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March 22, 2018 • EPE Related News

El Paso Times: El Paso Electric would add 1,000 customers to Community Solar Program under proposal

More residents will be able to buy a slice of solar power from El Paso Electric if the company's new request to expand the utility's popular Texas Community Solar Program gets approved by Texas regulators.

The company has asked the Public Utility Commission of Texas to approve its plan to sell two megawatts of solar power to new customers in the company's year-old Community Solar Program.

The solar power would come from the 10-megawatt solar plant located next to the company's natural gas-fueled Newman power plant in Northeast El Paso.

The company needs regulators' permission to expand the solar program and to also use the 2 megawatts that had originally been designated to go into its New Mexico power grid.

If approved, about 1,000 more of El Paso Electric's area customers would be able to sign onto the solar program, company officials reported.

The company currently has a waiting list of more than 1,000 customers for the program, which began last year. 

“We are excited to have found a way to provide additional Texas customers with easy access to solar energy, and especially to those customers who have been patiently waiting to join our program,” El Paso Electric Chief Executive Officer Mary Kipp said in a statement.

 The proposed expansion also includes reducing a solar customer's monthly solar charge from $20.96 per kilowatt to $18.99 per kilowatt, according to the company's request filed March 20. The lower charge would also apply to existing community solar customers.

The solar rate is more expensive than regular El Paso Electric rates, but the solar charge won't go up as long as a customer is in the program, and the charge could go down over time, a company official previously reported.

Currently, 1,467 El Paso Electric customers are enrolled in the Community Solar Program, which gets power from the solar plant located next to the company's Montana power plant in far East El Paso County.

 

Of those, 1,463 are residential and small commercial customers enrolled for an average 2 kilowatts of solar power per month, and four large commercial customers enrolled for an average of 9 kilowatts per month.

Under the program, customers must commit to buy at least 1 kilowatt per month, and can buy up to 60 percent of customer's monthly electric consumption.

The Newman solar facility is operated by PSEG Solar Source, a part of Public Service Enterprise Group, a large electric company based in New Jersey.

El Paso Electric has a 30-year agreement to buy power from the solar plant, which began operating in February 2015 on 100 acres adjacent to El Paso Electric's Newman power plant. 

More information: epelectric.com/communitysolar

https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2018/03/22/el-paso-electric-community-solar-program-texas-puc-application/446607002/

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