Solar panels produce electricity using energy from the sun, which means the amount of electricity they produce depends on the amount of sunlight available. When the sun is shining strong, your solar panels will produce a lot of electricity. But if your family is at work or school during the day, there might not be anyone home to use it during those hours, leaving you with a surplus of electricity.
Net metering is a solar incentive that ensures this surplus doesn’t go to waste. As a net metering participant, you’ll be able to send the solar electricity you don’t use directly to the electric grid, and you’ll be credited for every kWh you produce. When you need to buy electricity from the grid, you can then use your credit to offset the cost.
In order for net metering to work, your utility needs to be able to track the amount of electricity you generate and the amount of electricity you consume. To allow for this, solar customers are required to have two electric meters—one to measure the amount of solar energy that is sent to the grid and a second to track the amount of electricity the house consumes from the grid.
With net metering, your electric bill will be equal to the amount of electricity you consume from the grid minus the amount of electricity you send to it.
Texas doesn’t have state-wide net metering policies, but several utility companies and retail electric providers offer their own solar buyback programs. In San Antonio, net metering is available through CPS Energy, NBU, and GVEC.
CPS Energy Net Metering
If you own a home or business in San Antonio, you’re probably a CPS Energy customer. CPS has a solar net metering program called net billing.
CPS’s net metering program credits you at the full retail rate for the electricity you produce, but only up to the amount of your home’s monthly energy usage. Any electricity you send to the grid beyond your monthly usage is credited at a lower rate.
NBU Net Metering
NBU offers net metering for solar customers in its service area. Through its net metering program, NBU will bank excess electricity generated by solar customers, and customers can apply the banked kWh to their subsequent monthly electric bills.
GVEC Net Metering
GVEC offers a net metering program that allows customers to sell their excess solar electricity back to the grid if they elect to do so.
Texas Engineered Solar is a local, veteran-owned solar company in TX that helps San Antonio homeowners and businesses save as much money as possible on their electric bills with solar panels. We will size your solar energy system to match your home or business’s electrical usage as closely as possible, minimizing the amount of electricity you need to buy from the grid. Even though some utilities will buy back solar power, they do so at a lower rate, so it’s best to cover as much of your electricity consumption as possible with your solar energy system.
Whether you’re ready to go solar now or you have questions about the process, TXEN Solar can help. We are a small, owner-operated solar installer and we put our customers’ needs above all else. We can help you take advantage of net metering and other Texas solar incentives to make your residential or commercial solar installation more affordable.
