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ORDER NO. PSC-2020-0508-TRF-EI DOCKET NO. 20200209-EI PAGE 5 based on an anticipated 30-year life. Use of accelerated depreciation is appropriate in instances where an asset has become obsolete or not cost-effective to maintain. However, obsolescence is not the reason for accelerating the depreciation in this case insofar as these assets would not be retired early but are expected to be in service, on average, an additional 17 years after program termination.12 We considered two reasons why it may be appropriate for these assets to be depreciated on an accelerated basis as proposed by FPL. First, accelerated depreciation would reduce the likelihood of non-participant rate impacts during this program extension if FPL's participant attrition rates are reasonably accurate. The total participant contributions associated with the program over its 11 year period (2014-2025), based on the $9 monthly charge and FPL's anticipated customer attrition rates of 2-3 percent per month, are sufficient to allow the recovery of all program costs incurred over the period from the program participants, including full recovery of the SolarNow assets. Achieving full recovery of the SolarNow assets prior to the program's conclusion protects the general body of ratepayers by removing any future depreciation expense and return on rate base that could potentially be transferred to them. Second, the primary purposes of the assets placed in service for the SolarNow pilot program are expected to be realized by the end of the program in 2025. Those purposes include offering FPL's customers an opportunity to contribute to new solar photovoltaic generation facilities and to promote customer education and solar awareness objectives as the solar market developed. FPL's recently approved SolarTogether program provides customers with an opportunity to contribute to solar development. FPL provided a calculation of the depreciation expense at current rates and the proposed accelerated rates.13 Those calculations reflect an annual increase in depreciation expense of $3,960,140 for the final five years of the program.14 The utility also provided a calculation showing that the increased revenue requirement, due to the accelerated depreciation, would exceed the customer contributions and system savings for the remaining years of the program.ls However, according to FPL, the program produced a surplus of revenue from previous years. This surplus would largely offset the revenue shortfall through the end of the program, if the utility's participant attrition rates are accurate. We find that FPL's forecast of the SolarNow expenses through 2025 have a relatively high degree of certainty,while the forecast of program revenues based on customer contributions is much less certain. In its petition, the utility projects a participant attrition rate of 2-3 percent per month over the final five years of the program. This attrition rate could be partially offset by • new participants joining the program. However, if the utility's planned cessation of new solar construction for purposes of this program or any other factors cause that attrition rate to be higher than anticipated, the utility's projected revenue surplus at the conclusion of the program may not materialize and may in fact result in a revenue shortfall. We agree with FPL that it is 12 Document No. 11292-2020. 13 Id. 14 Increase in depreciation expense for 2021 equals $4,843,915 - $883,775 and for 2022-2025 equals $4,834,459 - $874,319. 'Document No. 11292-2020.