In Texas, the company behind your meter decides what your solar power is worth. In our example a typical owned system does not pay for itself within the 25 years panels usually last, even when exported power earns a set credit, and it falls far short when exports earn nothing. A utility rebate, more daytime use or Austin’s Value of Solar credit shortens it.
Typical payback, exports earning a set creditMore than 25 years
If exports earn nothingFar past 25 years
Typical owned 9.29 kW Texas system at $23,875 cash (EcoGen Solar Cost Index, September 2026), no rebate, no battery, Pedernales Electric Cooperative rates: 10.9134 cents for power you would buy and a 7.1921-cent export credit that can only offset the 6.59-cent base power charge. About 32 years with that credit. Our assumptions: 40% of the solar power used at home as it is made, 60% sent to the grid, $279 a year in owner costs. See the math.
- Your meter: a retail provider’s buyback plan, a city utility or a co-op. Each pays a different price for exports.
- Daytime use: power used as the panels make it saves the full price, whatever your buyback says.
- Rebate: set by the company that delivers your power, from nothing up to $4,000 in Austin.
2026 rules: new home systems get no 30% federal homeowner credit (IRS). Texas has no statewide net metering. Austin Energy’s Value of Solar credit rose to 12.89 cents per kWh on October 1, 2026.
How we checked this guide
Export credits come from each utility’s own rate sheet or billing notice, rebates from the 2026 program manuals, the buyback rule from the Texas Utilities Code, and the electricity price from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The example system is the EcoGen Solar Cost Index typical Texas home. Where we had to assume a number, the page says so.
The writer and checker shown above are EcoGen staff. EcoGen is paid when homeowners request quotes, which is explained beside the quote form. Read our editorial standards.
Six checks that move a Texas solar answer
Texas sunshine is the same on both sides of a utility line. What changes is the price your extra power earns, and for how long. In most of the state two companies share your bill: one delivers power and pays any rebate, the other sells you power and sets the buyback. Read each row across.
Who is behind your meter
Worth a closer look
You know your delivery company and how exports are credited.
Pause and check
The quote names no utility and no buyback plan.
Check next: the delivery company printed next to the delivery charges on your bill.
The buyback plan
Worth a closer look
The export credit is on the plan’s Electricity Facts Label, and the quote uses that number.
Pause and check
The quote values every exported kWh at the full retail price for 25 years.
Check next: the plan’s credit per kWh, its term, and what happens when the term ends.
Daytime use and size
Worth a closer look
Air conditioning or an electric car runs while the sun is up, and the system fits your use.
Pause and check
Most of your use comes after dark, or the system is built to sell surplus power.
Check next: your last 12 months of usage and the home-use share the quote assumes.
Rebate and deadline
Worth a closer look
Your delivery company has a rebate open, such as $2,750 from AEP Texas or TNMP for a typical system.
Pause and check
The installer cannot name the program, or work ends after November 30, 2026.
Check next: the program, the amount, who receives it and the completion date.
Roof, hail and time in home
Worth a closer look
A roof with years of life left, and you plan to stay well past the payback.
Pause and check
The roof needs replacing soon, or you may move within a few years.
Check next: the roof’s age and the panel warranty’s hail terms.
One Texas roof, two export credits
Simple payback is the years your savings take to cover what you paid: net cost divided by yearly savings. A kWh (kilowatt-hour) is the unit your bill counts. An export credit is what you earn for each kWh your panels send to the grid. Here is the typical Texas home system when its exports earn a set credit.
- Cash price
- $23,875
- Confirmed incentives
- $0
- Year-one production
- 13,266 kWh
- Used at home / exported
- 40% / 60%
- Price you avoid (Pedernales)
- $0.109134/kWh
- Export credit, usable part
- $0.055915/kWh
- Owner-cost allowance
- $279/yr
- Used-at-home value
13,266 × 40% × $0.109134$579/yr - Export value
13,266 × 60% × $0.055915$445/yr - Yearly savings after owner costs
$579 + $445 − $279$745/yr - Simple cash payback
$23,875 ÷ $745about 32 years
Inputs: the EcoGen Solar Cost Index typical Texas system (9.29 kW, $23,875 cash, September 2026; 1,428 kWh per kW a year, so 13,266 kWh in year one). No rebate: Texas has no statewide one. Prices are Pedernales Electric Cooperative’s, effective October 1, 2026: 10.9134 cents per kWh for the power you would otherwise buy, and a Sustainable Power Credit of 7.1921 cents per kWh sent out. That credit can only offset the 6.59-cent base power charge on power you buy, and unused credit expires December 31. A home using 12,060 kWh a year buys about 6,754 kWh, so the credit is worth at most about $445, or 5.5915 cents per exported kWh. The $32.50 monthly charge is on every member’s bill, solar or not, so we leave it out. Our assumptions: 40% of the solar power used at home as it is made, 60% sent to the grid, 12,060 kWh of yearly use, and $279 a year in owner costs ($30 per kW, including a reserve for a new inverter).
Now set the export credit to zero, as on a plan with no buyback, or when a buyback ends with its term. Home use is worth the same; only the exports go quiet.
| Scenario | Export credit | Export value | Yearly savings | Simple payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exports earn a set credit | $0.055915/kWh | $445 | $745 | about 32 years |
| Exports earn nothing | $0.00/kWh | $0 | $300 | about 79.5 years |
Three things pull the first case down: more daytime use at home, a rebate, and a utility that pays more for exports. With the $2,750 AEP Texas or TNMP rebate, it drops to about 28 years, still longer than panels usually last.
Run your own Texas numbers
The tool starts with the set-credit case above. Put in your own quote and plan, then press Calculate. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
Example result
32 years
simple cash payback
- Used-at-home value
- $579/yr
- Export value
- $445/yr
- Owner costs
- −$279/yr
- Yearly savings
- $745/yr
- Net cost
- $23,875
Starts with the set-credit case above. The export credit box holds the usable part of the Pedernales credit, not its 7.1921-cent rate. Set it to your plan’s buyback rate, or to 0 for the no-credit case. Flat first-year values; rates, panel wear and repairs will change the result. No battery is included.
Four Texas meters, four prices for the same sunshine
Power you use at home saves the full price, whoever runs your meter. Power you send out is where Texas splits.
| Who runs your meter | What exported power earns | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Retail choice (Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP Texas, TNMP areas) | Whatever your retail provider’s buyback plan pays, at a value you agree on (Section 39.916 of the Texas Utilities Code). | The rate belongs to the plan and can change when it ends. TXU Energy credits offset energy charges only, not delivery charges. |
| Austin Energy (about 4% of Texas homes) | Every kWh the panels make earns the Value of Solar credit, 12.89 cents per kWh. You pay the normal rate for all you use. | Reviewed during the city budget process; it was 9.91 cents until September 30, 2026. |
| CPS Energy, San Antonio (about 7% of Texas homes) | Exports cancel purchases kWh for kWh within the month. Extra earns 1.65 cents per kWh (October to May) or 2.02 cents per kWh (June to September). | Oversizing earns very little. Ask CPS for the current rate. |
| Pedernales Electric Cooperative | A Sustainable Power Credit of 7.1921 cents per kWh sent to the grid, usable only against the 6.59-cent base power charge. | Unused credits expire at the end of each calendar year. |
Austin works differently, because the credit covers every kWh. The same 9.29 kW system earns about $1,710 a year there; with Austin Energy’s $4,000 rebate it pays back in about 14 years, if every credit gets used.
Elsewhere, rebates come from the company that owns the power lines: $2,750 from AEP Texas or TNMP for a typical system, $1,254 from CenterPoint, a per-project amount from Oncor, with 2026 work due by November 30, 2026. Every owner can file Form 50-123 to exempt 100% of the value solar adds from property tax.
Used at home: 5,306 kWh. Each one replaces power you would have bought, so it saves the full variable rate ($0.109134 here).
Sent to the grid: 7,960 kWh. These earn whatever your utility pays for exports ($0.055915 here, the usable part of the credit). That can be far less.
Texas homes paid an average of 15.96¢ per kWh from August 2025 to July 2026 (EIA). Retail buyback credits can take up to three billing cycles to start.
Get quotes that price your own meter
A Texas quote should name your delivery company and your buyback plan, then show the payback if the export credit drops.
Solar providers that serve your area may contact you, and they pay EcoGen for the introduction. How we make money.
Renting the roof: what a lease or PPA leaves you
Zero-down leases and power purchase agreements (PPAs) are sold hard in Texas, often on savings that assume a strong buyback for 25 years. Test the payment against a weaker credit and flat prices.
| Option | Who owns the panels | Upfront | Ongoing | Check before signing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | You | Full price | None to a lender. A smaller utility bill. | Your buyback credit and your rebate. |
| Loan | You | Often $0 | Loan payment, plus your remaining utility bill. | Cash vs financed price. A dealer fee raises the real price and stretches the payback. |
| Lease | Solar company | Often $0 | Monthly lease payment, plus your remaining utility bill. | Who gets any rebate, the escalator, and the buyback rate assumed for the term. |
| PPA | Solar company | Often $0 | A price per kWh for the power the panels make. | Compare the PPA rate with the price you avoid. |
For loan terms and a payment calculator, see our solar financing guide. An association can ask for approval and set placement limits, but under Section 202.010 of the Texas Property Code it cannot ban solar outright.
Six lines a Texas solar quote should spell out
If a quote leaves a line blank, its payback rests on a guess about your meter.
- Your delivery company by name. Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP Texas, TNMP, a city or a co-op.
- The export credit as its own number. From the plan’s Electricity Facts Label or rate sheet.
- A second payback with a lower credit. What the system pays if the buyback drops or ends at renewal.
- Rebate, payee and deadline. Who receives it and whether the work finishes before November 30, 2026.
- Cash and financed prices. Both totals side by side, with any dealer fee shown.
- Hail terms. What the panel warranty says about hail.
Compare Texas solar quotes
Ask each installer for the export credit it assumed and a second payback with a lower one. Enter your ZIP code to request quotes from solar providers that serve your area.
How EcoGen is paid
EcoGen America does not sell or install solar. When you request quotes, we pass your request to solar providers serving your area, and they pay us for the introduction. Providers can include installers, solar marketplaces and lead exchanges, and more than one may contact you. You never pay us.
More Texas solar guides
- Texas solar incentives: rebates by delivery utility
- What solar costs in Texas
- Free solar panels in Texas: what $0 down really means
- Are solar panels worth it? The national guide and payback calculator
All 51 state guides
Texas solar questions, answered
Are solar panels worth it in Texas?
For some owners, mostly those who use a lot of power while the sun is up. In our example a typical owned system takes about 32 years to pay back with a set export credit, longer than panels usually last, and far longer with none. A rebate or Austin’s Value of Solar credit shortens that.
Is solar worth it in Texas without net metering?
It can be. Texas has no statewide net metering, but power you use as the panels make it still saves the full price you would have paid. The weaker the export credit, the more it pays to size the system to your own daytime use.
Does solar make sense in Texas with no state incentives?
Sometimes, and it turns on rates and price more than programs. Texas has no state income tax, so no state tax credit, and no statewide rebate. It does exempt 100% of the value solar adds to a home from property tax. Some delivery companies and city utilities add a rebate on top.
What are the pros and cons of solar in Texas?
Pros: a cash price near $2.57 per watt, long sunny summers with heavy cooling use, and the property tax exemption. Cons: no statewide net metering, buyback rates that belong to a plan and can change, hail, and no federal homeowner credit for systems installed after December 31, 2025.
Is a battery worth it in Texas?
Judge it on the gap between the price you pay and what exports earn, plus what backup power is worth to you. Some utilities and providers pay battery owners: Austin Energy gives a $500 rebate and Reliant a $50 monthly credit for taking part.
How long does solar take to pay off in Texas?
In our example, about 32 years for a typical owned system on Pedernales rates, where the 7.1921-cent export credit can only offset the base power charge, and far longer when exports earn nothing. With the $2,750 AEP Texas or TNMP rebate the first case drops to about 28 years; in Austin, with its rebate and Value of Solar credit, it is about 14 years.
Sources, method and corrections
The example uses the EcoGen Solar Cost Index typical Texas system (September 2026) and current utility rates. Our assumptions, not measured values: 40% of the solar power is used at home as it is made and 60% is sent to the grid, the home uses 12,060 kWh a year, owner costs are $279 a year ($30 per kW, including a reserve for a new inverter), and the second case, where exports earn nothing, which is a stress test, not Pedernales policy. Prices and the set credit are Pedernales Electric Cooperative’s published rates from October 1, 2026; retail buyback rates differ by plan. Simple payback uses flat first-year values. The calculator runs in your browser and sends nothing.
Spotted an error? Tell us through our corrections and feedback process.
- Pedernales Electric Cooperative: distributed generation rates (export credit; read October 6, 2026)
- City of Austin: FY2027 electric tariff, Value-of-Solar rider (Value of Solar credit from October 1, 2026)
- CPS Energy: solar billing facts (monthly netting and net excess credits)
- Texas Utilities Code, Section 39.916 (buyback at an agreed value)
- TXU Energy: home solar buyback (what buyback credits can offset; start-up delay)
- CenterPoint Energy: residential solar program ($135 per kW, capped at 15 kW)
- AEP Texas: 2026 SMART Source program guidebook (rebate by system size; November 30, 2026 deadline)
- Texas Comptroller: property tax exemptions (Form 50-123 and its filing window)
- U.S. EIA: average residential electricity price by state (12-month average, as used in the Cost Index)
- IRS: Residential Clean Energy Credit (no credit for installations completed after December 31, 2025)
- EcoGen Solar Cost Index, September 2026: what solar costs in Texas (typical system and price)
