20 answers
read off Texas's own statutes and adopting agencies. Each carries
the confidence it was recorded at and a link to the document it came from.
Which body adopts the building and electrical codes statewide, and on what cycle?
Split, and there is no single body. ELECTRICAL: the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation / TDLR must, under Occupations Code §1305.101(a)(2), adopt the revised National Electrical Code as the state electrical code after each triennial NFPA publication — a genuine 3-year cycle, implemented at 16 TAC §73.100. BUILDING: no state agency adopts building codes at all. The Legislature fixed them in statute at frozen editions — Local Government Code §214.212 (IRC), §214.216 (IBC), §214.214 (NEC) for municipalities, §233.153 for opted-in counties. There is no cycle; changing them requires legislation.
Read §1305.101(a)(2) verbatim ('after publication of the National Electrical Code ... every three years, adopt the revised National Electrical Code as the electrical code for the state'), and the building-code sections, which name fixed calendar dates rather than any adopting agency or review cycle. The asymmetry between the electrical cycle and the frozen building codes is the substance of the answer.
92% ·
adopting statute
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Is statewide code adoption mandatory, or may local jurisdictions opt out or amend it?
Neither purely. It is a statutory floor with broad municipal amendment power, and no county opt-in unless the county chooses. ELECTRICAL: OC §1305.201(c) lets a municipality adopt local amendments to the NEC; (d) electrical work inside a municipality must follow all applicable local ordinances; (e) work in unincorporated areas must meet standards 'at least as stringent as' the state electrical code — a one-way floor. BUILDING: LGC §214.212(c) lets a municipality adopt local amendments that 'add, modify, or remove requirements', subject only to §214.212(e) (public hearing plus adoption by ordinance); §214.216(c),(f) the same for the IBC. Municipalities can therefore amend DOWNWARD, not just upward. COUNTIES: LGC ch. 233 subch. F applies only to a county that has adopted a resolution or order opting in (§233.152).
The 'remove requirements' language in §214.212(c)(1) is explicit and is the single most consequential fact here — it is why a Texas statewide code answer cannot be stated without naming local variance. Read verbatim; the only procedural check is hearing plus ordinance.
92% ·
adopting statute
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Is there a state solar permitting streamlining law, and what does it require of local authorities?
There is no dedicated solar-permitting streamlining act of the California/Colorado type. The nearest and only real instrument is Local Government Code ch. 247 as amended by 89R SB 1202 (2025), effective 1 Sep 2025, adding §247.0025 for 'home backup power installations'. It requires a regulatory authority to (d) publish on its website every law, rule, standard and fee schedule needed to review or inspect, or supply them electronically within 2 business days on request; (g) charge NO fee if it has not done so; (i) issue the permit within 3 business days of receiving a third-party approval notice; and (f) fall back to the LGC §214.212 / §233.153 code standards if it has not published. §247.0025(j) lets construction begin on submission of the notice. Separately, LGC §247.002 (88R SB 1017) bars a political subdivision from effectively prohibiting access to an energy source.
Read the enrolled SB 1202 text in full. Confidence is held at 80 for one real ambiguity: §247.0025(a) defines the covered installation as 'an electric generating facility, an energy storage facility, a standby system, and any associated infrastructure and equipment intended to provide electrical power to a one- or two-family dwelling ... connected at 600 volts or less', which on its face covers a grid-tied PV array, but the section is captioned 'home backup power' and no case law or agency guidance resolving that was located.
80% ·
enacted act (89R SB 1202)
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Is there a statutory deadline for reviewing a residential solar permit application?
No solar-specific deadline. The general municipal deadline is Local Government Code §214.904: not later than the 45th day after an application is submitted the municipality must grant or deny the permit, give the applicant written notice of why it cannot, or reach a written agreement on a deadline; where written notice is given it must then decide within 30 further days. §214.904(d) makes the sanction real — a municipality that misses the deadline 'may not collect any permit fees' and must refund fees already collected. It applies to permits to erect or improve a building in the municipality or its ETJ. For a home backup power installation reviewed by a third party, LGC §247.0025(i) requires the permit within 3 business days of the approval notice.
Both sections read verbatim. The 45-day clock is generic building-permit law, not solar law, and is stated as such; the fee-forfeiture sanction in (d) is quoted directly.
90% ·
statute
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Is automated or instant permitting (e.g. SolarAPP+) mandated or enabled by state law?
Enabled, expressly, but nowhere mandated — and SolarAPP+ is not named in state law. LGC §247.0025(e)(1) provides that a person reviewing a development document or conducting an inspection 'may use software designed to automate the required review without that person performing additional manual review'. SB 1202 also added §247.004(c), which is chapter-wide: a notice format prescribed by a regulatory authority 'may not limit a person ... from using software designed to automate the review or approval process without that person performing additional manual review'. So an authority cannot block automated review, but no authority is required to offer instant permitting.
Both provisions read verbatim from the enrolled act. The absence of any SolarAPP+ mandate is proved against the full text of LGC ch. 247 (both the HB 14 chapter and SB 1202's amendments) and the full section index of LGC ch. 214, which I enumerated; it is not proved against every Texas statute, hence 85 not 95.
85% ·
enacted act (89R SB 1202)
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Does state law cap or otherwise constrain residential solar permit fees?
No cap on the amount, but five real statutory constraints. (1) LGC §214.907 (HB 852, 2019): in setting a building permit or inspection fee for construction or improvement of a residential dwelling a municipality may NOT consider the value of the dwelling or the cost of the work, and may not require disclosure of value or cost as a condition of a permit (FEMA/NFIP excepted) — this outlaws valuation-based solar permit fees. (2) OC §1305.201(f): a municipality or region may not collect a permit, registration, administrative 'or any other fee' from a TDLR-licensed electrician for work performed there, though it expressly may still collect a building permit fee. (3) LGC §247.003: no fee at all related to third-party review or inspection under ch. 247. (4) LGC §247.0025(g): an authority that has not published its fee schedule may not charge for a home backup power approval or permit. (5) LGC §214.904(d): missing the permit deadline forfeits and refunds the fees. In unincorporated areas LGC §233.153(f) bars a county enforcement fee.
All five read verbatim. §214.907 is the operative one for solar because value-based fee schedules were the usual route to a large residential PV permit fee; note it constrains the basis of the fee, not its size, so no dollar cap exists.
90% ·
statute
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
What state licence is required to install residential PV or to pull the electrical permit?
A TDLR electrical licence, and from 1 Sep 2026 an additional sales registration. Occupations Code §1305.151: no person or business may perform or offer to perform electrical work without an appropriate licence issued or recognised under ch. 1305 (exemptions at §1305.003). The business must hold an electrical contractor licence (§1305.159), which requires it to be or to employ a licensed master electrician (§1305.153); the physical work is done by a master, journeyman or residential wireman. State law does not designate who pulls the permit — but §1305.201(b) bars a municipality from requiring a local exam of a state licensee, and §1305.201(f) bars charging that licensee permit or registration fees. SEPARATELY: 89R SB 1036 (2025) created Occupations Code ch. 1806, the Residential Solar Retailer Regulatory Act. The Act took effect 1 Sep 2025, but the actual registration requirements — §1806.101 (solar salesperson) and §1806.102 (solar retailer) — take effect 1 SEP 2026, four days after this check date. §1806.004 exempts a licensed electrical contractor, and individuals it employs, from retailer/salesperson registration. TDLR's implementing rules at 16 TAC ch. 71 took effect 1 Jul 2026.
Licensing chain read verbatim. The 1 Sep 2026 date is from SB 1036 SECTION 5(b), which carves §§1806.101–.102 and Subchapter E out of the Act's general 1 Sep 2025 effective date — an easy provision to miss and the reason a same-week answer differs from a next-week one. Rule effective date confirmed from TDLR's own adoption notice.
92% ·
enacted act (89R SB 1036)
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Are counties the AHJ for residential solar in unincorporated areas in this state?
No — as a rule Texas counties are NOT the AHJ for residential solar in unincorporated areas, and this is a positive statutory finding rather than a gap. Three independent statutes converge. (1) Occupations Code §1305.201 confers inspection, licensing, examination and fee powers only on 'a municipality or region'; the word county appears nowhere in it. §1305.201(e) sets a substantive standard for unincorporated areas — work must be installed to standards at least as stringent as the state electrical code — but confers no county permit or inspection power to enforce it. (2) LGC ch. 233 subch. F reaches only a county that has affirmatively opted in by resolution or order and that is within 50 miles of an international border or has population over 100 (§233.152); it covers only 'new residential construction' of a single-family house or duplex, or an addition increasing square footage or value by more than 50 percent (§233.151) — a rooftop PV retrofit is neither; and §233.153(d)(1) states it may not be construed to require prior county approval before construction begins, with §233.153(f) barring an enforcement fee. (3) County fire codes under LGC §233.061 are confined to counties over 250,000 or adjacent to one, and §233.062(a) applies them only to commercial establishments, public buildings and multifamily of four or more units — never a one- or two-family dwelling. For a house in unincorporated Texas the binding constraints are therefore the §1305.201(e) electrical standard and the serving utility's interconnection process, not a county permit.
Established from statute as instructed, not from any single county's website. Texas counties hold only powers the Legislature grants, so the absence of a county from §1305.201 is dispositive rather than merely suggestive. Held at 88 because individual counties may hold niche powers under other chapters (floodplain, on-site sewage, subdivision platting under ch. 232) that were not exhaustively swept.
88% ·
statute
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Is there a state solar-rights law limiting HOA or local restrictions on rooftop PV?
Yes, for HOAs — Property Code §202.010 (HB 362, 2011; amended by SB 1626, 2015). A property owners' association may not include or enforce a dedicatory-instrument provision prohibiting or restricting an owner from installing a solar energy device (b), and any such provision is void (c). Subsection (d) preserves enumerated exceptions: devices adjudicated by a court to threaten health or safety or violate law; devices on association-owned or common property; devices outside the roof or a fenced yard/patio; roof-mounted devices that extend above or beyond the roofline, sit outside an association-designated area unless the alternate location raises estimated annual production by more than 10 percent as measured by a publicly available NREL modelling tool, fail to conform to roof slope with a top edge parallel to the roofline, or have frames, brackets or visible piping/wiring not in a commonly available silver, bronze or black tone; devices taller than the fence line; devices voiding material warranties; and devices installed without prior approval. Subsection (e) bars withholding approval where (d) is satisfied unless the association determines in writing that the placement substantially interferes with others' use and enjoyment — adjoining owners' written approval is prima facie evidence it does not. Subsection (f) lets a declarant restrict during the development period in developments with fewer than 51 planned residential units. On LOCAL restrictions the analogue is LGC §247.002 (88R SB 1017), barring a political subdivision from effectively prohibiting access to an energy source.
Read verbatim in full including all eight (d) exceptions. Note the statute binds property owners' associations, not local governments — the question asks about both, so the local half is answered separately from §247.002 rather than being conflated.
95% ·
statute
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Which NEC edition is adopted statewide, and effective from what date?
The 2023 NEC, effective 1 September 2023, adopted statewide by TDLR at 16 TAC §73.100: 'Effective September 1, 2023, the department adopts the 2023 National Electrical Code as approved by the National Fire Protection Association, Inc. on August 12, 2022.' Source note: amended to be effective August 31, 2023, 48 TexReg 4654. IMPORTANT AND CURRENT: TDLR published a proposal on 6 Mar 2026 to adopt the 2026 NEC (Texas Register 20 Mar 2026, comments closed 20 Apr 2026). As of this check that proposal has NOT been adopted — TDLR's rulemaking feed runs to 27 Jul 2026 and its only Chapter 73 adoption (2 Jul 2026, eff. 1 Jul 2026) covers §§73.10, 73.21, 73.26, 73.80, 73.110, 73.111 and new §73.112 on journeyman education, not §73.100. So the 2023 NEC remains the statewide electrical code on 28 Aug 2026, with a 2026 NEC adoption pending. Note a separate, lower and largely superseded municipal floor: LGC §214.214 adopts the NEC as it existed 1 May 2001 as the 'municipal electrical construction code'.
Rule text is verbatim from the Secretary of State's own TAC page, but via the Internet Archive: SOS retired texreg.sos.state.tx.us during 2025 and the replacement is a JavaScript-only Appian portal that serves no content to a fetch. The archived rule is byte-identical (same CDX digest) across all snapshots from 17 Jan 2024 to 23 Nov 2024, the last capture before the migration. Held at 85 rather than 95 solely because the live 2026 text could not be read directly; the pending-adoption finding is from TDLR's own current notices and materially reduces the risk of a stale answer.
85% ·
adopting regulation (archived)
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Which building and residential code edition is adopted statewide?
Frozen statutory editions, not a cycle — and this is where a Californian assumption breaks. FOR MUNICIPALITIES: the International Residential Code 'as it existed on May 1, 2012' is adopted as the municipal residential building code of the state (LGC §214.212(a)), applying to all construction, alteration, remodeling, enlargement and repair of residential structures in a municipality (b); the IBC as it existed 1 May 2012 is the municipal commercial code (§214.216(a)). Municipalities may review and consider later ICC amendments (§214.212(d)) and may amend locally including removing requirements (§214.212(c),(e)), so real-world editions vary widely and many large cities are far newer. FOR UNINCORPORATED AREAS: only in opted-in counties under ch. 233 subch. F, and then the IRC as published on 1 May 2008 or the version applicable in the county seat (§233.153(a)), for new single-family/duplex construction begun after 1 Sep 2009 only. There is NO statewide building code for existing residential construction generally. Critically for PV, LGC §214.213(a): the IRC and IBC 'do not apply to the installation and maintenance of electrical wiring and related components' — electrical work is governed by the TDLR NEC instead.
All read verbatim. §214.213(a) is the provision that keeps the frozen 2012 IRC from governing PV wiring and is easy to miss; it is why the 2023 NEC rather than a 2012-era code controls the electrical scope of a Texas solar job.
92% ·
adopting statute
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Which fire code edition is adopted statewide?
None. There is no statewide fire code applicable to private residential buildings in Texas. The State Fire Marshal's authority is confined to state property: Government Code §417.0082(c) provides that 'the state fire marshal is the authority having jurisdiction over a state-owned building for purposes of fire safety', and §§417.0081–.0082 limit the SFMO's inspection and hazard-protection duties to state-owned or state-leased buildings. Government Code ch. 417 subch. A, whose full section index I enumerated (417.001–417.010 plus 417.0051, 417.0052, 417.0075, 417.0081, 417.0082, 417.0083), contains no general fire-code adoption. County fire codes are optional and narrow: LGC §233.061 allows only a county over 250,000 or adjacent to one to adopt a fire code; §233.062(c) requires it to conform to at least the 2005-vintage International Fire Code or Uniform Fire Code, with later editions permitted under (d); and §233.062(a) applies it only to commercial establishments, public buildings and multifamily dwellings of four or more units. Municipal fire codes are adopted under each municipality's own powers and vary.
This is a proved absence, not a failed lookup: I read the SFMO's jurisdictional grant, enumerated the whole of Gov't Code ch. 417 subch. A, and read the county fire-code sections including their express exclusion of one- and two-family dwellings. Held at 88 because a statewide fire provision could in principle sit in the Insurance Code or Health & Safety Code, which were not exhaustively swept.
88% ·
statute
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
What statewide amendments affect residential PV specifically?
None specific to PV. 16 TAC §73.100 in its current form is a single sentence adopting the 2023 NEC with no amendments whatever — the statewide electrical code is unmodified NEC. This is a change from the previous version, which carved out one item ('Notwithstanding subsection (a), compliance with Section 210.8(F) of the 2020 National Electrical Code is not required'); that carve-out disappeared on the 2023 adoption. TDLR's pending 2026 NEC proposal of 6 Mar 2026 would reinstate a single amendment to NEC §210.8(F), removing the GFCI requirement for outlets powering outdoor HVAC equipment — again not PV-specific. The only structural statewide amendment touching PV indirectly is LGC §214.213(a), excluding electrical wiring and related components from the IRC and IBC.
The absence is provable here because the rule is one sentence long and I read all of it, and I compared it against the prior version to show the state does sometimes amend the NEC and simply has not done so for PV. Held at 82 because municipalities amend heavily under OC §1305.201(c) and LGC §214.212(c), so 'no statewide amendment' is not 'no amendment on your job'.
82% ·
adopting regulation (archived)
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Does state law or a statewide amendment require placards or labelling beyond the NEC?
No. There is no statewide placard or labelling requirement beyond the NEC. Because 16 TAC §73.100 adopts the 2023 NEC without amendment, PV labelling statewide is exactly what NEC Articles 690 and 705 require and nothing more — Texas adds no rapid-shutdown, disconnect or emergency-responder placard of its own. No statewide fire code exists that could impose one on a dwelling (see Q12), and the State Fire Marshal is AHJ only for state-owned buildings. Additional placards in Texas are a purely local phenomenon, added by municipal amendment under OC §1305.201(c) or LGC §214.212(c).
Proved by reading §73.100 in full (one sentence, no amendments) plus the Gov't Code ch. 417 index and the county fire-code scope limit — i.e. I looked in each of the three places a statewide placard rule could live. Held at 82 for the same local-amendment reason as Q13.
82% ·
adopting regulation (archived)
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Is there a statewide fire setback or roof access pathway rule for rooftop PV?
No statewide fire setback or roof access pathway rule exists for rooftop PV on one- and two-family dwellings. The reasoning is structural: no statewide fire code reaches private dwellings at all (Gov't Code §417.0082(c) limits the State Fire Marshal to state-owned buildings); county fire codes are expressly inapplicable to one- and two-family dwellings (LGC §233.062(a)); and the statewide building floor is the frozen 1 May 2012 IRC for municipalities only (LGC §214.212), with LGC §214.213(a) removing electrical wiring from the IRC's scope entirely. Access pathways and setbacks therefore bind only where an individual municipality has locally adopted a current IFC or IRC edition — which many of the large cities have.
The absence is established from the jurisdictional statutes rather than by asserting what the 2012 IRC does or does not contain, which I could not verify from a primary source. This is the honest floor-plus-local-variance answer the question needs; a single confident statewide sentence would be wrong.
82% ·
statute
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Are there statewide rules for residential battery energy storage?
Partly, and only on the permitting and electrical side. Storage is squarely inside LGC §247.0025: 'home backup power installation' is defined at (a) to mean 'an electric generating facility, an energy storage facility, a standby system, and any associated infrastructure and equipment intended to provide electrical power to a one- or two-family dwelling, regardless of whether the facility or system is capable of participating in a wholesale electric market, that is connected at 600 volts or less'. Residential BESS therefore gets the full §247.0025 package — third-party review and inspection without going to the authority, the authority's duty to publish its codes and fees, no fee if it has not, permit within 3 business days, and construction on notice — subject to §247.0025(b), which preserves an electric utility's tariff and an electric cooperative's or municipally owned utility's interconnection and service policies. Electrically, the 2023 NEC as adopted at 16 TAC §73.100 governs (Articles 706 and 480). There are NO statewide siting, separation-distance, or fire rules for residential battery storage, for the reasons in Q12 and Q15.
Definition quoted verbatim from the enrolled act; 'energy storage facility' is named explicitly, so storage coverage is certain. The absence of statewide BESS fire/siting rules follows from the same proved absence of any statewide dwelling fire code. Held at 80 because storage-specific provisions could exist in Health & Safety Code fire-safety chapters that were not exhaustively swept.
80% ·
enacted act (89R SB 1202)
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Who regulates interconnection, and does that authority reach municipal utilities and co-operatives?
The Public Utility Commission of Texas regulates interconnection of distributed renewable generation under Utilities Code §39.916 — and its reach STOPS at investor-owned utilities. It does not extend to municipally owned utilities or electric cooperatives. Three independent provisions establish this. (1) §39.916(b) imposes the interconnection duty on 'a transmission and distribution utility or electric utility', and §31.002(6) defines 'electric utility' to exclude, among others, '(A) a municipal corporation' and '(G) an electric cooperative'. (2) PUC jurisdiction over municipally owned utilities is a closed enumerated list at §40.004 — wholesale transmission rates, certification of retail service areas, rate appeals, code of conduct, open access for customer choice, natural gas energy credits, limited reporting, cybersecurity — which does not include distributed generation interconnection; §41.004 is the equivalent closed list for electric cooperatives. (3) At rule level, 16 TAC §25.211(a) states that 'the only part of this section that applies to electric cooperatives is subsection (o)'. Reinforcing all of it, LGC §247.0025(b)(2) expressly preserves the authority of an electric cooperative or a municipally owned utility to enforce interconnection and service policies. Practically: ERCOT and the PUC govern the IOU TDUs, while Austin Energy, CPS Energy and co-operatives such as Pedernales set their own interconnection rules and cannot be routed around.
Four mutually reinforcing primary sources, three statutory and one at rule level, all read verbatim. This is the single most consequential Texas finding for a solar operator and the exclusions are explicit rather than inferred.
92% ·
statute
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
Is there a statewide interconnection standard or timeline for residential PV?
A statewide standard exists; a statutory timeline does not. Utilities Code §39.916 covers distributed renewable generation of not more than 2,000 kW installed on the retail customer's side of the meter (a)(1). §39.916(b): a TDU or electric utility SHALL allow interconnection if the generation has a five-year warranty against breakdown or undue degradation and its rated capacity does not exceed the utility's service capacity. (c) applications are processed consistently with PUC interconnection rules; (d) the PUC by rule sets safety, technical and performance standards, considering UL, the NEC, the NESC and IEEE standards; (e) bars requiring liability insurance the owner would not otherwise carry; (f) requires the utility to make metering available. There is no statutory review clock. At rule level 16 TAC §§25.211–25.212 implement this, and §25.211 does contain timing and cost provisions — a pre-interconnection study 'shall take no more than four weeks', no study fee may be charged for pre-certified units up to 500 kW that export not more than 15% of total load on a single radial feeder and contribute not more than 25% of maximum potential short-circuit current, and a utility must have an inspector verify restored compliance within two business days. All of this binds only investor-owned utilities (see Q17).
Statute read verbatim and current. The rule-level figures come from an archived 30 Nov 2022 capture of the SOS TAC page — the only one available, since SOS retired that site and the replacement portal serves no content — so the four-week study cap and the 500 kW fee threshold are reported as of that date and may since have changed; the statutory layer, which carries the substantive answer, is current.
85% ·
statute
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
May a third party perform the electrical inspection under state law?
Yes, by two distinct routes, and the second is new. ROUTE 1 — general, LGC §247.002(b) (88R HB 14, eff. 1 Sep 2023): if the regulatory authority does not conduct a required inspection by the 15th day after the date this code prescribes for it, the inspection may be conducted by someone other than the owner or the person whose work is inspected who is ICC-certified to inspect buildings, employed by the authority as a building inspector, employed by another political subdivision as a building inspector and approved by the authority, or an engineer licensed under Occupations Code ch. 1001. ROUTE 2 — home backup power, LGC §247.0025(c)(2) (89R SB 1202, eff. 1 Sep 2025): 'notwithstanding Section 247.002', and with NO waiting period and without requesting the inspection from the authority at all, a development inspection for a home backup power installation may be conducted by a person authorised under §247.002(b), by 'an electrical inspector as defined in Section 1305.002, Occupations Code' — that is, a person certified by the IAEI or the ICC, per §1305.002(8) — or by a master electrician described by §1305.153 and licensed under ch. 1305 subch. D. Supporting terms: notice to the authority within 15 days (§247.004(a)(2)); the authority must then issue the permit within 3 business days (§247.0025(i)); the authority is not liable for the third party's work (k) and the third party is liable for its own negligence (l); no fee may be imposed for the review or inspection (§247.003). HARD LIMIT: §247.0025(b) does not limit an electric utility's implementation of its tariff (b)(1) or an electric cooperative's or municipally owned utility's enforcement of interconnection and service policies (b)(2) — so this is not a route around Austin Energy, CPS Energy or a co-op.
Read from the enrolled SB 1202 and HB 14 texts rather than any summary. The 'notwithstanding Section 247.002' opening is what distinguishes the two routes — route 2 needs no missed deadline — and the (b)(2) municipally-owned-utility carve-out is quoted directly because it is the provision most often misstated about this act.
92% ·
enacted act (89R SB 1202)
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
What is the state position on permission to operate and net metering or its successor tariff?
Texas has NO statewide net metering mandate and no statutory permission-to-operate process. Utilities Code §39.916(h) is permissive only — an electric utility or REP 'may contract' with a DG owner so surplus is made available for sale and the net value credited. §39.916(j) governs competitive-choice areas: the DG owner 'must sell the owner's surplus electricity produced to the retail electric provider that serves the ... load at a value agreed to between' them, which may be based on the time-of-day clearing price or a carried-forward bill credit — i.e. a negotiated commercial 'solar buyback' market, not a mandated tariff; ERCOT was directed to develop settlement procedures, and an owner requesting net metering services must have settlement-capable metering. §39.916(k) protects the customer from being classified as an electric utility, power generation company or REP where estimated annual production does not exceed estimated annual consumption. Outside competitive areas, and for every municipally owned utility and electric cooperative, buyback terms are entirely the utility's own policy, since §§40.004 and 41.004 give the PUC no jurisdiction over them. PTO in Texas is therefore a contractual milestone under the serving utility's interconnection agreement, not a state-law instrument, and the successor-tariff question is answered utility by utility.
Statute read verbatim including the repeal of former subsection (g) by 88R HB 1500 (2023). The 'value agreed to between' language in (j) is the crux — it is a bargaining rule, not a compensation mandate, which is precisely why buyback rates vary so widely across Texas REPs and municipal utilities.
88% ·
statute
· checked Aug. 28, 2026
