Solar for Xcel Energy customers in Texas

The short answer

Xcel Energy, the Southwestern Public Service Company, doesn't offer net metering in Texas. On its standard hookup a single meter counts the power you take from the grid, and the power your panels send out isn't metered or bought. You can ask for a second meter, and Xcel will then pay for what you send out at its fuel and purchased power cost for the month, but the tariff charges $20.00 a month for that. At 2025's costs, about 1.7¢ a kWh, the second meter costs more than it earns for almost any home system.

So with Xcel, solar pays off through the power your home uses as the panels make it. That's worth the full price of a kWh, and it's what our calculator counts.

Three ways to hook up

Xcel's Texas tariff for home-sized systems, 100 kW or less, lists three metering options. Your rates for the power you buy are the same under each one.

Under options 2 and 3 the credit only goes on your bill if your account is current with nothing overdue, and city franchise fees can be added. Option 3 meters everything the panels make, including what your home uses as it's made, and pays the low fuel-cost rate for all of it, while you buy all your use at full price. That gives up the most valuable part of solar.

What the second meter pays

The tariff doesn't set a fixed buyback price. Each month it pays what Xcel spent on fuel at its power plants and on power it bought, per kWh. It changes every month; in 2025 it swung from under 1¢ to almost 3¢:

Xcel's actual Texas fuel cost per kWh each month, in cents. The dashed line is the year's average, 1.66¢.

From Xcel's (SPS) monthly Texas fuel cost reports to the PUC, Project 57479, revised filings where it refiled. The tariff pays the month's fuel and purchased power cost per kWh; Xcel doesn't post that as a single number, so these filed costs are the closest public figure.

To cover its own $20 a month, the second meter has to carry a lot of power out:

In other words, at 2025's average cost the second meter only breaks even if you export about as much as a 8.7 kW system makes in a whole year, and a home system only exports part of what it makes. A system covering 85% of a home with a $150 bill would send out about 5,435 kWh a year in our model, worth about $90 a year against the meter's $240. Ask Xcel for its recent monthly costs before you choose; if they rise a lot, the math changes.

What solar saves on your bill

Every kWh your home uses straight from the panels is a kWh you don't buy from Xcel. Here's what a kWh costs on its Texas residential rate before fuel and riders:

Summer power is the most expensive. One thing to know if your home uses a lot of power in winter, with electric heat for example: past 899 kWh in a winter month, each extra kWh costs Xcel's lowest energy rate, so solar saves less in those months. Our estimate uses Xcel's 2025 average price in federal EIA data, 13.9¢ with fuel and riders included, so a home that's often in that winter tier will save somewhat less than the table below shows.

Sizing when exports earn nothing

Because power you send out isn't paid for, the share your home uses as it's made decides what a system is worth:

A smaller system sends less to the grid, so more of each kWh it makes is worth the full rate. In our model, a system covering 75% of a home's use keeps about 50% of its output at home, against 42% for one covering 95%. Running the dishwasher, laundry and pool pump around midday helps for the same reason. A battery can store midday power for the evening; our battery guide covers what that costs.

Savings and payback

Here's what our calculator works out at each bill size, with Xcel's 2025 average price from federal EIA data, its $12.45 service availability charge, nothing paid for exports and NREL's sun data for Amarillo:

Payback assumes $3.00 to $3.50 a watt for a system covering 85% of use, rates rising 3% a year (Xcel's recent pace was faster; we cap it at 3%) and panels losing 0.5% a year. No incentives: the federal credit ended for home systems finished after 2025.

Those paybacks are long, among the longest of the Texas utilities we cover, because more than half of a typical system's output earns nothing. The Panhandle's strong sun helps; a system near Amarillo makes about 1,663 kWh a year per kW in our estimate, more than one near Dallas or Houston. A smaller system, sized to your daytime use, or one paired with a battery, keeps more of its output at the full rate and pays back sooner.

Getting connected

1. Apply before you install. Send Xcel the interconnection application and agreement from its Texas tariff (sheet IV-159) before anything goes on the roof.
2. Study fee. For a home system of 10 kW or less that isn't on a network feeder, the pre-interconnection study fee is $0 with pre-certified equipment and $196 without.
3. Approval. Under PUC rules, pre-certified equipment gets connected within four weeks of a complete application; other systems within six.
4. Pick your metering. Option 1 uses a single meter that counts only the power you take. Options 2 and 3 add a second meter, which Xcel supplies at its own expense, and the $20 monthly charge.

Before you sign with an installer, see our guides to checking a Texas solar company and paying for solar in Texas, and ask any installer which metering option their savings figures assume.

How it works

Your estimate in three steps

1. Enter your billYour ZIP code, your utility and last month's bill.
2. See your estimateA yearly savings range based on your utility's rates and the sun where you live.
3. 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.

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Common questions

Related guides

• Texas solar buyback plans
• Solar batteries and Texas power outages
• How many solar panels you need in Texas
• Best direction and angle for solar panels in Texas
• How much solar panels cost in Texas
• Is solar worth it in Texas?

Savings are our calculator's estimate, not Xcel's. Xcel's rates and monthly fuel costs change; check its current Texas tariff before you sign. Sources: Xcel Energy: rate books (choose Texas) · Xcel Energy Texas tariff sheet IV-86: energy purchase from facilities of 100 kW or less (PDF) · Xcel Energy Texas tariff sheet IV-77: service to facilities of 100 kW or less (PDF) · Xcel Energy Texas tariff sheet IV-3: residential service (PDF) · Xcel Energy Texas tariff sheet IV-159: distributed generation interconnection (PDF) · Xcel Energy Texas tariff sheet III-1: counties and cities served (PDF) · PUC Project 57479: 2025 electric utility fuel reports, including Xcel (SPS) · PUC: 16 TAC 25.211, interconnection of distributed generation (PDF) · U.S. EIA: utility sales and revenue data · NREL PVWatts. Reviewed October 2026.

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