Texas solar customers saw rate change after policy shift, and one says his extra earnings could drop 85%

Texas homeowners who invested in solar panels to lower their power bills say a sudden change in utility policy is having the opposite effect. 

What happened?

In Bryan, customers learned they would be paid far less for the electricity they send back to the grid — and some have said they received notice only after the new rates had already taken effect.

Under Bryan Texas Utilities' new solar rates, extra electricity sent to the grid earns a little more than 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, while power taken from the grid later costs roughly 12 cents per kilowatt-hour. As KBTX reported, the pricing change came when BTU moved solar customers from full-retail net metering to a net-billing system.

Although the proposal was described to the Bryan City Council as a 3.5% overall increase, some solar customers have said their own bills could rise much more. For homeowners who sized their systems under the previous setup, one resident said the roughly 9-cent gap could drive his bill up by 85%.

Another major complaint was the timing of the notice. Residents said letters about the new billing structure were mailed only after the policy had already gone into effect.

That frustration spilled into a June 26 city council meeting, where dozens of residents showed up to press leaders on both the size of the change for solar customers and the late notice.

Why does it matter?

For many families, rooftop solar is a major investment made with the expectation of long-term savings. When a utility changes the math after panels are installed, homeowners can be left paying off equipment while seeing the financial benefits shrink.

That frustration can deepen when the switch is framed as a modest systemwide adjustment rather than a much larger hit to a smaller group of customers. A utility may describe the overall effect in percentage terms across all users, but that can obscure how unevenly the burden falls in practice.

Sending notice after a rate change has already taken effect can leave customers feeling blindsided, especially when they made home-upgrade decisions based on a previous policy. For people trying to lower bills and rely less on non-renewable energy, sudden rule changes can create real financial stress.

Disputes like this can also discourage other homeowners from considering solar at all, slowing adoption of a technology that can reduce household pollution and help stabilize energy costs.

What's being done?

Following the outcry at the June 26 meeting, the Bryan City Council told BTU to return by July 14 with a revised proposal, according to KBTX.

In Bryan, the biggest complaint remains that customers were asked to absorb a costly change they did not see coming, and they want a fairer proposal on the table before it becomes permanent.

Get TCD's free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.