How to read my bill
TEP's rates reflect the cost of providing safe, reliable electric service to our customers. They also reflect the complexity of that task, with fixed charges, usage-based charges and surcharges that can be difficult to understand. The following summary offers explanations for the terms you'll find on your monthly bill, including links to details posted elsewhere on this website.
Jump to a section: Delivery Services | Power Supply Charges | Green Energy Charges | Taxes and Assessments | Other bill related info
Delivery Services
The charges listed in this section of your bill recover the cost of delivering power to customers. These charges reflect the cost of poles, wires, transformers and other infrastructure; employees and contractors who install, operate and maintain that equipment; and other necessary business expenses.
The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) sets rates that divide responsibility for these costs among different types of customers — residential, small business, large business and industrial — based on their typical energy usage patterns. TEP's rates are designed to recover the appropriate portion of these costs from each customer group through a combination of fixed fees and usage-based charges.
Power Supply Charges
This section of your bill includes usage-based charges to cover the cost of generating or buying energy for customers.
Green Energy Charges
TEP is using more renewable power, helping customers save energy and improving the environmental profile of its generating resources. Some of the costs associated with these efforts are recovered through usage-based surcharges approved by the ACC and listed in this section of your bill.
Taxes and Assessments
The charges on your bill are subject to government taxes and fees. TEP forwards all of the money collected from these charges to the appropriate authorities.
Acquisition Credits
TEP customers will enjoy winter bill savings over five years as a result of the acquisition of TEP’s parent company by Fortis Inc., the largest investor-owned gas and electric distribution utility in Canada.
Under terms of Fortis' August 2014 acquisition of UNS Energy Corporation, customers of TEP and sister company UniSource Energy Services (UES) will receive bill credits totaling $30 million over five years. Savings totaling $10 million will be applied in year one, and $5 million will be applied annually over the next four years.
TEP will apply these credits to the monthly Customer Charge on bills issued from October through March. The resulting savings will range from $1.07 per month for residential customers to more than $200 per month for the largest commercial and industrial customers. Additional credits will be applied through temporary reductions in usage-based charges from October 2014 through March 2015; their impact will vary with consumption.
Monthly Acquisition Bill Credits for Residential Customers
Credit applied to monthly Customer Charge |
Average credit applied to monthly Purchase Power and Fuel Adjustment Charge (PPFAC)* |
Total monthly bill credits |
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---|---|---|---|
October 2014 — March 2015 | $1.07 | $0.56 | $1.63 |
October 2015 — March 2016 | $1.07 | n/a | $1.07 |
October 2016 — March 2017 | $1.07 | n/a | $1.07 |
October 2017 — March 2018 | $1.07 | n/a | $1.07 |
October 2018 — March 2019 | $1.07 | n/a | $1.07 |
* This amount is based on average monthly usage of 700 kilowatt hours from October 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015.
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These bill credits represent the only direct impact on rates that will result from the acquisition. TEP will not seek to recover any transaction-related costs in future rates. The Arizona Corporation Commission will continue to set the company rates based on the costs incurred to provide safe, reliable service.