Arizona Home Battery Payback Calculator (2026)
Priced on Arizona Public Service E-12 TOU rates and below-retail export rules. No federal tax credit is assumed — Section 25D ended 2025-12-31.
Why Arizona is different
Arizona pairs the country's strongest solar resource with a rate structure built for batteries. The APS E-12 TOU plan spreads a 27.86-cent peak against a 10.23-cent off-peak — a 2.7x ratio, with on-peak hours at 3-8pm on summer weekdays, exactly when air conditioning peaks. Exports are paid through the Resource Comparison Proxy at about 10.5 cents/kWh, so each stored kWh is worth roughly 17 cents. There is no standing statewide battery rebate (APS program cycles open and close — verify the current cycle), and summer monsoon outages add backup value the calculator does not price. On paper Arizona should be a top-three battery state; the missing rebate is why payback still runs long.
Rate structure
| Rate | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Peak rate (discharge window) | $0.28/kWh · 15:00-20:00 weekdays, summer | |
| Off-peak rate (charging) | $0.10/kWh | |
| Export credit | $0.10/kWh · Resource Comparison Proxy (net billing) | |
| Average residential retail | $0.154/kWh · EIA statewide residential average 15.38¢ (2026-07) |
Verification status: Sourced. E-12 TOU 2026: peak $0.2786 (up 5.8% from $0.2634 in 2025), off-peak $0.1023. The official APS rate-sheet URL is to be verified and linked in M1.
Export mechanism: below-retail export
Arizona credits new solar exports below retail (Resource Comparison Proxy (net billing)). Energy you store and use yourself avoids the peak purchase but gives up the export credit, so its value is peak minus export — about $0.17/kWh. That gap is what a battery monetises.
Incentives and VPP
| Program | Status | What it means for a battery |
|---|---|---|
| APS battery rebate | Verify | reported ~$500-2,000 per system depending on program cycle — verify the current cycle with APS |
| Virtual power plant (VPP) | verify | varies — verify with your provider |
Outage context
Summer heat and monsoon outages raise backup value
Typical payback in Arizona
Precomputed with the same model as the calculator, at the Arizona rates above and the reference installed cost of $13,000 (13.5 kWh usable, pre-incentive). Your numbers move with your bill, your quote and your rate plan.
| Scenario | Year-1 savings | Simple payback | 10-year net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Have solar · $200/mo bill · 13.5 kWh · $13,000 installed | $731 | 17.8 years | −$4,654 |
| Have solar · larger bill · $600/mo bill · 13.5 kWh · $13,000 installed | $770 | 16.9 years | −$4,215 |
| Battery only · $200/mo bill · 13.5 kWh · $13,000 installed | $743 | 17.5 years | −$4,524 |
Estimates only — not financial, tax, or installation advice. Backup value and program payments are shown separately and never folded into the payback ratio.
State data pack
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Default utility | Arizona Public Service |
| Rate plan modelled | E-12 TOU |
| Average residential retail | $0.154/kWh |
| Verification status | Sourced |
| Data as of | 2026-10-18 |
| Official sources | EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A (AZ residential average) (2026-10-18) · APS E-12 summer rates 2026 (installer analysis citing APS schedule) (2026-10-18) · Arizona solar compliance guide (APS RCP export rate) (2026-10-18) |
Frequently asked questions
How much can a battery actually save on my Arizona bill?
At the rates above, each self-consumed kWh is worth the peak rate minus the export credit ($0.28 − $0.10 = $0.17). The model caps discharge at how much of your usage actually falls in the evening peak, so the reference scenarios above are the honest range — your bill, your quote and your rate plan move them.
Does Arizona pay for home batteries?
reported ~$500-2,000 per system depending on program cycle — verify the current cycle with APS Program terms change mid-cycle — verify on the program's own page before counting on any rebate.
Is a battery worth it in Arizona without the federal tax credit?
Section 25D ended 2025-12-31, so every result on this site assumes no federal credit. That makes the break-even installed price the most useful number on the results screen: it is the price at which the ten-year arithmetic stops working at your assumptions. Compare every quote against it, and read the outage context above — backup is real value, just not a cash flow.
Keep reading
| All state guides — ten states, ten different answers | Directory |
| Data & method — every constant with its source and verification date | Data |
| Full guide — how to read a payback number and the mistakes that inflate it | Article |
| How the model works — included, excluded, and a worked example | Method |
This page is educational. It is not financial, tax, or installation advice. Data as of 2026-10-18.