How to find the best solar buyback plan in Texas

Which solar buyback plan is best for your home?

There is no single best solar buyback plan for every Texas home. The best plan produces a low total annual bill for your home's imports (the electricity you buy from the grid) and exports (the surplus solar you send back). Credit rules you understand, month-to-month swings you are comfortable with, and how well the plan works with your solar or battery setup can matter just as much as the rates.

The starting point is your export-to-import ratio: how many kilowatt-hours you send to the grid compared with how many you buy from it over a full year.

In practical terms:

• If you import much more than you export, a low import rate and low monthly fees usually matter more than the highest buyback rate.
• If imports and exports are close, small differences on either side can change the winner. Credit caps and rollover become especially important.
• If you export more than you import, the export rate matters more, but only if the credits remain usable. A large balance that expires or cannot offset most of the bill has limited value.

That gives you a useful first filter. The final choice still comes from applying every plan to the same twelve months of imports and exports.

What should you compare on a solar buyback plan?

Compare four parts: the cost of grid imports, the value of solar exports, the rules governing those credits, and the contract’s eligibility requirements. If a plan looks unusually strong on one part, check whether another part offsets the advantage.

For each plan, pull four numbers from its documents:

• Provider import cost: imported kWh multiplied by the provider’s energy rate.
• Utility delivery cost: imported kWh multiplied by the variable delivery rate, plus the utility’s fixed monthly charge.
• Provider base charge: any separate fixed monthly fee.
• Usable export credit: eligible exported kWh multiplied by the buyback rate, after applying caps, credit limits, rollover, and expiration.

The Electricity Facts Label, or EFL, describes the import side: what you pay for grid electricity. The solar purchase terms may be in a separate buyback agreement, rider, or tariff. Save and compare both documents; the headline export rate does not describe the complete bill.

Is the best plan only about price?

No. The annual bill is what this guide shows you how to model, but it is not the only thing a plan delivers. Depending on your setup, these factors can matter as much as the price, or more:

• Predictable monthly bills. Two plans can cost the same over a year but swing very differently from month to month, and a higher buyback rate usually means bigger swings. If you budget month to month, a steadier bill has real value.
• One account for the whole system. Some plans are built around a specific solar or battery setup and combine the system payment (a lease or loan) and grid electricity in a single account and bill. That can make the true monthly cost easier to see and problems easier to resolve with one company instead of two.
• Battery credits and programs. A plan may pay or credit the home for letting the provider dispatch the battery at valuable times. Count those payments in the annual comparison, and weigh the program terms using the home-battery and virtual-power-plant guide.
• Clear solar billing. A bill that plainly shows exported kWh, the credit calculation, and any rollover balance is easier to verify every month, and easier to question when something looks wrong.

Can a plan with a lower buyback rate be the better plan?

Yes. A plan with a lower export rate can cost less overall when it also has a lower import rate, a smaller monthly fee, credits that can offset more of the bill, or better rollover terms. That possibility is why every solar shopper should run the comparison before choosing the highest advertised buyback rate.

In the example, the high-buyback plan earns an extra $160 from exports but adds $420 in import costs and monthly fees. It finishes $260 more expensive for the year.

The reusable break-even test is:

Extra exports needed = (extra import cost + extra fixed cost) ÷ extra export credit per kWh

Apply any monthly export cap before using that formula. If the required exports exceed the plan’s eligible limit, the higher-buyback plan cannot catch up under those assumptions.

Why can a higher buyback rate make monthly bills vary more?

A higher fixed buyback rate makes the bill more sensitive to how much solar the home exports each month. Solar-rich months receive much larger credits, while lower-export months receive much smaller ones. Two plans can therefore cost the same over a full year but produce very different monthly bills.

In the example, both plans cost $1,560 for the year. The 10¢ plan pairs a higher pre-credit cost with larger solar credits: its monthly bills range from $90 to $160. The 4¢ plan starts lower but earns smaller credits, producing a tighter $114-to-$142 range. In September, at 500 exported kWh, the two plans cost exactly the same; the 10¢ plan wins the months with more exports and loses the months with fewer. Neither plan is cheaper in this example; the difference is how predictable each month's bill is, which matters if you budget month to month.

Rollover can change what you actually owe each month. If spring credits bank and later offset summer bills, rollover may smooth the amounts due across months. If credits expire monthly or cannot offset much of the bill, seasonal swings can remain visible and some of the high rate may go unused. Model the credit balance alongside the bill amount.

How do rollover, caps, and expiration change the result?

Unused solar credits may carry to a later bill, expire each month or at contract end, or stop accumulating at a cap. They are often not paid out when service ends. Treat a credit balance as money you can apply to future eligible charges, not cash you can withdraw, unless the agreement explicitly says otherwise.

Run these rules month by month. Suppose spring exports create a $60 balance, but credits can offset only provider energy charges and expire at contract end. The balance is worth only what can be applied before that date. A lower export rate with durable rollover can therefore provide more usable value than a higher rate with restrictive limits.

Before choosing a plan, answer these questions in writing:

• Which bill charges can credits offset?
• Is credited export limited by that month’s imports, system size, or another cap?
• Does an unused balance roll forward, and for how long?
• Is the credit bank capped?
• What happens to the balance when the contract ends, you move, or you switch providers?

How do you compare plans using your own solar data?

Use twelve recent months of separate grid imports and solar exports. Monthly data is enough to compare fixed-rate buyback plans.

Some plans instead credit exports at a wholesale market price that changes hour by hour. Monthly totals cannot model those offers: you would need a year of interval export data matched to the exact price series the agreement names, and the resulting credit rises and falls with the market. This guide’s method covers fixed-rate plans; treat a wholesale-indexed offer as a separate, more volatile option that needs its own analysis.

If you already have solar

Download a complete year from your provider, utility portal, or Smart Meter Texas. The Smart Meter Texas guide explains the export steps and why meter imports and exports are not the same as total home consumption and solar production. For each billing month, record:

• Imported kWh.
• Exported kWh.
• Every import rate and recurring charge.
• The export rate and any credit carried in or out of the month.

Calculate each candidate bill month by month, then add the twelve results. Monthly modeling matters because a yearly total can hide a credit that expires or hits a cap during individual months.

If your solar system is new

Ask the installer for a time-matched estimate that combines historical home usage with expected production for the array’s size, direction, tilt, shading, and equipment. The estimate should report monthly imports and exports separately, not only total solar production.

Then run a conservative case. The chosen plan should still make sense if the system produces less than expected or the household uses more electricity.

How does a battery change the choice?

A battery changes the timing of imports and exports. It can store midday solar instead of selling it at a low export rate, then discharge in the evening so the home buys less electricity at a higher import rate. A home with a battery usually exports less and imports less than the same home without one, so compare plans using energy data that reflects the battery.

Whether a battery is worth adding, and how to weigh backup power and program payments, is a separate decision. The home-battery and virtual-power-plant guide covers it.

How does solar buyback work in Texas?

Texas does not have one statewide net-metering requirement. In competitive retail areas, you buy grid electricity from a retail provider and may sell solar exports to that same provider under an agreed buyback rate. In non-choice areas, the serving municipal utility, cooperative, or other utility sets the available solar tariff and credit rules. If you are not sure which situation applies to an address, the deregulated-areas guide explains where retail choice exists, and the ESI ID lookup can identify many competitive-market premises.

The local transmission and distribution utility, or TDU, owns the poles, wires, and meter in a competitive area. It handles interconnection and measures electricity flowing in both directions. The retail provider applies the import charges and export agreement to those readings.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas’s distributed renewable generation rule says that customer-choice-area owners who sell outflow sell it to the provider serving the premises at an agreed value. The metering rule requires qualifying metering to measure grid consumption and outflow separately.

What is the difference between solar production, imports, and exports?

The solar app reports everything the panels produce. The home uses some of that electricity immediately; only the surplus crosses the meter as an export. When home demand exceeds current solar and battery output, the meter records an import.

Without a battery:

Solar production = solar used at home + exports

Home electricity use = solar used at home + imports

This is why total annual solar production cannot predict the best buyback plan. The plan prices only electricity crossing the meter, while solar used inside the home avoids an import.

Why are import and export rates different?

They pay for different things. An import bill can include supplied energy, regulated delivery service, and fixed or conditional plan charges. An export credit pays the contract value of surplus electricity sent to the grid. Texas does not require the two prices to match.

What should you verify after choosing a plan?

Read the EFL, Terms of Service, and complete solar agreement before enrolling. Confirm that the address, utility area, system size, meter status, and equipment meet the offer’s eligibility rules.

For a new system, complete the utility’s interconnection process and wait for permission to operate, or PTO, before energizing a grid-connected system. A retail buyback agreement does not replace utility interconnection approval.

On the first complete solar bill, verify that:

• The service dates match the meter data you are reviewing.
• Exported kWh appear on the bill.
• The buyback rate (or market formula, if the plan uses one) matches the agreement.
• The resulting credit and any rollover balance calculate correctly.

Save the plan documents, PTO letter, provider confirmation, meter data, and first complete bill. Repeat the check after renewal, a provider change, or a material equipment change.

Texas solar buyback FAQ

What is the best solar buyback plan in Texas?

Start with the eligible offer with the lowest modeled annual bill for your imports and exports, after applying import prices, delivery and fixed charges, export rates, caps, rollover, and expiration. Import-heavy homes generally benefit more from low import costs; export-heavy homes give greater weight to a high, usable export credit. Non-price factors, like battery programs or one account covering the solar system and grid electricity, can weigh just as heavily.

Is the plan with the highest solar buyback rate the best?

Not necessarily. A higher export credit can be outweighed by a higher import rate, monthly fee, export cap, or credits that expire before you can use them. Compare the full annual bill using the same monthly imports and exports.

Does Texas have net metering?

Texas does not have one statewide net-metering requirement. Competitive-area exports are sold to the retail provider under agreed terms; non-choice areas use the serving utility’s or cooperative’s tariff and rules.

Do Oncor or CenterPoint pay for excess solar power?

Not on a normal competitive retail account. The local utility handles interconnection, metering, and energy-flow data; the retail provider serving the address sets and applies the export credit.

Can solar buyback make your Texas electric bill negative?

An account can sometimes build a credit, but the plan controls what it offsets and whether it rolls over. Credits are often not paid out when service ends, and fixed or non-creditable charges may remain due.

Do unused solar credits roll over in Texas?

Only when the buyback agreement says they do. Check how long rollover lasts, whether the balance is capped, which bill charges it can offset, and what happens when service or the contract ends.

Sources and related reading

The primary Texas rules are PUCT §25.217, Distributed Renewable Generation, §25.213, Metering for Distributed Renewable Generation, and §25.211, Interconnection of On-Site Distributed Generation. Utility-specific interconnection steps are available from Oncor, CenterPoint Energy, AEP Texas, and TNMP.

Reviewed August 26, 2026. This guide provides general educational information, not legal advice. Rules and plan terms can change; confirm current PUCT materials, utility requirements, and your plan documents for your situation.

Continue with how to read an Electricity Facts Label, TDU delivery charges explained, home batteries and virtual power plants, or how the Texas electricity market works.