Texas added enough utility-scale solar that the wholesale price of midday electricity is now near zero on most clear days. Since retailers buy your exported solar at a price tied to that wholesale market, no retailer can sustainably credit you the full retail rate anymore. As of April 2026, no Texas retail electricity provider offers a true 1:1 solar buyback plan.
The single sentence version
Too many Texas solar farms got built, midday wholesale power got cheap, and the economics that made 1:1 buyback work no longer exist for any retailer in the state.
What actually happened to the Texas market?
ERCOT-connected utility-scale solar capacity grew from roughly 8 GW in 2020 to over 30 GW by mid-2026. That's enough solar to meet a large share of statewide midday demand on sunny days. The result is that wholesale electricity prices at LZ_NORTH (Dallas-Fort Worth) and LZ_HOUSTON settlement points routinely drop below 2¢/kWh between 10 AM and 3 PM, and occasionally go negative when supply exceeds demand.
Your rooftop solar exports earn money by being sold into that same wholesale market. When the wholesale price is near zero, the buyback credit a retailer can offer is also near zero. A retailer offering you 16¢/kWh for exports that they can only resell at 2¢/kWh would lose money on every kWh.
Why every 1:1 buyback plan went away
A 1:1 plan credits you the full retail rate (typically 14-18¢/kWh in Texas) for every kWh you export. As long as the wholesale midday price was reasonably close to the retail rate, retailers could afford to honor 1:1 credits because they were just passing through the value. Once midday wholesale prices collapsed, the gap between retail rates and what retailers actually earn on exports became too large to subsidize.
Meter's Match plan, the last 1:1 plan available in Texas, was sunset on April 13, 2026. The Light Energy retail platform that supports Meter's plans simply stopped returning Match plans for new enrollments. Existing Match customers keep their rate for the remainder of their contract.
Are my solar panels still worth it?
Yes, but the value mechanism has shifted from exports to self-consumption. Every kWh you produce and use directly at your home avoids both the energy cost (roughly 11-14¢/kWh in Texas) and the TDU delivery charges (roughly 5-6¢/kWh, rising about 5% per year). That's a combined avoided cost of around 16-20¢/kWh for self-consumed solar, which is higher than any current Texas buyback rate.
Two numbers that matter
- Self-consumed solar value: 16-20¢/kWh (going up about 5% per year as delivery charges rise)
- Exported solar value: 3-8¢/kWh on the best fixed buyback plans available in 2026
The takeaway: any kWh you can shift from export to self-consumption is worth 2-5x more.
What can I do about it?
Three concrete options, in order of impact:
Add a home battery
A battery stores your midday solar production and lets you use it during evening peak rates instead of exporting at near-zero. On Meter plans, eligible Tesla and SolarEdge batteries also earn $2/kWh per month in VPP credits (about $27/month for a single Powerwall).
Pick the right plan for your home's profile
If you export a lot (60%+ of usage), prioritize plans with the highest locked solar credit. If you self-consume most of your production, prioritize plans with no monthly base fee and a low import rate. The wrong plan choice can cost $300-1,000 per year.
Shift heavy loads to daytime
Pre-cool the house before 4 PM, run dishwashers and laundry at noon, schedule EV charging for midday. Each kWh shifted from grid-import to solar-self-consumption is worth roughly 16-20¢ instead of 3-8¢.
Sources
See what plan fits your home now
Enter your ZIP code to see the current best-fit Meter plan for your usage profile.
Compare Plans