Oncor
North and west Texas, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Odessa and Midland. A delivery utility, not a retailer. Oncor moves your power and connects your system; the export rate comes from whichever Retail Electric Provider you sign with.
- Type
- Investor owned
- Accounts
- 4.0M
What they credit you
We confirm it for you
Not yet published hereOncor is a investor owned provider, so its terms are set by its own board rather than by any state rule. We have not yet read Oncor’s own tariff, and we will not print a number we have not verified. Your installer confirms the current terms in writing before you sign. If they will not, walk away.
Battery backup is mandatory
in Oncor territory.
Oncor has not published a one for one credit that we have been able to verify. Until it does, we assume exporting power to Oncor is worth well below what you pay to buy it back.
That does not make solar a bad idea in Oncor 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. Oncor sets its own limits. Ask Oncor 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 Oncor 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
Compare buyback plans on their export rate, the length of the fixed term, the early termination fee and any minimum usage fee, before you compare installers.
Applying to Oncor
What Oncor itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.
- 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.
- The rules may be about to change
- In May 2025 the Governor signed a bill allowing the Public Utility Commission to approve an alternative method for compensating a distributed renewable generation owner. Whatever you sign today, assume the market around it moves.
- 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 Oncor’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source
Oncor net metering questions
- Does Oncor offer one for one net metering?
- We have not been able to verify a published one for one credit from Oncor. As a investor owned provider it is not bound by whatever state rule covers the investor owned utilities, so it sets its own terms. Ask Oncor for the current export rate in writing before you sign anything.
- What does Oncor pay for power sent back to the grid?
- Oncor has not published a figure we can verify, so we do not print one. Your installer must confirm the current rate against Oncor’s own tariff before you commit.
- Do I need a battery with Oncor?
- Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Oncor 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 Oncor territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
- How do I find my Oncor bill?
- Find your Retail Electric Provider’s name on the bill, not Oncor’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 Oncor?
- Compare buyback plans on their export rate, the length of the fixed term, the early termination fee and any minimum usage fee, before you compare installers.
Installers serving Oncor customers
Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.
These are real companies operating in Oncor territory, 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.