#1 Sun-Rich Arizona : State's Biggest Utilities Defeat Innovation in Solar Power

From Cronkite News
Arizona sees decrease in new solar installations

By Audrey Weil | Cronkite News | POSTED: Oct 16, 2015

Arizona dropped from first in the country to eighth in solar capacity additions, according to Environment America’s latest solar report, which also notes the drop comes “following the imposition of new fees on solar customers and near-constant attacks on distributed solar generation from the state’s biggest utilities.”
“Arizona is not number 1 in too many things. Education, we’re at the bottom, but in solar, we were at the top. That was good,” Arizona State University Director of Solar Energy Engineering Harvey Bryan said . . . Arizona ranks second, behind California, in total solar electricity capacity . . .
Go Read  http://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2015/10/16/arizona-sees-decrease-in-new-solar-installation

Image included above is from    
Why Sun-Soaked Arizona Is Killing Solar Power

Published Thu, Dec 11, 2014  |  Greg Miller, Senior Technology Analyst

He has this to say about utilities, "To be sure, SRP’s proposal reflects some hard realities that utilities will have to face in the future, as more people reduce their dependence on monopolistic utilities and the government for their needs."

Here in downtown Mesa utilities like electricity and water are City-owned.
Flood-irrigation is the standard practice while it's unclear how many solar installations have been made or what the fee charges are . . .
 

For those interested in solar power in the South West here's a map of what that looks like
[Click on map to enlarge]