APS Rate Increase 2026: Protect Your Home with Solar + Battery

Arizona homeowners are already paying more for electricity than they were just a few years ago.

With rising infrastructure costs, longer and hotter summers, and record peak demand, Arizona Public Service has requested a 14% rate increase for 2026, soon to be under review by the Arizona Corporation Commission. This comes just two years after APS raised rates by 4% in March 2024.

Solar and battery storage offer a proven way to hedge against repeated utility rate increases by turning your home into its own power-generating system.

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APS customers could see rate increase on utility bills

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Why Rate Increases Are Becoming More Frequent

Utilities don’t raise rates casually, but the rules around how often rates can change have shifted, and several cost pressures are accelerating the trend.

Not long after approving an 8% rate increase for APS in 2024, the Arizona Corporation Commission approved a new policy allowing utilities to request smaller, more frequent rate adjustments. While intended to reduce “rate shock” from larger, less frequent increases, this approach also reduces opportunities for public input.

Real world pressures are also continuing to mount:

Longer, hotter summers driving record peak demand
An influx of high-energy-use businesses, including data centers and manufacturing
Ongoing grid modernization and reliability investments
Rising fuel, transmission, and infrastructure costs
Greater reliance on expensive on-peak electricity

When utilities need revenue to expand and modernize the grid, those costs are largely passed on to ratepayers—unless homeowners are already generating and storing their own power.

What a Rate Increase Really Means for Your Home

If APS rates increase later this year, and all indicators suggest they will - homeowners typically feel the pressure in three ways:

Higher monthly bills, even if usage stays the same
More expensive peak-hour electricity (late afternoon & evening)
Less control over future energy costs
Less comfort for your family - especially in Summer months.

In Arizona, homeowners have just two choices: buy electricity from the utility that serves their area—or generate and manage your own power with solar and battery storage.

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Solar Panels

Produce clean energy during the day
Reduce total energy purchased from APS
Fill a battery to offset evening usage when rates are most expensive.

Battery Storage

Stores solar energy instead of exporting it to the grid for shrinking credits
Powers your home during the costly afternoon and evening on-peak hours.
Provide energy back up in case of a grid outage.
Reduces exposure to demand charges and future rate changes

Why Timing Matters

Rate increases are often implemented in the fall, when Arizona homeowners are using less air conditioning and bills are temporarily lower. That makes increases easier to miss—but they don’t disappear. You feel them months later, when summer returns.

Solar and battery systems also take time to implement. From design and permitting to installation and activation, the process can take several weeks—and longer during peak demand seasons. If you wait until the first high summer bill arrives, it’s often too late for the system to offset costs when you need it most.

Planning ahead ensures your system is in place and working before higher bills hit—not after.

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Our Approach Is Different (And That Matters)

At Sun Valley Solar Solutions we prefer an education-first approach, so you understand your options, the numbers, and the tradeoffs before making a decision. If solar doesn’t make sense, we’ll tell you.

We handle everything in-house—from consultation and design to installation and long-term service. You work directly with our team, not subcontractors or 1099 salespeople who disappear after the sale.

Every system that bears our name is custom-engineered around your home, your energy use, and your savings goals. There’s no one-size-fits-all pricing, and no cookie-cutter designs that limit long-term value. That’s also why you won’t find generic pricing on our website—because for us accuracy matters more than a quick sale.

Why homeowners choose us:

20+ years serving Arizona homeowners
In-house engineering, installation, and service—right here in Arizona. Visit our Chandler headquarters to see the equipment and talk with our team in person.
Honest modeling based on real Arizona Public Service rate structures
No pressure. If solar doesn’t make sense for your home, we’ll tell you. We never push a system that won’t deliver real savings or long-term security.
We fully inspect your property before we ask you to sign anything.

We take the time to design systems around how APS actually bills you and how you actually use energy—not best-case assumptions or quick phone estimates.