Major electric company secures loan to make a game-changing shift that could save customers money: 'Exciting'

Major electric company secures loan to make a game-changing shift that could save customers money: ‘Exciting’

March 30, 2025

Arizona’s largest electric utility company secured a conditional $1.81 billion loan that will help the shift toward renewable energy and reduced emissions.

Factor This reported on the loan details, which will finance initiatives like new or upgraded transmission projects, renewable power generation, and grid-integrated energy storage systems. This loan from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office will help Arizona Public Service Company reach its renewable energy goals.

The utility company hopes to source 45% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, and it plans to cease coal-fired energy generation by 2031. But its most ambitious goal is to produce all energy free of carbon emissions by 2050.

Loan conditions require the money to be used to benefit utility customers, which should reduce strain on electricity rates. It’s estimated that APS customers will save about $250 million over the loan’s lifetime.

Factor This states, “APS plans to use the loan to invest in a broad range of new infrastructure technologies to meet expected demand growth while lowering emissions and saving 1.4 million customers money on their electricity bills.”

The Agave Battery Energy Storage System, which will support stable, reliable grid operations as the company integrates renewable energy systems, is first on the list of projects to receive portions of this fund. It should help keep consumer costs down as the utility company focuses on transitioning to renewable energy.

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The money from LPO may also go toward establishing more battery storage facilities, solar and wind power projects, and cost-reducing transmission projects. Thanks to the loan, APS customers won’t feel the financial pain of this transition, and the reduced carbon emissions help cool the planet and reduce air pollution.

APS also has a $144 million Coal Communities Transition plan in place to ease the move away from coal power for Indigenous communities that profit off coal, according to APS.

In an X post concerning the loan, the account for the Green Glow Sustainability Newsletter wrote, “Exciting to see more states embracing the transition to clean energy!”