When you have solar on your home, electricity flows 3 ways.*
🔆 —> 🏠 From your solar panels to power your home
🔆 —> 🏭 From your solar panels back to the utility grid
🏭 —> 🏠 From the utility grid to power your home
Why it matters: Solar buy back is the way your utility credits you — or doesn’t — for the electricity you send back to the grid.
🔬 Zoom in: Homeowners with solar (or looking into it) need to know how this works.
- Solar buy back varies by utility (A smaller co-op like Coserv vs. a large TDU like Oncor)
- Also varies by retail providers (Green Mountain vs. Energy Texas)
Whether you’re shopping for a retail provider or trying to change your co-op’s policies, you want to know 2 things:
- Does the utility give you full credit for electricity you send them? (Needs to be a YES)
- If you send more electricity than you pulled from the grid (like in March and April), do the credits rollover to the next month? (Ideally a YES)
✅ For your Smart Homeowner list
- Have solar and need to shop new plans —> start here.
Best,
Travis
*A home storage battery adds 2 ways:
🔆 —> 🔋 From your solar panels to your battery
🔋 —> 🏠 From your battery to power your home