El Paso Electric building small solar farm

new small solar farm– and it hopes it’s customers will eventually subscribe. this is video of what the solar facility would look like. the utility has asked regulators to approve a new community solar program they say…. can potentially save customers money on their bills in the long run. this solar garden is going to be built in far east el paso– but anyone with in the territory can take part. and joing us now is eddie gutierrez — the spokesman for el paso electric. welcome. eddie, this is a new concept. – explain this farm – its in the far east but everyone can subscribe – what would they have to do? how much does it cost? – its expensive now but you say it will potentially save customers money on their bills in the long run. – fix rates for the life of the contract? even if rates change and fuel costs increase? – this is cheaper than getting your own rooftop solar panel? and then not everyone can get one? – what do we have now? why does someone want solar? -el paso electric is building a new 3 mw community solar facility and has asked regulators to approve a new community solar program that can potentially save customers money on their bills in the long run. – this is a voluntary subscription to energy coming from small solar farm visible in the community. this solar garden is going to be built in far east el paso but anyone in our texas service territory can subscribe. if all goes well with this pilot we will be looking to build more around el paso in visible locations. – the longer customers are in the program the more likely it is that they will save over time because they will buy a percentage of the energy they use from this new solar facility at a fixed rate for the life of the contract. – this program is to address the challenges of customers who cannot afford a rooftop solar system on their roof or do not have a good credit score but what energy from the sun. this is primarily driven by customers who do not want to worry about maintenance, escalation fees, expensive systems or don’t have a good credit score to begin the process. this gives you the benefits of solar without having to worry about maintenance and future regulatory changes or rates going