Does SRP still have a pension?

Yes. The SRP Employees Retirement Plan is a non-contributory defined benefit pension covering substantially all employees, funded entirely by SRP, and still open and accruing. Per SRP audited financial statements for fiscal 2025, the plan held about $2.87 billion in assets against $2.6 billion in obligations, roughly 110% funded. The formula is based on a percentage of average monthly compensation times years of service, with a higher accrual rate after 20 years and a 34-year maximum; the exact multiplier is in the plan documents SRP provides employees.

How does the SRP 401(k) match work?

SRP matches 90 cents per dollar on the first 6% of base pay you contribute, an effective 5.4% of pay, with no vesting period per the careers site. Combined with the fully employer-funded pension, an SRP employee contributing 6% receives retirement funding on two tracks simultaneously.

Does SRP offer retiree medical?

Yes, on hire-date tiers. Employees hired before 2000 have non-contributory retiree medical; those hired in 2000 or later contribute toward it and face longer service requirements: generally retiring at 65 or older with 5 years of vested service (10 years if hired 2000 or later), or at 55 or older with 10 years (20 years if hired 2000 or later). Those service thresholds make retirement timing a bigger decision at SRP than at most employers.

Is my SRP pension safe?

SRP is a political subdivision utility, and its plan reported assets of roughly 110% of projected obligations in fiscal 2025, with SRP contributing $75 million in each of the last two fiscal years. No pension is beyond question, but an open, overfunded plan backed by an essential-service utility is about as sturdy as private-sector-style pensions get.

SRP EMPLOYEE FINANCIAL PLANNING

SRP's Benefits Stack Barely Exists Anywhere Else in America.

An open pension funded entirely by the company, and overfunded at that. A 90-cent match on your first 6%. Retiree medical you can actually reach. Most of corporate America dismantled this stack twenty years ago. I help SRP employees make sure a once-in-a-generation benefits package turns into a once-in-a-lifetime retirement.

Schedule a conversation with Jay

YOUR THREE-LAYER STACK

Pension, Match, and Retiree Medical, All at Once

The numbers below come from SRP's own audited financial statements (fiscal 2025) and its published benefits materials. That sourcing matters: these are real figures, not recruiting brochure language.

Layer	What SRP provides	Why it is rare
Pension	Non-contributory defined benefit, still open and accruing: a percentage of average monthly compensation times service, higher accrual after 20 years, 34-year max, 5-year vesting. Roughly 110% funded ($2.87B assets vs. $2.6B obligations, FY2025), with SRP contributing $75M in each of the last two years.	Most big employers froze or closed their pensions between 2005 and 2020. An open AND overfunded plan is nearly extinct.
401(k) match	90 cents per dollar on your first 6% of base pay (an effective 5.4% of pay), with no vesting period, accepting pre-tax and after-tax contributions. SRP's match cost $31.9M in fiscal 2025.	A near-dollar match ON TOP of a pension. Elsewhere the 401(k) replaced the pension; at SRP it stacks.
Retiree medical	Non-contributory for pre-2000 hires, contributory for hires in 2000 or later. Eligibility: retire at 65+ with 5 vested years (10 if hired 2000+), or 55+ with 10 years (20 if hired 2000+). Backed by $1.3B in segregated funds.	Retiree medical bridges the years between early retirement and Medicare, the most expensive gap in most retirement plans.

One honest caveat: SRP publishes its pension formula structure but not the exact multiplier, so precise benefit projections come from your own SRP pension estimate. Bring that document and the modeling gets real fast.

THE PLANNING WORK

Rich Benefits Change the Questions, They Don't Remove Them

Timing Is Everything at SRP

The 20-year accrual jump, the 34-year accrual max, 5-year pension vesting, and the retiree medical service thresholds (which doubled for post-2000 hires) create real breakpoints. Retiring months before a threshold you would otherwise cross is the most expensive unforced error available to an SRP employee, and the accrual max means working past 34 years earns you salary but no new pension percentage.

We put your hire date, vesting date, and every breakpoint on one timeline before you pick a retirement date. (Across town at APS, the pension story splits differently; that stack has its own page.)

What the Pension Lets Your Portfolio Do

A lifetime pension plus Social Security is an income floor most retirees have to buy with annuities. Having it changes how your 401(k) and outside savings should be invested, usually toward more growth than a pension-less peer could stomach, and it changes the Roth conversion math in the years between retirement and required distributions.

For senior leaders, SRP also maintains executive deferral arrangements (a 457(b) salary deferral plan and a 457(f) capital accumulation plan), which bring their own timing and tax rules; if you have access to them, sizing those deferrals is part of the same plan.

If you are weighing retirement dates, you can compare Social Security claiming ages against your pension start, and model what Roth conversions are worth in your pre-RMD window.

Plan terms referenced on this page are current as of July 2026; confirm the specifics with your benefits administrator. Jay Chang is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Salt River Project (SRP) or any of its subsidiaries. All company names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

You have the benefits stack everyone else lost. Plan like it.

Bring your SRP pension estimate and 401(k) statement. I'll map your breakpoints, your retiree medical eligibility, and what the pension frees the rest of your money to do.

Schedule a conversation with Jay