Who is allowed to install solar on my Texas house, and what will my utility pay for the power I send out?

Who may wire the system: the TDLR electrical contractor license

TDLR's electrical contractor license covers the business of "designing, installing, erecting, repairing, or altering electrical wires or conductors to be used for light, heat, power, or signaling purposes." Solar panels aren't named on TDLR's pages. The link comes from the City of Houston, whose Solar Panel Permit page names Occupations Code Chapter 1305, the electricians chapter, as its authority and has contractors register their state license with the city.

To hold that license a business must employ a master electrician, who may be the owner, and carry business liability insurance, which TDLR's page sets at a minimum of $300,000 per occurrence for property damage and bodily injury combined. One master can serve only one contractor unless the master owns more than 50 percent of it. Get the license number in writing and look it up with TDLR before you sign.

Texas has no separate state solar contractor license. A homeowner who does electrical work on a dwelling they own and live in doesn't need the state license (Occupations Code 1305.003(a)(6)), and TDLR adds that cities may keep their own licensing or permit rules. Lubbock does: its solar permit form says only electrical contractors holding the state license may obtain the permit, and an approved Lubbock Power & Light interconnect agreement has to come with the application.

Texas installation prices: the model and Berkeley Lab's median, side by side

Our model puts a typical rooftop installation at $17,700 to $24,400 for a typical 7 kW rooftop system, before any incentive. Two national price ranges are scaled by Texas's solar installer wage ratio of 0.91, and a typical city solar permit fee of $153 is added. That's an estimate, and no federal credit comes off it because none applies to a system installed in 2026.

The range leaves out a battery, a panel upgrade, roof work and financing charges. Berkeley Lab's Texas median sits above the model's per-kW band, and we print both without reconciling them. Ask each company for the cost per watt before incentives, the system size in kW DC and the export credit its production estimate assumes.

Estimated range. Built from national published ranges (2 sources), adjusted by Texas's solar installer median wage ratio to the US (0.91, BLS May 2025), plus the city solar permit fee where the city publishes one. Not a quote. One Texas installer publishes its own current price on its own page (Palmetto, per watt), too few to build a range from; the others print blog or market averages or dated figures, which we do not count. We have no Texas company price for this job, so the range is our national estimate alone. Full method. Prices as of Oct 24, 2026.

The seller's own registration, and the rules that start November 1, 2026

The Texas Residential Solar Retailer Regulatory Act (Senate Bill 1036, now Occupations Code Chapter 1806) took effect September 1, 2025. TDLR now registers the businesses that sell or lease residential solar systems, and the people who sell for them. A retailer pays a $350 non-refundable fee for a one-year registration and carries general liability insurance of at least $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate. A salesperson pays $56 a year, faces no experience or exam requirement, and must be employed by a registered retailer.

The act reaches contracts signed after September 1, 2025 for solar panels and solar shingles bought for family, personal or household use. Exempt are buildings of four or more units or stories, nonresidential systems, temporary or emergency systems, single-appliance systems and anything under one kilowatt. For a rooftop system on your own house, that means two numbers to ask for: the retailer's registration and the salesperson's.

Two rules wait for a date. TDLR is suspending enforcement of rule 71.41, on contract disclosures, and rule 71.43, on educational materials, until November 1, 2026. TDLR's retailer pages don't set out what either rule makes a seller hand you, so before you sign a contract dated on or after November 1, ask TDLR for the text of both rules.

Texas law doesn't set what your exports earn

Texas doesn't mandate net metering. Utilities Code 39.916, as the statute reads (the copy cited here may predate the latest session), requires a utility to allow interconnection of distributed renewable generation of up to 2,000 kW when it carries a five-year warranty and its rated capacity doesn't exceed the utility service capacity. The credit is left to contract. A utility or retail electric provider may agree to buy surplus power, and where customers choose their retailer, the owner sells surplus to the retailer serving the home at a value the two agree on, which may follow the clearing price at the time or a credit carried on the account.

The PUCT's consumer page is blunt about it: "The buyback rate is part of your contract with your electric provider. The buyback rate is usually lower than the retail price that you pay." Where you can shop for a retail plan, it says to look for one with a buyback rate. Where the market isn't open to competition, it says to contact your utility, and city-owned utilities and electric cooperatives set their own rates.

Some providers print terms. Austin Energy meters all production, credits 100 percent of it at its Value of Solar rate and bills all consumption; that rate is 12.89 cents per kWh for systems under 1 MW-AC from October 1, 2026, subject to change, and Austin Energy updates it every three years. It also lists a $4,000 residential rebate for a qualifying system from a participating contractor, after its Solar Rebate Quiz. El Paso Electric says most customers who install solar qualify for its net metering rate, which nets generation against use. CPS Energy says it doesn't currently offer rebates for residential solar.

For the price side, EIA puts the Texas average residential electricity price at 15.91 cents per kWh in August 2026, against 15.40 in August 2025. Both are monthly figures, not annual averages.

What your HOA can still decide, and the property tax exemption

Property Code 202.010, as the statute reads, voids an HOA provision that bans or restricts a solar energy device, then lists what an association may still prohibit. On that list: a device on association or common property, one outside the roof or a fenced yard or patio, one that rises above the roofline or sits outside a roof area the association designates, frames in a color other than silver, bronze or black, visible piping or wiring, a device taller than the fence line, one that voids material warranties, and one installed without prior approval.

The statute limits the association too. Its designated roof area gives way when another spot raises estimated annual production by more than 10 percent on an NREL-type modeling tool. It has to decide within a reasonable period, and it may not withhold approval when the conditions are met unless it finds in writing that the placement substantially interferes with the use and enjoyment of land. Get that decision on paper before a company draws the layout.

Tax Code 11.27 exempts from property tax the appraised value a solar or wind-powered energy device adds, when the device is mainly for producing and distributing energy for use on site. The Comptroller publishes Solar and Wind-Powered Energy Device Exemption Guidelines, and the application is Form 50-123. Ask your appraisal district how it handles that form.

The code edition, and what CPS Energy tells San Antonio buyers

TDLR adopted the 2026 National Electrical Code as the state electrical code by amending 16 TAC 73.100, effective September 1, 2026, with a limited exception for ground-fault protection on certain outdoor outlets. Cities adopt their own editions. Denton's solar page still cites the 2020 NEC and the 2021 IRC, so ask your permit office which edition its reviewers apply.

CPS Energy's rooftop solar page says contractors manage the application and that the average cost of solar in its territory in 2023 was $3.80 per watt. It gives a 72-hour right to cancel a purchase contract, which is CPS's statement and not a state law, and it says the system must be added to your homeowner's insurance at full replacement cost.

When solar equipment needs a 911 call

What to line up before you request quotes

1. Name your electric provider from the latest bill and look for a buyback rate in your plan or contract; city utilities and co-ops set their own.
2. Ask each company for its TDLR electrical contractor license number and its TDLR solar retailer registration.
3. Read your HOA's written rules on roof placement and frame color, and keep a copy of the latest bill for the utility application.

Permits and the utility application in Texas

Cities issue solar permits under the codes they adopt. Houston prints $91.06 for its Solar Panel Permit and a $33.56 admin fee, Irving prints $75 plus $55 an hour of plan review with a $130 minimum, and Lubbock prints $75 on its 2025-2026 schedule. Houston has processed SolarAPP+ applications without traditional plan review since July 15, 2024, for contractors with a state license registered with the city, except where the design wind speed is 140 mph or more.

The utility step is separate: under PUCT rules 25.211 and 25.212 you submit an application and sign an interconnection agreement before connecting. The interconnection page lists what each utility prints.

Ask for the company's contractor license number and look it up with your state's licensing board before you sign.

Questions people ask

Keep reading

Guides

• Solar quotes: what to compare, and what to get in writing, before you sign
• The federal solar tax credit in 2026: what the IRS says and what it means for a quote
• Net metering, distributed generation and net billing: how each state credits the power you send out
• Solar leases, PPAs and loans: the questions to ask before you sign any of them

Related services

• Interconnection and permits
• Solar battery storage
• Ground-mount solar

Texas licensing, code and permit facts · Report a wrong price or rule