Sunprint
The short answer
El Paso Electric still uses monthly net metering in Texas: the power your panels send out is netted against the power you take in, you pay for any net use, and a month-end surplus is credited at its Rate 48 purchase price, 1.6154 cents per kWh in October 2026. What changed is the rate solar homes pay. Unless your system's application was accepted before December 17, 2017, you're on the Distributed Generation Rate: per-kWh prices 3.333 cents lower than the standard rate, plus a demand charge of $5.65 for each kW of your single highest hour of power use in the month. It replaced the old $30.25 minimum bill for solar homes.
Because the demand charge depends on your own peak use, nobody can give you a single savings number without your usage data. The math below shows how to work it out.
How El Paso Electric bills a solar home
- Monthly netting. El Paso Electric installs a two-way meter and a separate REC meter. Net consumption is charged at your rate; net production is credited under Rate Schedule No. 48.
- The leftover credit is small. Rate 48 paid 1.6154 cents per kWh in October 2026, so a system that regularly out-produces your home earns little for the extra.
- Your bill won't show the REC readings. El Paso Electric says Texas bills don't include them.
- Some programs end. Homes that connect rooftop solar can't stay in El Paso Electric's Texas Community Solar Program or Budget Billing; they're removed automatically.
The rate, line by line
| Standard rate | Distributed Generation Rate | |
|---|---|---|
| Customer charge | $13.71 a month | $13.71 a month |
| Demand charge | None | $5.65 per kW, every month |
| Summer, first 600 kWh | 12.897¢ | 9.564¢ |
| Summer, each kWh over 600 | 13.897¢ | 10.564¢ |
| Rest of the year, all kWh | 10.897¢ | 7.564¢ |
| Summer months | May to October | June to September |
Base charges from Schedule No. 01. Fuel and other riders are added per kWh on both rates. The demand charge uses your highest 60-minute reading of the month.
Every per-kWh price on the solar rate is exactly 3.333 cents lower. Note the seasons differ too: on the standard rate, summer pricing runs May through October; on the solar rate, June through September.
What the demand charge costs
The demand charge is $5.65 times your highest one-hour use in kW during the month. The lower per-kWh price gives part of it back, 3.333 cents on every kWh you still buy. To break even, you'd need to buy about 170 kWh a month from El Paso Electric for each kW of your peak:
| If your highest hour reaches | Demand charge a month | kWh you'd need to buy to offset it |
|---|---|---|
| 4 kW | $22.60 | 680 kWh |
| 6 kW | $33.90 | 1,020 kWh |
| 8 kW | $45.20 | 1,360 kWh |
Examples, not typical values. $5.65 per kW from Schedule No. 01; break-even = demand charge ÷ 3.333¢.
For context, federal data put the average El Paso Electric home at 710 kWh a month in 2024. A home with solar buys less than that from the grid. If it buys 400 kWh a month, for example, its peak hour would have to stay under about 2.4 kW for the lower prices to cover the demand charge. Above that, the charge costs more than the discount gives back.
Your peak is in your hands, though. Because the charge follows your single highest hour, running big loads one at a time in the evening, such as the air conditioner, dryer, oven and an electric vehicle charger, keeps it lower.
What it means for solar savings
El Paso's sun is the best in Texas: NREL's PVWatts puts a south-facing system at about 1,857 kWh per kW a year there, the most of the 16 Texas cities we modeled. Under monthly netting, most of that output still offsets power you'd otherwise buy. But on the solar rate, each kWh you avoid buying is worth 7.6 to 10.6 cents in base charges, not the standard rate's 10.9 to 13.9, and the demand charge comes on top.
So a realistic savings estimate for El Paso Electric has to use the Distributed Generation Rate and your own past demand readings, not the standard rate. Our calculator's El Paso Electric estimate uses the standard rate and leaves out the demand charge, so treat it as an upper bound.
Who is grandfathered
Solar customers whose interconnection application El Paso Electric accepted before December 17, 2017 keep their old terms for 20 years from the date their system was connected. The grandfathering stays with the system: if the original owner sells the house, the new owners keep it for the rest of the term, and if the owner moves the whole system to a new home, it can carry over there, subject to El Paso Electric's confirmation. Everyone else with solar is on the Distributed Generation Rate.
Connecting to El Paso Electric
- Apply and get design approval first. El Paso Electric warns that building before approval risks paying for a system that doesn't meet its requirements. The application includes a one-line diagram and site diagram; fees vary by system size.
- Permits and install. After approval and building permits from your city or county, the system is installed as approved.
- Inspections. After the local final electrical inspection, the contractor emails El Paso Electric to request its field inspection and meter installation.
- Meters and approval. El Paso Electric installs the two-way and REC meters, labels the meter box as a solar site and returns a signed copy of the interconnection agreement.
Outages aren't much of a factor here: federal data show El Paso Electric customers averaged under 3 hours a year without power from 2020 to 2024, most years about 1. If you're weighing a battery, the stronger reason in El Paso may be trimming your evening peak, which is what sets the demand charge. Our battery guide has costs.
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
Does El Paso Electric still have net metering in Texas?
Yes, monthly netting. Net consumption is charged at your rate and any month-end surplus is credited under Rate Schedule No. 48, 1.6154 cents per kWh in October 2026. The rate most solar homes pay changed to the Distributed Generation Rate.
What is El Paso Electric's solar demand charge?
$5.65 per kW of your highest one-hour power use in the month, on the Distributed Generation Rate that applies to solar homes not grandfathered. In exchange, every per-kWh price on that rate is 3.333 cents lower than the standard residential rate.
Am I grandfathered from El Paso Electric's solar rate?
Only if El Paso Electric accepted your interconnection application before December 17, 2017. Grandfathering lasts 20 years from the date the system was connected and transfers to new owners of the home.
What happened to El Paso Electric's $30 solar minimum bill?
The current Texas tariff replaced it. The 2021 tariff charged newer solar homes a minimum bill of $30.25 a month on the standard rate; the current tariff puts them on the Distributed Generation Rate with a demand charge instead, and the minimum charge is the customer charge plus riders and taxes.
Is solar worth it with El Paso Electric?
El Paso's sun is the strongest in Texas, but savings now depend on your peak use. Each kWh solar replaces saves 7.6 to 10.6 cents in base charges on the solar rate, and the $5.65 per kW demand charge comes on top. A realistic estimate uses the Distributed Generation Rate and your own demand readings.
Can I stay in El Paso Electric's community solar program if I install panels?
No. El Paso Electric says customers who connect rooftop solar aren't eligible for its Texas Community Solar Program or Budget Billing and are removed from them automatically.
Related guides
- Is solar worth it in Texas?
- How much solar panels cost in Texas
- Texas solar buyback plans
- Solar batteries and Texas outages
- Texas solar laws
- Paying for solar in Texas
Rates are from El Paso Electric's current Texas tariff and change with rate cases and monthly factors. Not financial advice. Sources: El Paso Electric Texas Schedule No. 01, revision 22 (PDF) · Schedule No. 01, revision 21, 2021 (PDF) · Rate Schedule No. 48 (PDF) · Rate 48 purchased power factors, October 2026 (PDF) · El Paso Electric: Texas interconnection · El Paso Electric: Texas rate tariffs · EIA Form 861, 2024 · PVWatts v8, National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL). Reviewed October 2026.
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