has to come from using your own production rather than selling it, which after dark means storage and usually a larger array than a one for one utility would need. The other half is backup: panels alone shut off in an outage, so a battery is what keeps the house running in a storm. We do not refer panels-only systems in APS territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my APS bill?
Sign in at aps.com. Open My Account, then Bill & Payment. Open View Bill and save the PDF. Or screenshot the summary page. If you cannot get to it, a rough guess at your average monthly amount is enough to start.
What is the catch with APS?
The tranche rate may be cut by up to 10% each September, and only the rate is locked, not the retail price you pay. Confirm the tranche your application will land in before you sign, and confirm what solar-specific charges are on the bill after the June 2026 court decision.