There can be solar tax credits and incentives available at the federal, state and local levels. The calculator above will show you the value of all incentives your home is eligible for.
The past few years have taught Texans a valuable lesson about their electricity system: it's not prepared to handle weather emergencies like record snow and cold, meaning you and your neighbors might get left without power, or with a huge electric bill for the month.
More renewable energy could help the state as a whole, but to help yourself if something like this happens again, you'll need some solar panels on your roof along with batteries to store the energy they make for use when the grid goes down.
Fortunately, for those who live in Oncor service territory and Austin, there are some rebates available to help reduce the cost of going solar for you. Furthermore, most of the state's residents will be able to sign up for something like net metering, either from your local power company or one of the statewide retail electric providers (REPs) out there.
On this page, we cover all of the solar incentives, rebates, and tax credits available for your Texas home solar installation. We suggest you use the Texas solar incentives calculator above as well. It allows you to drill down and show only the solar incentives that are applicable where you live.
Learn what solar incentives are available to Texas homeowners
See what Texas solar incentives you qualify for based on your utility company and city
Find out how much these incentives and/or Texas solar tax credits will reduce your cost to go solar and add batteries
The federal solar investment tax credit will have the biggest impact on the cost you will face to go solar in Texas
If you install your photovoltaic system before the end of 2032, the federal tax credit is 30% of the cost of your solar panel system. This is 30% off the entire cost of the system including equipment, labor, and permitting.
Example: If your solar energy system costs $20,000, your federal solar tax credit would be $20,000 x 30% = $6,000.
The federal tax credit falls to 26% starting in 2033.
With net metering in some states, you get full retail rate credit for the amount of electricity you send back into the grid with your solar panels.
Net metering requires your utility to monitor how much energy your solar power system produces and how much energy you actually consume, and make sure you get credit for the surplus.
Net metering in Texas is spotty. While there is no statewide net metering law here, in most populated places in the state, you can find either a municipal electric company that offers net metering or a Retail Electric Provider (REP) like Reliant Energy, that will buy your extra solar output for a price lower than the retail rate of electricity.
But, not all REPs offer solar buyback programs. In fact, most don't, and the ones that do usually don't pay you full price for excess solar energy. This means you have to shop around and see if there are any REPs that service your area that also have some form of a solar buyback program. Luckily, we have a complete guide that lists all of the REPs in Texas that have solar plans, and what kind of solar savings those plans provide.
Places with regulated utilities, like Austin, Brenham, or San Antonio, all offer some form of net metering for their residential customers. In some cases, they even offer solar rebates.
Texas lacks any statewide rebate program. Most folks in the state get to choose an electric company through the state's open energy marketplace, and not one of those companies wants to help finance your solar installation. However, those that live in Oncor's service area can receive a rebate of $2,500 when they install solar panels with a solar battery, no matter what retail electric provider they choose.
Those of you lucky enough to live in a place with a municipal electric company may have good options. For example, Austin Energy offers a $2,500 rebate for people who want to install solar panels, and all you have to do is take an online class and pass a quiz to get the money sent to your installer. Pretty sweet deal!
Texas lawmakers have come through with a solid solar property tax exemption. When you install that shiny new solar power system, the resulting increase in home value is exempt from 100% of the resulting property tax increase.
Solar panels will increase the value of your Texas home by roughly 70% of system costs. So while the value of your home will go up, your property taxes won’t.
Example: If your solar system costs $20,000, your estimated property value increase of $14,000 will be tax-exempt.
Showing data for:
Prices based on a 9.6kW system, after 30% federal tax credit
201 solar companies in Texas provide pricing on SolarReviews. Here are the best rated companies near you.
4.93 222 Reviews
Thomas R, 3 days ago
I was surprised with how quickly the project got finished! Affordable was always there for answers we had & the people in the office were very helpful. Sales rep was pushy about getting money but Affordable’s team as a whole was better about working with us. The office was close by in Clearwater which made it easy for payments. The team that installed was great and cleaned up after themselves, got the AC replaced, and shingles as well.
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Thomas R, 3 days ago
I was surprised with how quickly the project got finished! Affordable was always there for answers we had & the people in the office were very helpful. Sales rep was pushy about getting money but Affordable’s team as a whole was better about working with us. The office was close by in Clearwater which made it easy for payments. The team that installed was great and cleaned up after themselves, got the AC replaced, and shingles as well.
4.82 481 Reviews
Donald Golofski, 1 week ago
Well done EHS. Tank you for getting my solar installed and working.
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Average cost (5kW system)
$17,000 ($3.40 per watt)
Donald Golofski, 1 week ago
Well done EHS. Tank you for getting my solar installed and working.
4.80 69 Reviews
Plumberdude, over 1 month
The company was easy to deal with from start to finish. They did what they said they were going to do and even finished a day early. The people were courteous and knowledgeable.
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Average cost (5kW system)
$11,000 ($2.20 per watt)
Plumberdude, over 1 month
The company was easy to deal with from start to finish. They did what they said they were going to do and even finished a day early. The people were courteous and knowledgeable.
4.78 301 Reviews
Suren, 4 days ago
Their prices are competitive, but they overshot their installation and approvals deadlines by 7 months. The contract was signed in oct 2022, they didn’t do the design work until January. And installation didn’t happen until February 2023. I can understand that they were short staffed and behind, but even after that, it took repeated reminders from me to get them to submit the appropriate approval requests, constant follow ups, dealing with failed inspections, and now in June we got approvals, but it will take another month to coordinate the activation of the panels. I get that towns and Eversource are slow for their approvals, but I have friends who went with Sunrun at the same time last Oct and were activated by March 2023. Do these larger companies get a higher priority with the towns and Eversource?maybe, but more diligence from them could have shorten this duration.
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Suren, 4 days ago
Their prices are competitive, but they overshot their installation and approvals deadlines by 7 months. The contract was signed in oct 2022, they didn’t do the design work until January. And installation didn’t happen until February 2023. I can understand that they were short staffed and behind, but even after that, it took repeated reminders from me to get them to submit the appropriate approval requests, constant follow ups, dealing with failed inspections, and now in June we got approvals, but it will take another month to coordinate the activation of the panels. I get that towns and Eversource are slow for their approvals, but I have friends who went with Sunrun at the same time last Oct and were activated by March 2023. Do these larger companies get a higher priority with the towns and Eversource?maybe, but more diligence from them could have shorten this duration.
4.74 141 Reviews
Kristina, over 1 month
We do not recommend Solar CenTex. This is our experience with Solar CenTex. We first came across Solar CenTex at a home and garden show in Bell County. We signed a contract with them in 2018 to have ground mount solar panel array installed behind our home. This project went well, and our system was inspected and commissioned in October. It was not fully operational per the contract until 14 November 2018 because there was a portion of the project that failed to function as specified in the contract. After a month of back and forth, a relatively minor issue was resolved. That system worked well for us after the initial problems were resolved but, we later sold that house, moved and wanted to do solar at our new home. This time, we wanted a grid tied, battery backup so we reached out to sales at Solar CenTex. Sales and the installation crew have saved this from being a 1-star review. The paperwork, contracts and first check for $7k were complete by early July, 2021. The install crew started designing our ground mount carport solar panel array with SolarEdge inverters and LG batteries. All the contracts and electric co-op forms were signed by mid July, 2021 and the install work began in late August/early September of 2021. By the end of September, we believed our system was fully operational and all the necessary paperwork had been handed off to the appropriate agencies. Checks for more than $70k had been cashed by Solar CenTex, the project was complete, per the contract. Not actually the case. We did not find out until 28 April 2022 (contacted by our electric co-op because our meter read very low usage) that we did not have the correct meter installed, the electric co-op did not have a record of our solar and they had not inspected the grid tied install. I spoke with Solar CenTex and they did not share with me why the process was left incomplete. I sent the signed short forms to our electric co-op via e-mail and got on their schedule for an inspection. Our solar install was properly documented and commissioned through the electric co-op on 28 May 2022. Another issue has been with the SolarEdge monitoring app. We were having regular conversations with Solar CenTex about the lack of access to change the battery charging/discharge levels through the SolarEdge app software. We were not able to adjust charging/discharge levels and had to call Solar CenTex prior to weather events and rely on them to adjust the discharge capacity of our batteries. We were disappointed to have installed a system that could only be controlled by the installer. At the time (June 2022) Solar CenTex suggested we had a communication intermittency issue. I asked if that was an issue with cell service and Solar CenTex (owner) replied, “yes the cell service from the inverter.” I contacted SolarEdge directly that evening and the app issue was resolved on 4 June 2022. Solar CenTex (warranty rep) suggested I contact SolarEdge directly and I later let Solar CenTex know when the manufacturer was able to resolve our problem. The install was physically complete in September 2021. We did not have control of this system and its charging capabilities until 4 June of 2022 and on 28 May 2022, we were inspected and properly metered/sanctioned to operate, as a grid tied system, by the electric co-op. Solar CenTex was notified, and no explanation was offered regarding either issue. Where we are now: In December (8 December2022) we noticed half of our system was not producing power or charging the batteries. After working with Solar CenTex, it was determined that the comm card failed. On 20 December Solar CenTex (install crew) came out and installed a comm card Solar CenTex thought might work but turned out to be incompatible with our inverter. Solar CenTex was trying to help get us up and running at full capacity before a cold snap over the Christmas week. Presently (27 January 2023) our system is still working at half of its purchased capability. Before Christmas, we were led to believe the part was on order but hadn’t been shipped from the manufacturer. We have been informed we have an “RMA number” and the part has been approved but no part is available. We have asked to be kept informed regarding when our $70K grid tied, solar equipment will be fully functional. In conclusion of my review of Solar CenTex we have seen a downward trend in their customer service since we first interacted with them in 2018. After the physical install is complete, their attitude toward customers is poor. We hope this is an isolated performance issue on this install and that others have not experienced this many failures in their relationship with Solar CenTex.
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Average cost (5kW system)
$13,000 ($2.60 per watt)
Kristina, over 1 month
We do not recommend Solar CenTex. This is our experience with Solar CenTex. We first came across Solar CenTex at a home and garden show in Bell County. We signed a contract with them in 2018 to have ground mount solar panel array installed behind our home. This project went well, and our system was inspected and commissioned in October. It was not fully operational per the contract until 14 November 2018 because there was a portion of the project that failed to function as specified in the contract. After a month of back and forth, a relatively minor issue was resolved. That system worked well for us after the initial problems were resolved but, we later sold that house, moved and wanted to do solar at our new home. This time, we wanted a grid tied, battery backup so we reached out to sales at Solar CenTex. Sales and the installation crew have saved this from being a 1-star review. The paperwork, contracts and first check for $7k were complete by early July, 2021. The install crew started designing our ground mount carport solar panel array with SolarEdge inverters and LG batteries. All the contracts and electric co-op forms were signed by mid July, 2021 and the install work began in late August/early September of 2021. By the end of September, we believed our system was fully operational and all the necessary paperwork had been handed off to the appropriate agencies. Checks for more than $70k had been cashed by Solar CenTex, the project was complete, per the contract. Not actually the case. We did not find out until 28 April 2022 (contacted by our electric co-op because our meter read very low usage) that we did not have the correct meter installed, the electric co-op did not have a record of our solar and they had not inspected the grid tied install. I spoke with Solar CenTex and they did not share with me why the process was left incomplete. I sent the signed short forms to our electric co-op via e-mail and got on their schedule for an inspection. Our solar install was properly documented and commissioned through the electric co-op on 28 May 2022. Another issue has been with the SolarEdge monitoring app. We were having regular conversations with Solar CenTex about the lack of access to change the battery charging/discharge levels through the SolarEdge app software. We were not able to adjust charging/discharge levels and had to call Solar CenTex prior to weather events and rely on them to adjust the discharge capacity of our batteries. We were disappointed to have installed a system that could only be controlled by the installer. At the time (June 2022) Solar CenTex suggested we had a communication intermittency issue. I asked if that was an issue with cell service and Solar CenTex (owner) replied, “yes the cell service from the inverter.” I contacted SolarEdge directly that evening and the app issue was resolved on 4 June 2022. Solar CenTex (warranty rep) suggested I contact SolarEdge directly and I later let Solar CenTex know when the manufacturer was able to resolve our problem. The install was physically complete in September 2021. We did not have control of this system and its charging capabilities until 4 June of 2022 and on 28 May 2022, we were inspected and properly metered/sanctioned to operate, as a grid tied system, by the electric co-op. Solar CenTex was notified, and no explanation was offered regarding either issue. Where we are now: In December (8 December2022) we noticed half of our system was not producing power or charging the batteries. After working with Solar CenTex, it was determined that the comm card failed. On 20 December Solar CenTex (install crew) came out and installed a comm card Solar CenTex thought might work but turned out to be incompatible with our inverter. Solar CenTex was trying to help get us up and running at full capacity before a cold snap over the Christmas week. Presently (27 January 2023) our system is still working at half of its purchased capability. Before Christmas, we were led to believe the part was on order but hadn’t been shipped from the manufacturer. We have been informed we have an “RMA number” and the part has been approved but no part is available. We have asked to be kept informed regarding when our $70K grid tied, solar equipment will be fully functional. In conclusion of my review of Solar CenTex we have seen a downward trend in their customer service since we first interacted with them in 2018. After the physical install is complete, their attitude toward customers is poor. We hope this is an isolated performance issue on this install and that others have not experienced this many failures in their relationship with Solar CenTex.
4.72 77 Reviews
Satisfied Customer, over 1 month
From my first meeting with the sales rep Eric Salazar who was professional and answered all my questions through all the follow-ups with him and Hailey Escobar on the customer service team this was a good experience. The installation team was professional and courteous. I am pleased with how the process worked.
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Satisfied Customer, over 1 month
From my first meeting with the sales rep Eric Salazar who was professional and answered all my questions through all the follow-ups with him and Hailey Escobar on the customer service team this was a good experience. The installation team was professional and courteous. I am pleased with how the process worked.
4.71 339 Reviews
Em and Tam, 1 week ago
We are potential Sunlux customers. Thus far, we have received top notch customer service from Customer Energy Amalyst, William (Bill) Young. We are very pleased with the completive solar proposal we received and the professionalism and information that Bill provided to educate us about solar tech, initiatives and incentives. Sunlux has been patient and armed us with the information required to make an informed decision regarding our solar needs.
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Average cost (5kW system)
$15,150 ($3.03 per watt)
Em and Tam, 1 week ago
We are potential Sunlux customers. Thus far, we have received top notch customer service from Customer Energy Amalyst, William (Bill) Young. We are very pleased with the completive solar proposal we received and the professionalism and information that Bill provided to educate us about solar tech, initiatives and incentives. Sunlux has been patient and armed us with the information required to make an informed decision regarding our solar needs.
4.67 55 Reviews
ATUL P, 6 days ago
They installed the system on my rooftop in 2022. They were very cost competitive and efficient. The system they recommended and installed has worked great so far.
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ATUL P, 6 days ago
They installed the system on my rooftop in 2022. They were very cost competitive and efficient. The system they recommended and installed has worked great so far.
4.67 352 Reviews
The Rail Guy, over 1 month
My experience Jameson & Longhorn Solar Inc. was great. I would recommend Longhorn Solar to others. I am more than satisfied with there performance and cooperation. I originally had a 42 panel system installed with out batteries in 2017 (based on 80% average usage). Problem was when the grid goes down the panels are useless. System upgrade: Longhorn Solar installed a TESLA (2)battery system last fall and then 8 additional panels this spring. Love the system and on most sunny days I am able to operate 100% self powered! Wow...
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Average cost (5kW system)
$17,200 ($3.44 per watt)
The Rail Guy, over 1 month
My experience Jameson & Longhorn Solar Inc. was great. I would recommend Longhorn Solar to others. I am more than satisfied with there performance and cooperation. I originally had a 42 panel system installed with out batteries in 2017 (based on 80% average usage). Problem was when the grid goes down the panels are useless. System upgrade: Longhorn Solar installed a TESLA (2)battery system last fall and then 8 additional panels this spring. Love the system and on most sunny days I am able to operate 100% self powered! Wow...
For more information about going solar near where you live, check out the following resources: