Some APS customers entitled to SRP rebates

Some residents in the Salt River Project water territory are entitled to rebates on their 2008 electric bills if they receive their electricity from Arizona Public Service.

In the East Valley, the rebates apply to a limited number of residents in the central areas of Gilbert and Chandler, said SRP spokesman Scott Harelson.

Rebate eligibility maps (Adobe PDF): East Valley | Phoenix

SRP has mailed applications to residents who project officials believe may be eligible for rebates based on their location, and they have until July 6 to respond, he said.

SRP officials will review the applications and determine if they are eligible for rebates and how much, he said.

Last year, 10,084 applications were received Valleywide, and 8,707 were determined to be eligible for rebates. A total of $3.1 million was paid by SRP to the APS customers — an average of $359.19 per household.

Only residential customers are eligible for rebates.

The little-known program, called the 15 Percent Area Obligation, was created in 1928 as part of the financing for the Stewart Mountain Dam on the Salt River, which produced hydroelectricity in addition to impounding water for irrigation.

Lands in the Salt River Valley were used as collateral for loans to build the dam, but some SRP landowners who received electricity from a predecessor company of Arizona Public Service complained that they would not be able to fully benefit from the cheap hydropower.

As a result, the SRP association wrote a provision into its articles of incorporation that those landowners, or shareholders, were entitled to compensation from SRP if their electric bills were at least 15 percent greater than they would have been if they were supplied electricity by SRP. If the difference was less than 15 percent, they were not entitled to compensation.

For decades, the difference in electricity rates was not enough for the obligation to apply. But beginning in the late 1960s, the gap became big enough, and the project has paid compensation to eligible APS customers each year since then, Harelson said.

The two areas in the East Valley where residents are eligible for compensation are bounded roughly by Ray, McQueen, Pecos and Alma School roads in Chandler, and one-fourth mile north of Guadalupe Road, one-fourth mile north of Warner Road and Lindsay and Cooper roads in Gilbert.

However, “townsite” areas within those boundaries are excluded because they were not part of the SRP water territory.   

Harelson did not have a breakdown of the number of residents in Chandler and Gilbert who might be eligible.

To qualify for a rebate, the applicant must be a landowner within the applicable area and have lived in a residence on that land for at least part of 2008.

More information about the program, including information on eligibility, is available by calling (602) 236-8888.