How do solar buyback plans work in Texas?
Updated November 3, 2026 · By Sean Janoe
Your panels make power while the sun is up. Your home uses some of it, and the rest flows out to the grid. A solar buyback plan pays you for that rest.
Of the 598 plans Kilowhiz priced on Nov. 3, 2026, 8 build a buyback credit into their price. 2 say a home with solar panels can't have the plan at all.
The 598 plans priced on Nov. 3, 2026, one dot each
Of 598 plans, 8 build a buyback credit into their price and 2 say a home with solar panels can't have the plan.
- 8 build a buyback credit into their price
- 2 say a home with solar panels can't have the plan
- the other 588
Two arrows, one meter
On a sunny afternoon your panels make more power than the house can use. The extra flows out through your meter to the grid. That is power you send back.
After sunset the panels stop, and the house pulls power in from the grid. That is power you draw.
Your smart meter counts both, every 15 minutes, as two separate numbers.
One made-up sunny day
From mid-morning to late afternoon the panels make more than the home uses, and the extra is sent back. In the morning, the evening and at night the home draws power from the grid.
- Sent back
- Used straight from the panels
- Drawn from the grid
- What the panels make
- What the home uses
Two numbers, two prices
Every plan charges you for the power you draw. A buyback plan also pays you for the power you send back, at its own rate per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
The two are counted apart. A kWh you send back at noon earns the buyback rate. A kWh you draw at 9 pm costs the plan's full price, plus your utility's delivery charges, the cost of the poles and wires. You pay delivery on every kWh you draw, however much you send back.
Where you choose your electricity provider in Texas, each provider decides whether it pays for power you send back, and how much.
Four numbers on the label
Every plan comes with an Electricity Facts Label (EFL), the one-page sheet of a plan's prices and fees. On a buyback plan, four numbers on it decide what the panels earn you.
made up for this page
- 1The price per kWh. What you pay for each kWh you draw.
- 2The buyback rate. What the plan pays for each kWh you send back.
- 3The limit. On some plans the credit stops once it has paid off the month's energy charges. It never pays the delivery charges.
- 4The assumed amount. The advertised price on a buyback plan's EFL counts a credit for a set amount of power sent back each month. Send back less, and your price per kWh comes out higher than the advertised one.
One made-up home, one month
Here is the math on a made-up home and two made-up plans. The home draws 900 kWh from the grid in a month. Delivery is 7¢ per kWh and $4 a month on both plans.
The plain plan charges 13¢ per kWh and pays nothing for power sent back. The month costs $184.00, however much the panels send back.
The buyback plan charges 15¢ per kWh and pays 5¢ for each kWh sent back. The month costs $202.00 before the credit.
The month's bill on each example plan
Plain plan
$184.00
Buyback plan
$172.00
Against the plain plan
$12.00 less
kWh sent back in the month
| Sent back | Credit | Buyback plan | Against the plain plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 kWh | $7.50 | $194.50 | $10.50 more |
| 360 kWh | $18.00 | $184.00 | the same |
| 600 kWh | $30.00 | $172.00 | $12.00 less |
The buyback plan's higher price adds 2¢ to each of the 900 kWh drawn, which is $18.00. At 5¢ a kWh, it takes 360 kWh sent back to earn that $18.00. Above 360 the buyback plan costs less. Below it, the plain plan does.
So the answer rests on two numbers from your own home: what you draw and what you send back. Your meter has both.
How Kilowhiz prices it for your home
Kilowhiz runs that same math on every plan in your area, with your own meter readings in place of the made-up numbers.
- We learn you have panels. When you set up your home, we ask: Do you have solar panels? Your meter can tell us too, when it reports power sent back.
- We read both arrows. Connect Smart Meter Texas and Kilowhiz reads your power drawn and your power sent back for every 15 minutes.
- We read the buyback off every EFL. For each plan that builds one into its price, we read the rate and whether the credit stops at your energy charges.
- We credit what you sent back. Each plan's buyback is credited on the kWh your meter says you sent back, month by month, never on the amount the EFL assumes. Energy and delivery charges stay on every kWh you draw.
- Plans that turn solar homes away come off your list. When a plan's EFL says a home with solar panels can't have it, the plan leaves your ranking, and we show you the EFL's own sentence.
What you see
Pick Buyback plans in the Solar buyback filter to see only the plans that pay for power you send back.
Every plan says what your panels earn on it, in dollars, from your own readings. A plan with no buyback says that too: Pays nothing for the power you send back.
A chart shows the power you sent back, month by month. Beside your top plan we show the first plan in your ranking without a buyback, so you can see what the buyback is worth for your home.
A made-up buyback plan · 12 months
Pays 5¢ for each kWh you send back · about $235 a year on your 4,700 kWh
A made-up plain plan · 12 months
Pays nothing for the power you send back
Power you sent back
4,700 kWh
Month by month, as your readings show it. The made-up buyback plan pays 5¢ for each kWh: about $235.
Made-up power sent back by month, January to December: 260, 300, 420, 480, 520, 470, 410, 400, 430, 420, 330, 260 kWh, $235.00 at 5¢ a kWh.
How these numbers were worked out
Each bill is the kWh drawn at the plan's price, plus delivery on every kWh drawn, less the buyback credit. The homes and plans in the examples are made up for this page, and we show no real plan. The plan counts come from the listings Kilowhiz priced on Nov. 3, 2026. Our methodology has the full method.
Kilowhiz reads the power you draw and the power you send back from your meter, and credits each buyback plan on what you sent back.
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