Real Estate

Christopher Todd Communities Offers New Local Rental Options

THE LOOP 303 CORRIDOR IN THE NORTHWEST VALLEY IS POISED FOR SIGNIFICANT GROWTH WITH A TECHNICALLY SKILLED AND EDUCATED WORKFORCE.

Now those workers have a new rental housing option.

“We have created innovation in the multi-family industry with our hybrid of single-family homes and luxury apartments. It really is a new way to live that is resonating with Millennials and Boomers alike who appreciate not having a neighbor above or below,” says Todd Wood, CEO of Christopher Todd Communities. The one- and two-bedroom, singlestory homes with 10- to 11-foot ceilings, come with smart home technology and maintenance-free private backyards that are great for working from home and social distancing. Each home is equipped with DirecTV and technology for keyless door entry, remote door locking, and climate and entertainment control via smart phone or tablet. The remote climate feature can help residents save up to 12% annually on their heating and cooling costs. To support the smart features, the included Internet has a speed up to 1000/1000 mbps. The amenity-rich smart-gated community features a resort-style pool, fitness center, event lawn and park. entrepreneurs and community leaders. The City of Peoria Economic Development plans and efforts are aggressive yet targeted to attract high quality manufacturing, technology, and services companies to the beauty of the wideopen vistas in northwest Peoria. As

our job base continues to grow, quality affordable housing and amenities are a ‘must have’ as part of the overall business ecosystem," says Scot Andrews, CEO of the Peoria Chamber of Commerce.

To learn more, visit CTCPriority.com.

The 222-home Christopher Todd Communities On Happy Valley opened this summer at 11903 W. Happy Valley Road, just west of the Loop 303 in north Peoria, near the master planned community of Vistancia and Lake Pleasant. Companies looking to locate near the 303 and bring jobs to the area will find a great lifestyle community, which is attractive to their employees.

"Peoria is fortunate with a vibrant small business community led by great

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Deadline for APS Customers is August 31st

August 31st is the last day APS customers can get their applications fully submitted to go solar and still receive the current 10.45-cent buyback rate, which will be grandfathered in and remain in place for at least the next 10 years. APS customers who don’t have a full application submitted by September 1, meaning site survey, engineered plans and associated documents, will instead receive and be locked into a lower buyback rate.

Over the next several years, the rate APS is required to pay its customers for the surplus power they generate and export to the grid will drop annually from 10.45 cents down to approximately fi ve cents per kilowatt-hour. The current rate is roughly the same price as the retail price that APS customers pay for offpeak power. On September 1st that price begins its march downward to something approaching the wholesale price of electricity.

In the Valley of the Sun, solar systems typically produce much more power than a home needs during the spring months. This is due to the fact that we have perfect weather for solar production and low to moderate use of electricity because we do not need air conditioning in the spring. APS has a monopoly on selling power to consumers as well as a monopoly on purchasing power from consumers (what economists call a “monopsony”), which means the only entity to which consumers can sell their power is APS.

The Arizona Corporation Commission sets those rates for APS to sell and also buy back power. In 2017 the Corporation Commission approved the transition from net metering to net billing. In the netmetering model, consumers would meter power into the grid, getting credit in kilowatt-hours, and then draw power back from the grid, also in kilowatt-hours. The effect was that consumers got a-one-toone credit per kilowatt-hour and were buying and selling power at the same price. In the net-billing model, APS charges a cash price for the power drawn from the grid and pays a cash price back to the consumer for power they export to the grid.

This change was made so that the one-to-one pricing could transition to a more advantageous rate for APS. The argument was that APS could purchase the homeowner’s power from other electricity providers at the wholesale price, so the company therefore should not have to pay the retail price to consumers who produce power. The result is that APS charges signifi cantly more for the same kilowatt-hours than the consumer gets credit for when she sells it back.

The initial rate in the net-billing model was set at 12.9 cents, as compared to APS charging customers approximately 16 cents for rates and fees. The Arizona Corporation Commission approved the APS proposal that this price should drop every year on the anniversary date by an additional 10 percent. In 2018 the price went from 12.9 cents to 11.6 cents. In 2019 it dropped again to 10.45 cents, which is where it is today. Unless the ACC acts in an uncharacteristic fashion this year, it will rubberstamp APS’s request that the price to the consumer drop once again. The new rate will be lowered to 9.4 cents, increasing APS’s margin yet again.

Consumers who go solar after September 1st will produce as much power as their neighbors but get a signifi cantly smaller cash credit on their bills. This means the cash credit they will have built up in the spring, which they will need to keep their APS bills very low in the summer, will not go as far with a solar system of the same size. In 2016 a consumer could reduce her APS bill to $18 a month with a system that produced exactly the same amount of power that she purchased in a year, a 100-percent offset in other words. At the current buyback price of 10.45 cents, they have to purchase additional solar panels, increasing production to approximately 135 percent of consumption to achieve the same fi nancial outcome. Once the price drops on September 1st, the customer will need to purchase panels that will produce upwards of 150 percent to achieve the same outcome that she could have achieved with 100 percent in 2017.

In addition, as was reported in this publication last month, APS customers will fi rst have to clear the new 15-percent maximum limit on the proportion of households that can go solar in any given neighborhood. That means that customers have just a few weeks to secure their solar application with the current pricing and avoid the possibility of being blocked from going solar at all.

If homeowners want to receive a free design proposal with enough time to act and get locked into the 10.45-cent buyback rate, it is imperative that they act immediately. They can do that by emailing Michael O’Donnell (michael@sunsolarsolutions.com) or by texting or calling him at 602-818-1355.

GO SOLAR URGENT! APS DEADLINE AUGUST 31ST!

623-562-9004 9059 W Lake Pleasant Pkwy H800 Peoria AZ 85382 www.SunsolarSolutions.com Don’t Miss Out! Go Solar Today!

• $0 Down, No upfront cost • Save up to 90% off your electric bill • Protect against infl ation & energy costs increases from your Utility Company • Provide clean, reliable energy for your family powered by the sun