{"id":13873,"date":"2016-08-29T11:29:27","date_gmt":"2016-08-29T16:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=13873"},"modified":"2016-08-29T14:11:22","modified_gmt":"2016-08-29T19:11:22","slug":"2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Ways El Paso Just Upped Texas\u2019 Solar Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SolarPanelArray\"The city of El Paso has many nicknames, but \u201cThe Sun City\u201d is probably the most well-known. After two important energy updates this summer, West Texas\u2019 largest city has even more reason to call itself that.<\/p>\n

First, El Paso Electric, the public utility that serves nearly half a million customers, reached a major milestone: It is now officially 100 percent coal-free<\/a> and has pledged to increase its solar investment. Second, the utility agreed<\/a> to eliminate its proposal that would have resulted in different electricity prices for customers with solar panels at their homes. Such a pricing structure would have placed an unnecessary burden on El Pasoans with solar.<\/p>\n

Sunny El Paso has incredible potential<\/a> for solar power, and both of these developments are positive signs for the city\u2019s clean energy future. Let\u2019s take a closer look at each.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First coal-free Texas utility <\/strong><\/p>\n

El Paso Electric, which serves both Texas and New Mexico, is now the only utility in either state to produce coal-free electricity. At the end of a 50-year service contract, the utility sold its remaining share of a New Mexico coal power plant, and is planning to meet future demand through increased investment in utility-scale<\/a> solar.<\/p>\n

Less coal means less harmful pollution, or avoiding \u201cmore than 2 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year, which is the equivalent to taking 190,000 cars off the road and planting 20 million trees,\u201d according<\/a> to El Paso Electric. Solar panels, on the other hand, release no carbon pollution and will save a lot of water: Coal-generated electricity requires<\/a> a huge amount of water for cooling and distribution, while solar needs little to none.<\/p>\n

The utility\u2019s decision benefits both the environment and the economy.\u00a0\u201cThis decision was not only the best environmental decision for our community, but it was also beneficial financially for all of our customers,\u201d said<\/a> Mary Kipp, CEO of El Paso Electric.<\/p>\n

[Tweet “2 Ways El Paso Just Upped Texas\u2019 Solar Game”]<\/p>\n

Avoiding unnecessary solar barriers <\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to its major coal-free announcement, the utility reached a unanimous settlement<\/a> in its rate case pending before the Public Utility Commission of Texas. Essentially a utility\u2019s pitch for higher electricity prices for customers, a rate case involves multiple parties \u2013 including state and local governments, along with consumer and environmental advocacy groups \u2013 trying to determine the rules of the road by which the utility will operate until the next rate case. El Paso Electric was proposing an electricity rate structure that would have raised costs for most existing residential solar customers. Under the proposed structure, people with solar at home \u2013 who most likely decided to install panels based on expected savings \u2013 would have suddenly been hit with an unanticipated, additional monthly charge.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the utility\u2019s original proposal would have made it impossible for people considering installing solar panels to determine what the impact would be to their cost for electricity. That\u2019s because the proposed structure included new demand charges<\/a> \u2013 which are based on the maximum amount of energy a customer uses at any given point over the course of a month \u2013 without the information needed to understand and manage them.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, after listening to and engaging with numerous environmental and consumer advocates, as well as the area\u2019s legislative leadership and the City\u2019s Mayor and City Council, El Paso Electric agreed to a compromise and abandon<\/a>ed<\/a> the proposed rate structure. The move will help empower El Pasoans to produce their own clean energy, without unnecessarily increasing electric bills. Hopefully, El Paso Electric will not propose another anti-solar charge for its residential customers when it files its next rate case \u2013 expected in the first quarter of 2017.<\/p>\n

Amid Texas\u2019 overall momentum<\/a> toward a smarter electric grid, El Paso Electric is proving itself to be a leader in the clean energy economy. We hope it will continue to support and advance resources like solar power, giving El Paso even more claim to the nickname, \u201cThe Sun City.\u201d<\/p>\n

This post originally appeared on our Texas Clean Air Matters blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The city of El Paso has many nicknames, but \u201cThe Sun City\u201d is probably the most well-known. After two important energy updates this summer, West Texas\u2019 largest city has even more reason to call itself that. First, El Paso Electric, the public utility that serves nearly half a million customers, reached a major milestone: It …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[203,181],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-13873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-solar-energy","category-texas"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n2 Ways El Paso Just Upped Texas\u2019 Solar Game - Energy Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2 Ways El Paso Just Upped Texas\u2019 Solar Game - Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The city of El Paso has many nicknames, but \u201cThe Sun City\u201d is probably the most well-known. After two important energy updates this summer, West Texas\u2019 largest city has even more reason to call itself that. First, El Paso Electric, the public utility that serves nearly half a million customers, reached a major milestone: It ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-29T16:29:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-29T19:11:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2016\/08\/SolarPanelArray-300x152.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Hall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Hall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Hall\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/016c7f19d117e7a9d0548e388cfa1df7\"},\"headline\":\"2 Ways El Paso Just Upped Texas\u2019 Solar Game\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-29T16:29:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-29T19:11:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":677,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/SolarPanelArray-300x152.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Solar Energy\",\"Texas\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/\",\"name\":\"2 Ways El Paso Just Upped Texas\u2019 Solar Game - Energy Exchange\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/SolarPanelArray-300x152.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-29T16:29:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-29T19:11:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/016c7f19d117e7a9d0548e388cfa1df7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/SolarPanelArray-300x152.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/38\\\/files\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/SolarPanelArray-300x152.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/29\\\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2 Ways El Paso Just Upped Texas\u2019 Solar Game\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/\",\"name\":\"Energy Exchange\",\"description\":\"Accelerating the clean energy revolution\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/016c7f19d117e7a9d0548e388cfa1df7\",\"name\":\"John Hall\",\"description\":\"Director, Regulatory & Legislative Affairs. John leads EDF's clean energy efforts in Texas.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.edf.org\\\/people\\\/john-hall\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/energyexchange\\\/author\\\/jhall\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2 Ways El Paso Just Upped Texas\u2019 Solar Game - Energy Exchange","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"2 Ways El Paso Just Upped Texas\u2019 Solar Game - Energy Exchange","og_description":"The city of El Paso has many nicknames, but \u201cThe Sun City\u201d is probably the most well-known. After two important energy updates this summer, West Texas\u2019 largest city has even more reason to call itself that. First, El Paso Electric, the public utility that serves nearly half a million customers, reached a major milestone: It ...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/","og_site_name":"Energy Exchange","article_published_time":"2016-08-29T16:29:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-08-29T19:11:22+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2016\/08\/SolarPanelArray-300x152.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"John Hall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Hall","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/"},"author":{"name":"John Hall","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/016c7f19d117e7a9d0548e388cfa1df7"},"headline":"2 Ways El Paso Just Upped Texas\u2019 Solar Game","datePublished":"2016-08-29T16:29:27+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-29T19:11:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/"},"wordCount":677,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2016\/08\/SolarPanelArray-300x152.jpg","articleSection":["Solar Energy","Texas"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/","name":"2 Ways El Paso Just Upped Texas\u2019 Solar Game - Energy Exchange","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2016\/08\/SolarPanelArray-300x152.jpg","datePublished":"2016-08-29T16:29:27+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-29T19:11:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/016c7f19d117e7a9d0548e388cfa1df7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2016\/08\/SolarPanelArray-300x152.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/2016\/08\/SolarPanelArray-300x152.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2016\/08\/29\/2-ways-el-paso-just-upped-texas-solar-game\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"2 Ways El Paso Just Upped Texas\u2019 Solar Game"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/","name":"Energy Exchange","description":"Accelerating the clean energy revolution","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/016c7f19d117e7a9d0548e388cfa1df7","name":"John Hall","description":"Director, Regulatory & Legislative Affairs. John leads EDF's clean energy efforts in Texas.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.edf.org\/people\/john-hall"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/author\/jhall\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13873"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}