News > Texas solar owners are being shortchanged. Here’s how we fix it.

Texas solar owners are being shortchanged. Here’s how we fix it.

November 21, 2025

• Krupa Bharodiya

Texans take pride in self-reliance, whether it’s working the land, running a small business, or powering their homes. Investing in solar energy equipment is an extension of this independence. It’s a personal choice to take control of your energy future, lower your bills, and contribute to a more resilient grid. 

When you install solar panels, the electricity your solar panels generate is your private property. You wouldn’t let someone take water from your well without compensation. You wouldn’t give away crops you grew on your land. The electricity your solar panels produce belongs to you, and you deserve fair compensation for it.

But across Texas, many solar owners are being shortchanged for the power they send back to the grid. 

What fair compensation for solar can look like

Across the country, solar owners receive credits for the excess energy they send to the grid through a system called net metering.

Net metering ensures that when your panels produce more than you use, that excess electricity is credited to your account at the same rate you pay for power from your utility — a 1:1 credit. These credits can roll over from month to month, allowing solar homeowners to fully capture the value of their investment.

Thirty-four states and Washington DC have some form of statewide net metering policy. Texas does not.

Because Texas lacks fair compensation, many residents with rooftop solar systems are required to sell their excess energy to utilities or electric providers at deeply discounted rates or even for free. This means that when your solar panels generate more electricity than you use, you’re effectively donating energy that your utility then sells to your neighbors for full price. 

This practice undermines your financial investment and strips away your right to benefit from the property you own. This wasn’t always the case. Until late 2021, some Texas energy plans offered net metering. Those options have since disappeared, leaving solar owners seeking better retail electricity plans. Without fair compensation, fewer Texans will invest in rooftop solar, which means slower grid modernization, less local electrification jobs, and missed opportunities for community resilience. Fair compensation doesn’t mean special treatment or subsidies. It means recognizing the fair market value ($) of the private property (local energy) that solar owners contribute to the grid.

And those benefits extend beyond the solar owners themselves.

Why fair solar compensation benefits everyone, not just solar owners

When more Texans go solar, everyone benefits. More rooftop solar helps reduce pressure on the grid, especially during heat waves and power emergencies. It creates local jobs for installers, electricians, and manufacturers, keeping energy dollars in Texas communities.

Generating more power locally also makes Texas less dependent on centralized fossil fuel power plants and vulnerable supply chains. Fair compensation policies encourage more people to go solar, which strengthens the grid, and makes Texas energy more affordable and resilient in the long run. To make that happen, we need leadership and forward-thinking from state regulators.

“Texans are investing their money to generate energy for themselves and for our grid, and the energy that they produce is private property worth real money too. We can see that those kilowatt-hours (kWh) have a fair market value because the electric company will sell your leftovers to your neighbor for full retail price after paying you as low as 10% of that value. ” said Sam Silerio, Texas Program Director with Solar United Neighbors. “Solar owners are producing reliable energy that strengthens our grid. They shouldn’t have to part with that power for free.”

The path forward

Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT): Solar United Neighbors and Texas solar owners are calling on the PUCT to commission a comprehensive study on the true value of solar energy in the regulated markets. What is the minimum standard for fair compensation of the distributed solar kWh? The regulated utilities (about 10-15% of Texans live in these jurisdictions) vary widely on their compensation rates for distributed solar, so let’s get an intentional, evidence-backed standard for what that compensation should look like.

This study would examine solar’s impact on the grid, the economy, and ratepayers, providing data to support fair compensation policies. Studies like this have been conducted by outside groups and show that distributed solar is worth much more than it’s currently compensated.  However, an official study sanctioned by the PUCT would give Texas leaders the facts necessary to design policies that reflect solar’s real benefits to all Texans.

Electric Reliability Counsel of Texas (ERCOT): Within ERCOT, only the Transmission and Distribution Utilities (TDU) are regulated. The generators and the retail electric providers are deregulated and competitive with each other. It’s difficult to mandate compensation standards to the deregulated ERCOT market, but the standards established in the PUC study mentioned above would serve as a market signal to ERCOT to update/adjust the aging aspects of the business model (i.e. fixed TDU charges) in order to encourage significantly incorporating distributed energy resources (DERs) into the fold of grid assets.

To that end, SUN is also calling for ERCOT to commission its own study on the true value of distributed energy resources (DER) to their overall grid. The only line items on the ERCOT resident’s electric bill that cannot be reduced by lowering, timing, and optimizing energy consumption are the flat-rate, fixed TDU charges. This inefficiency in the ERCOT grid is slowing the progression of Texas’ Aggregate Distributed Energy Resource (ADER) pilot and the adoption of distributed power plants (or virtual power plants).

Every Texan who invests in energy generation is in possession of property worthy of fair compensation. Commissioning these studies is the first step toward making that happen.

How Texans can take action

You can advocate for fair compensation for solar by signing our Texas Solar Property Rights Petition. Every signature moves us closer to a Texas energy system that values the power of everyday people..

This petition demands that the PUCT ensure fair compensation for the electricity Texans produce on their private property.

By signing, you’re joining thousands of solar owners and supporters who believe:

• Solar energy (kWh) produced on Texans’ property is their private property and it has a fair market value
• The PUCT must conduct a comprehensive value of solar study (conducted by a third party agreed upon by a majority of stakeholders) to establish a minimum compensation standard for solar owners’ energy exports based on its fair market value
• ERCOT must conduct its own comprehensive study to determine the value that distributed energy resources contribute to the overall grid. The study must weigh the potential value of those DERs versus the status quo of fixed TDU charges.

Together, we can build a fairer and more resilient energy future for Texas. Let’s make sure everyone who invests in solar gets the fair compensation they’re due.

Shine on, Texas.