You’ve probably heard the pitch – go solar, send energy back to the grid, and earn credits on your bill. And somewhere in there, net metering gets mentioned as the key to savings. But what does it actually mean in Texas?
The short answer: it depends. Not all providers offer the same credits, and not all credits are worth the same. Some pay you well for your extra energy. Some don’t pay you at all.
In this article, we’ll walk you through how net metering in Texas works, what kinds of solar buyback plans are out there, and how to make sure you pick one that makes financial sense.
Does Texas Have Net Metering?
Yes, Texas has net metering policies in place, although they’re more popularly referred to as solar buyback programs.
These programs serve a similar purpose: When your home solar system produces more electricity than you use, you can send that extra energy back to the grid and earn credits on your electric bill.
So, for those wondering, “Can I sell electricity back to the grid in Texas?” – yes, you can, but here’s the catch: How much you earn and how it’s calculated all depend on your Retail Electric Provider (REP).
And here’s something else that Texan homeowners should know. Unlike states like California, New York, and Massachusetts, where net metering is guaranteed and works under a uniform set of statewide rules, Texas doesn’t have a single, unified policy.
And when there’s no statewide mandate, a few things can happen:
- You’re not guaranteed a buyback plan. Each REP decides whether or not to offer a solar buyback program, and how generous (or not) that program is.
- Plans vary widely. Even among REPs that offer solar buyback, rates and rules differ. Some give full retail credit, others credit you less. In some cases, REPs cap the credits or apply different rules entirely (more on this later).
- It can change at any time. Generally, since there’s no binding regulation, REPs can change their solar credit policies without state approval.
So while net metering is allowed in Texas in practice, it’s not enforced by state law, which makes the experience vary widely depending on who your REP is.
How Much Do I Get Paid for Excess Energy?
Let’s get one thing straight: Most Texas solar buyback programs don’t pay you in cash. Instead, they give you credits, either in dollars off your bill (called bill credits) or in kilowatt-hours that offset your future electricity use (called energy credits).
As for how much you get paid for excess energy exactly, it all depends on your REP. Sometimes you get full credit for what you send to the grid. Other times, you might get a reduced rate. And in some cases, you get nothing at all, even if your system pushed extra power out.
If that sounds confusing, that’s because it probably is. Let’s break it down further and go over the factors that explain why credit values swing so much.
Regulated and Deregulated Markets
To begin with, not all parts of Texas follow the same energy market rules. The state is split into regulated and deregulated electricity areas, which means where you live has a big say in how much you’ll actually get paid for excess solar energy generated.
Deregulated Markets
In deregulated areas, you can shop around and choose your utility provider. You can compare plans and choose an REP with the most favorable solar credits, especially if you’re aiming to save more or match your system to a specific usage goal.
The good news is, deregulation is the norm across most of the state.
In fact, about 85% of Texas electricity customers live in deregulated areas, especially in North, Central, East, and Southeast Texas. That includes major cities like Dallas, Houston, Corpus Christi, and Waco, all of which fall under the ERCOT grid.
Regulated Markets
In regulated areas, you don’t have a choice but to be assigned to your location’s local utility provider. You’re stuck with whatever buyback policy they offer, which could be good, bad, or nonexistent.
Regulated areas are usually found around the outer edges of the state, such as the Panhandle, West Texas, Far East, and parts of South Texas, and include cities with their own municipal utilities like Austin, San Antonio, and El Paso.
Your REP’s Buyback Plan
Texas net metering plans generally fall into three categories, each with its own way of crediting you for the extra energy your system sends to the grid.
Uncapped Credit Solar Buyback Plans
With this buyback plan, there’s no cap on how much you can send back to the grid. That’s to say this plan rewards overproduction. Every extra kilowatt-hour your system produces can earn you a full credit that helps offset future bills.
Let’s say you use 800 kWh this month but send 1,000 kWh back to the grid. With this plan, you don’t lose the extra 200 kWh. Those credits roll over to future months, and you can use them later, perhaps during the winter or on cloudy days when your system produces less.
In that sense, these plans work much like traditional net metering, which is ideal when you:
- Want to size your system to cover 100% (or more) of your usage
- Live in an area with strong seasonal solar production (e.g. lots of sun during summer)
- Prefer long-term savings and consistent bill offsets
Out of the three plan types, this is arguably the most generous and most straightforward.
Credit Cap Solar Buyback Plans
These plans let you earn full credits for solar energy, but only up to the amount of electricity you use from the grid each month. If your system generates more energy than you use, here’s what can happen:
- You may get paid for the extra kWh at an avoided cost rate – that’s lower than what you pay for electricity (i.e. retail rate).
- You may get nothing at all – meaning you’re sending free electricity to the utility company with no compensation.
This works like a net billing arrangement.
Let’s say you use 1,000 kWh in a month. You’ll only get credited for up to 1,000 kWh of exported solar. If you send 1,200 kWh back to the grid, that extra 200 kWh either earns you nothing or gets credited at a lower rate (For example, if your REP pays just 3¢ per kWh of excess energy, that 200 kWh earns just $6, compared to the $24 it’s worth at a full retail rate of 12¢)
And unlike uncapped plans, there’s generally no rollover for extra energy. So the key here is to stay under or at the cap.
This kind of plan works best for homeowners with smaller solar systems who mainly want to cover their own usage and don’t plan to overproduce or store extra credits.
Real-Time Metering Plans
Real-time metering plans work differently from the others. Instead of tracking your usage and solar output over the course of a month, these plans net out your electricity in real time – based on the market price at that very moment.
And because prices fluctuate throughout the day, 1 kWh in doesn’t equal 1 kWh out
If your system exports power at 1 PM, you get credited at the market rate at 1 PM, usually low, when solar supply is high and grid demand is modest. But if you need to use energy at 8 PM, you’ll be billed at the market rate at 8 PM, typically much higher, since demand surges after sunset.
So even if you’re sending and receiving the same amount of energy, you’re still losing money, because what you sent out is worth far less than what you’re pulling back in.
With that being said, this plan doesn’t really make sense for solar owners unless they have a battery plus a smart inverter – a setup that uses automation to maximize bill savings by timing energy usage around market price swings.
Utility Specific Charges
Even if your solar credits cover your full energy use, you’ll still see certain fixed charges on your electric bill.
For instance, you’ll still pay your local utility’s delivery fees, also known as TDU (Transmission and Distribution Utility) charges, which cover the cost of delivering electricity over poles and wires.
Other fees may include base customer charges, metering fees, and minimum bill charges, depending on your provider.
As you can see, this factor doesn’t really change how much you earn from your excess solar energy. Instead, it affects what’s left on your bill after credits are applied. After all, going solar is about savings money, and a big part of saving is knowing which charges you can’t avoid.
Solar Buyback Rates in Regulated Texas
In regulated Texas, remember that you don’t get to choose your electricity provider, and you work with whatever buyback policy your local utility has. Below are popular regulated utilities and how their solar buyback programs work.
Austin Energy
Austin Energy serves the city of Austin and surrounding areas. Their solar buyback program, called the “Value of Solar” (VoS) rate, is structured differently from traditional net metering.
Instead of directly offsetting your electricity usage with exported solar energy, the utility credits you separately for what your system produces, based on a set rate per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
Currently, the VoS rate is around 9.91¢ per kWh. That means if your system produces 1,000 kWh in a month, you earn about $99 in credits, no matter how much you actually consume from the grid.
Because of this setup, homeowners can benefit the most by producing as much solar as possible and using energy efficiently. The VoS rate may not always match retail electricity prices, but at least it provides stable and predictable savings.
Your total bill is then calculated by subtracting those credits from your regular usage charges.
CPS Energy
CPS Energy serves the San Antonio area and is the largest municipally owned utility in the United States.
Their net billing program works like this:
- If your solar system produces less electricity than your total usage in a billing cycle, CPS credits you at the full retail rate for every kWh of energy sent back to the grid (up to your monthly usage)
- If your system produces more than you use, any excess solar generation is credited at a lower rate:
- $0.0165 per kWh from October through May
- $0.0202 per kWh from June through September
Brownsville Public Utilities Board
Brownsville Public Utilities Board (BPUB) serves the city of Brownsville and surrounding communities in South Texas. Unlike utilities that offer net metering or net billing, BPUB uses a “Buy All, Sell All” program for residential solar customers.
Under this setup, you don’t directly use your solar energy at home. Instead, BPUB buys all the electricity your system produces at the current Fuel & Purchase Energy Charge (FPEC) – which reflects the utility’s cost of fuel and power generation.
As of January 2025, the FPEC buyback rate is around 5¢ per kWh, which is significantly lower than the standard retail rate you pay for electricity.
At the same time, you purchase 100% of the electricity your home uses from BPUB at full retail rates, regardless of how much solar you generate.
You can see the current and historical FPEC rates on the BPUB website.
Entergy Texas
Entergy Texas serves parts of Southeast Texas, including areas like Beaumont, Conroe, and surrounding Gulf Coast communities. They offer two solar compensation options for residential customers:
- Option 2: A net billing-style setup using a bi-directional meter. You consume the solar energy you generate, and any excess solar sent back to the grid is credited at the avoided cost rate. As of early 2025, that rate is:
- $0.033405 per kWh in summer
- $0.03499 per kWh in winter
- Option 3: A buy-all, sell-all arrangement, where Entergy purchases 100% of your solar generation at the same avoided cost rate. You then buy back all the electricity your home needs at the full retail rate.
Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy serves the Panhandle and South Plains regions of Texas, including cities like Amarillo, Lubbock, and surrounding areas. They offer two buyback options for homeowners:
Option 2: Net Billing
This allows you to consume your solar power first – offsetting what you would’ve otherwise bought from the grid at full retail rate.
If your system produces more energy than your home needs in a given billing cycle, that excess is sent to the grid and credited back to your bill at what’s called the fuel cost factor. As of early 2025, this buyback rate hovers around 1.5¢ per kWh, although this can vary on a monthly basis.
Option 3: Independent
This arrangement works just like the “buy all, sell all” program we discussed earlier. Basically, two separate meters are set up: One tracks all the electricity you buy from Xcel Energy, while the other tracks all the electricity your solar system produces (which is sent directly to the grid).
That said, Xcel pays you for 100% of your solar output at the same fuel cost rate, while you pay full retail price for the electricity you draw from the grid.
Solar Buyback Rates in Deregulated Texas
Texas has dozens of Retail Electric Providers, and many of them offer solar buyback plans with different credit rules, rate structures, and contract terms.
We’ve broken down three of the more popular options below, although we recommend exploring other REPs if you’re shopping for solar in a deregulated area.
TXU Energy
TXU Energy is one of the largest and longest-running electricity providers in Texas. For solar customers, they offer three dedicated Solar Buyback plans.
- Solar Buyback Match 12: This features a 1 to 1 buyback rate. Essentially, you get paid for every excess kWh you export to the grid at the same rate you pay TXU for electricity (21.5¢ per kWh).
- Solar Buyback Saver 12: This plan offers a lower locked-in rate (12 months) of 19.5¢ per kWh for energy imports. Although not explicitly stated, this plan likely credits excess energy at a lower rate than the import rate, making it more suitable for those focused on self-consumption rather than exporting solar.
- Solar Buyback Saver 36: This plan works much like the Saver 12, where excess energy is likely credited below the import rate. The import rate is 18.5¢ per kWh – lower than the Match plan – but it comes with a longer 36-month lock-in.
Visit the TXU Energy website for further information about their Solar Buyback Plans.
Gexa Energy
The Gexa Solar Buyback plan offers true 1:1 crediting regardless of the plan you opt for. You receive full retail-rate credits for every kWh of excess solar energy your system exports to the grid.
Plan rates for Gexa customers range from 10¢ to 23¢ per kWh, depending on location. That means exported solar energy is credited back at that same rate
Unlike many REPs, Gexa does not cap the number of solar credits you can earn, meaning that if your system exports 3,000 kWh in a billing cycle, you’ll receive the full value, regardless of your imports
Green Mountain Energy
Green Mountain Energy’s Renewable Rewards program includes different options, each with unique features to accommodate varying solar production and consumption patterns of homeowners. These are as follows:
- Renewable Rewards Solar Credit Plan: This plan provides bill credits for 100% of the excess solar energy you generate and send back to the grid. There is no cap on the amount of credit you can earn, making it ideal for homeowners who produce more energy than they consume.
- Renewable Rewards Essentials Plan: Under this plan, you receive bill credits for excess solar energy, but the credits are capped at your monthly usage. Any additional credits won’t carry over.
- Renewable Rewards Solar Max Plan: This plan offers bill credits for excess solar energy based on real-time wholesale prices, with no cap on the amount of credit you can earn. It suits homeowners who want to capitalize on market fluctuations.
Visit the Green Mountain Energy website for specific import rates and more information about the plan.
Can I Choose my Retail Electric Provider (REP) in Texas?
If you live in a deregulated part of Texas, then yes, you can absolutely choose your Retail Electric Provider (REP). This means you have the freedom to compare plans from different providers and pick one that gives you the most value for your solar energy.
If you’re wondering how to actually make that choice, here are three simple tips to help you pick the right REP:
- Check the buyback rate. Look for a plan that pays full retail credit for excess solar energy. If that’s not available, see if the plan gives at least a competitive rate for what you send back.
- Know the caps and rollover rules. Some plans only credit you up to what you consume and toss out the rest. Others roll over credits month to month. Make sure you understand the rules.
- Match the plan to your system size. If your system is small and only offsets part of your usage, a capped plan may be fine. But if you produce more than you use, go with a plan that rewards overproduction.
Do All Utilities in Texas Offer Net Metering?
No, not all utilities in Texas offer net metering or even basic solar buyback programs. In fact, only a small share of electricity providers across the state offer any compensation for exported solar energy, and when they do, the structure and rates can vary significantly.
That’s because Texas has no statewide net metering mandate. Unlike other states that require utilities to credit solar customers at retail rates, Texas leaves that decision up to each utility or retail electric provider (REP). As a result, some offer full retail-rate credits up to usage, others credit at lower avoided-cost rates, and many offer no buyback at all.
Is Solar Worth It in Texas?
Yes, solar is definitely worth it in Texas, and there’s plenty of proof behind that. Texas currently ranks second in the nation for total installed solar capacity, right behind California. With its wide open skies, high sun hours, and rising electricity rates, many homeowners find solar a practical move in Texas.
On top of that, Texans benefit from a variety of solar buyback programs, especially in deregulated areas. You can very well see that as what we discussed earlier. Some offer full retail credit for excess energy, while others are better for self-consumption setups.
At the end of the day, chances are great that you’ll likely find a solar buyback plan that fits your goal.
Find Reputable Solar Installers Near You
Regardless of the utility provider, how much you earn (and save) from net metering depends on one thing: how well your system size matches your energy needs and goals.
That’s why it’s important to have an installer who not only designs your solar system but also tailors it so you get the most value under your utility’s specific solar credit rules.
At Quote for Solar, we can make that happen for you. Request a quote today, and we’ll send you three competitive estimates from trusted and vetted solar installers in your area.
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