CenterPoint Energy net metering in Texas
The Houston area and the upper Gulf Coast. A delivery utility. Same split as Oncor: it runs the wires, your Retail Electric Provider sets the buyback.
- Type
- Investor owned
- Accounts
- 2.9M
What they credit you
CenterPoint pays nothing; your retailer sets the price
Published termsCenterPoint is a wires company. It connects your system and reads the meter but does not buy exported power. Under 16 TAC § 25.217(f)(2), you sell out-flows to the Retail Electric Provider serving your home, at a value you both agree, so the price is a term of your retailer’s solar buyback plan.
Published terms · checked 2026-10-07 · source
Installers serving CenterPoint customers
Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.
- Bold EnergyLocal installerBatteryBBB B+, accredited4.948 GoogleMulti-state installer working from a Texas base and publishing 84 licenses across 31 states, with battery storage, repairs and panel removal alongside new installs.All of TexasSelect this installer
- SunrunLocal installerBattery19 years tradingBBB A+, accreditedThe largest residential solar and home battery company in the United States, trading since 2007 and operating in twenty states.All of TexasSelect this installer
These are real companies operating in CenterPoint territory. Bold Energy is listed first because it is the company we introduce first. That order is our choice, not a score. The other companies are ordered by reviews, years trading and BBB grade. None of them pays us for placement. Pick the one you want and we will call you to arrange it.
Ordering combines three things we read from primary sources: Google review count and rating, years trading taken from the company’s Better Business Bureau profile rather than its own marketing, and its BBB letter grade. BBB accreditation is shown but never scored, because it is a paid membership rather than a mark of quality.
Check any contractor license yourself at the state register. Do that before you sign anything, with any company, including ours.
What this looks like on a CenterPoint bill
An average Texas household, against a system sized to cover its year. The energy charge is the part that goes to zero. The fixed monthly charge underneath it is the part that never does, and it is the number that decides whether a system pays for itself.
Meter reading falling from 41926 to 41620 kilowatt hours. A 1,096 kilowatt hour month against 1,402 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 306 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $174.70 to $0.00 at 15.94 cents per kilowatt hour.
Texas average household use, 1,096 kWh a month, at the current published residential price of 15.94¢ per kWh. Your utility still bills a fixed monthly customer charge that no system offsets, so this is the energy part of the bill, which is the part that goes away.
Battery backup is mandatory
in CenterPoint territory.
CenterPoint does not credit the power you send back at the rate it charges you to take it.
That does not make solar a bad idea in CenterPoint territory. It changes what you should build. When exports are worth a fraction of retail the credit stops being the return, and the job becomes using more of your own production inside the house, which usually means a larger array than a one for one utility would need.
Sizing is where that gets decided, so ask about it directly. Texas has no statutory size cap. Your delivery utility, Oncor, CenterPoint, AEP Texas or TNMP, sets the interconnection limits, and your retail provider separately decides whether its buyback plan caps system size or export volume. CenterPoint sets its own limits. Ask CenterPoint what it allows before you accept that a bigger system is off the table.
A battery then does two separate jobs. It moves daytime production into the evening so you use it instead of selling it, and it keeps the house running when the grid goes down. That second job is not a bonus. Panels on their own shut off in an outage, by design, so a roof full of them powers nothing during a storm. That is the part we will not refer around.
So we treat it as a requirement, not an upgrade. We will not refer you for a panels-only system in CenterPoint territory, and you should be skeptical of anyone who quotes you one without raising storage first.
Our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement
What your installer should be telling you
No rule requires a retailer to buy your exports or sets a floor on the price. Compare buyback plans on the export rate, how long it is fixed, the early termination fee and any minimum usage fee before you compare installers.
What CenterPoint bills you anyway
In a month when your production covers everything you use, the energy charge can reach zero. This does not. It is the floor under every bill, and it is the number that decides whether a system pays for itself.
- The charge
- $4.90 a month to CenterPoint, plus about 6.4 cents on every kilowatt hour you pull
- How it is set
- CenterPoint is a wires company, so this is delivery and not energy. The PUCT monthly report puts the residential Customer Charge at $2.11 and the Metering Charge at $2.79, which is $4.90 a month fixed, with a volumetric delivery charge of $0.064130 per kWh. On 1,000 kWh that is about $69.03 to CenterPoint before the retailer bills for the electricity. Self consumption avoids delivery as well as energy; exporting does not earn the delivery part back.
PUCT Monthly Report, CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, Residential class, 1 September 2026 · checked 2026-09-19 · source
Applying to CenterPoint
What CenterPoint itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.
- You sell to your retailer, at a price you agree
- 16 TAC § 25.217(f)(2): in areas with customer choice, an owner of distributed renewable generation who chooses to sell out-flows sells them to the Retail Electric Provider serving the premises, at a value both parties agree. Nothing sets that value, and no retailer is required to offer one. The renewable energy credits stay yours unless you sell them.
- Your wires company and your power company are different companies
- The delivery utility owns the poles, reads the meter and handles the interconnection. It does not set what you are paid for exports and cannot sell you electricity. That is your Retail Electric Provider, and you choose it.
- The export rate is a contract term, so read it like one
- Solar buyback plans range from a retail rate match to a fixed few cents per kWh. Ask three questions: the export rate, how long it is fixed for, and the early termination fee if you want to leave when it changes.
- Watch the minimum usage fee
- Many Texas retail plans charge a fee if monthly usage falls below a threshold. Solar is very good at pushing your billed usage below that threshold, which is how a cheap plan becomes an expensive one the month the panels go live.
- A retail match is not the same as net metering
- Even where a plan credits exports at the energy rate you pay, delivery charges are usually still billed on every kilowatt hour you take from the grid. The credit offsets part of the bill, not all of it.
- Outside ERCOT the rules changed in September 2026
- HB 912, signed on 20 May 2025 and effective 1 September 2026, deals with how distributed renewable generation owners are compensated in certain areas outside ERCOT. Inside the competitive market, your export credit is still a term of your retail plan.
- Outside the competitive market, none of this applies
- Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and the cooperative territories are not part of retail choice. There you have one provider and its own published terms, which is a different question with a different answer.
From CenterPoint’s published guidelines · checked 2026-10-07 · source
CenterPoint net metering questions
- Does CenterPoint offer one for one net metering?
- No. CenterPoint is a wires company. It connects your system and reads the meter but does not buy exported power. Under 16 TAC § 25.217(f)(2), you sell out-flows to the Retail Electric Provider serving your home, at a value you both agree, so the price is a term of your retailer’s solar buyback plan.
- What does CenterPoint pay for power sent back to the grid?
- CenterPoint pays nothing; your retailer sets the price.
- Do I need a battery with CenterPoint?
- Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because CenterPoint does not credit exports one for one, the return has to come from using your own production rather than selling it, which after dark means storage and usually a larger array than a one for one utility would need. The other half is backup: panels alone shut off in an outage, so a battery is what keeps the house running in a storm. We do not refer panels-only systems in CenterPoint territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
- How do I find my CenterPoint bill?
- Find your Retail Electric Provider’s name on the bill, not CenterPoint’s. Sign in to that provider’s site. Open Billing and save the latest statement as a PDF. Or screenshot the summary page. If you cannot get to it, a rough guess at your average monthly amount is enough to start.
- What is the catch with CenterPoint?
- No rule requires a retailer to buy your exports or sets a floor on the price. Compare buyback plans on the export rate, how long it is fixed, the early termination fee and any minimum usage fee before you compare installers.