Solar in Texas informational podcast

Going solar in Texas is more complex than most other states because of the utilities being unregulated. This means that there isn't any state oversight and laws in place to define how the utilities set up their net energy energy metering agreements (NEM). There are literally hundreds of utility companies and co-ops in Texas and they all have different net metering agreements. Most of the country does not offer their citizens any type of choice when choosing their electricity provider. But Texas, in a lot of places, have several utility options you can choose to be a customer with and if they raise rates or change the deal on you in any way, you can leave. Not every part of the state has multiple options, but the majority can simply cancel and sign up with another utility. The reason this is so important to know is that depending on which utility of co-op you're with, it can drastically affect your system's payback period. This creates a whole new element when consulting for a system in Texas because not only do we need to understand every aspect of the possible hardware solutions and their capabilities, but also how a system with a specific utility provider will affect your post solar bill. Some utilities will give you almost nothing for your excess kWh's produced and sent back to the grid and some even have a full 1:1 net metering agreement as an incentive to move over to their service. The competition is good but also bad... The good is that you can potentially get a much better deal going solar by switching utility companies. Here's the bad news though...

Because the state is unregulated, the grid has been neglected as utilities don't upkeep their grids as well as a state regulated market would require. Because of this, Texas has experienced quite a lot of pain in the recent years, peaking with the "SnowMageddon" event that wiped most of the state's power for several days out due to the grid not being able to handle the winter weather. 

So, with all of that being said, do Texan's want to save money when going solar? Yes, of course. But, it's usually not the main driving factor when wanting to go solar. Rates in the state are rising and utility companies have not done a lot to actually fix and update the grid so these events don't happen in the future.  Most people in Texas I speak to and we help go solar are doing it for stability, reliability, and not needing to worry about the grid if it's not working. 90% of homeowners we work with are installing some sort of backup system with either batteries or a generator. Each utility's net metering agreement will dictate if a battery or generator is a better option for you. 

Reach out today and I can connect you with Larsen, my Texas solar expert in the video above. Looking forward to speaking with you soon.. Feel free to call/text me at 760-473-5878, or email Juliansolarguide@gmail.com.