Sunprint
The short answer
East Texas splits between SWEPCO around Longview, Marshall and Texarkana, Oncor in parts of Smith, Angelina and Nacogdoches counties, Entergy Texas around Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange, and a long list of electric co-ops in between. SWEPCO and Entergy credit exported solar at their avoided cost, a wholesale-level price, so the power your home uses as it's made does most of the saving; for a $150 average bill our calculator puts payback at 16 to 27 years across the three. The sun is among the weakest in Texas, and long outages are common, especially on rural co-op lines.
Outages: the East Texas question
In 2024, customers of two East Texas co-ops averaged more than two days without power, storms included, according to the utilities' own reports to the federal EIA:
Hours without power per customer in 2024, major storm days included. The table below shows five-year averages.
| Utility | Hours without power a year, 2020 to 2024 average | Leaving out major storms | Worst year |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWEPCO | 20.7 h | 4.8 h | 45.6 h in 2023 |
| Oncor area | 7.1 h | 1.7 h | 9.3 h in 2021 |
| Entergy Texas | 20.7 h | 5.1 h | 42.3 h in 2020 |
| Upshur Rural Electric | 36.6 h | 15.0 h | 94.4 h in 2023 |
| Deep East Texas Electric | 25.2 h | 13.0 h | 54.9 h in 2024 |
| Rusk County Electric | 28.0 h | 7.2 h | 64.3 h in 2024 |
| Cherokee County Electric | 28.4 h | 8.8 h | 47.0 h in 2021 |
Average hours without power per customer, from each utility's reports to the federal EIA. "Leaving out major storms" drops the major event days utilities are allowed to exclude.
If keeping the lights on is part of why you want solar, panels alone won't do it: grid-tied solar shuts down in an outage unless it has a battery set up for backup. Our battery guide compares batteries with generators.
Who buys your solar power
| Utility | What it does with solar power you send out | Yearly savings, $150 bill | Payback | Estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWEPCO | Credits exports at its avoided cost, about 3.3¢, and adds a $9.42 monthly solar fee | $684 to $802 | 25 to 27 years | Estimate → |
| Oncor area | Your retail plan sets the buyback: from nothing up to about its energy charge | $740 to $1,314 | 16 to 19 years | Estimate → |
| Entergy Texas | Credits exports at its avoided cost: 3.866¢ in summer, 3.587¢ the rest of 2026 | $764 to $877 | 21 to 24 years | Estimate → |
SWEPCO and the Oncor area use Tyler-area sun, Entergy Texas Beaumont's. SWEPCO's figure includes its $9.42 monthly solar fee.
SWEPCO's Texas rate case settlement, waiting on PUC approval in October 2026, would raise its customer charge and solar fee to $10.92 each. Co-ops serve much of the region: Upshur Rural Electric, Wood County Electric, Deep East Texas Electric, Rusk County Electric, Cherokee County Electric, Jasper-Newton Electric, Panola-Harrison Electric, Bowie-Cass Electric, Houston County Electric and Sam Houston Electric. We couldn't confirm their solar terms; ask yours for its written terms before you size a system.
Sun and hail
NREL PVWatts, south-facing panels on a 6/12 roof, standard losses.
Of the 16 Texas cities in our sun data, Beaumont (1,411 kWh a year per kW) and Houston are the lowest and Tyler (1,483) is close behind, so covering the same share of your use takes a bigger system than in West Texas. Hail is moderate: NOAA lists 496 reports in our 12 counties from 2016 to 2025, 103 of them in Smith County.
Your estimate in three steps
- Enter your billYour ZIP code, your utility and last month's bill.
- See your estimateA yearly savings range based on your utility's rates and the sun where you live.
- Choose what's nextAsk for a quote call if you want real pricing, or just keep the number.
See what solar could save you
It takes about a minute. You don't need a site visit, a commitment or a sales call to see your number.
Common questions
Is solar worth it in East Texas?
For a $150 average bill and a system covering 85% of use, our calculator puts payback at 16 to 27 years across SWEPCO, the Oncor area and Entergy Texas, at $3.00 to $3.50 a watt with no incentives. SWEPCO and Entergy credit exports at wholesale-level prices, so a system sized to your daytime use does better.
How long are power outages in East Texas?
In 2024, Rusk County Electric customers averaged 64 hours without power and Deep East Texas Electric customers 55 hours, storms included, according to their reports to the federal EIA. Oncor's customers averaged 9 hours.
What does SWEPCO pay for solar power in Texas?
Its avoided cost of energy from two months earlier, a wholesale-level price that SWEPCO doesn't publish; the 2025 average market price in its region was about 3.3 cents per kWh. Solar homes also pay a $9.42 monthly fee.
What does Entergy Texas pay for solar power?
It credits exported power at its avoided cost: 3.866 cents per kWh in summer and 3.587 cents the rest of 2026.
Does East Texas get enough sun for solar?
It gets less than most of Texas: about 1,483 kWh a year from 1 kW of south-facing panels in Tyler and 1,411 in Beaumont, in NREL's PVWatts model.
Related guides
- Solar for SWEPCO customers
- Solar for Entergy Texas customers
- Solar for Oncor customers
- Solar batteries and Texas power outages
- How many solar panels you need in Texas
- Is solar worth it in Texas?
Savings and payback are our calculator's estimates, not a utility's or an installer's. Rates and buyback terms change; check your utility's current terms before you sign. Sources: SWEPCO: Texas rates, charges and fees (PDF) · PUC Docket 58819: SWEPCO rate case · Entergy Texas: net metering for renewable energy resources · U.S. Department of Energy: the road to resilience with rooftop solar · U.S. EIA Form 861: service territories, reliability and sales data, 2020 to 2024 · NOAA NCEI Storm Events database, 2016 to 2025 · NREL PVWatts v8. Reviewed October 2026.
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