Solar Panels in Houston, TX: 2026 Cost, CenterPoint Energy deliv Net Metering & Savings

Houston and the bill

CenterPoint Energy is the delivery utility for most of Houston. You usually choose a retail electric provider for the energy itself. The solar buyback, if any, is in the retail contract. It is not a CenterPoint 'net metering' promise. Houston's solar math is a humid cooling bill, a retail contract that may last one to three years, and a roof in a hurricane region. The annual resource is lower than El Paso's and still plenty for a real array. The contract is the fragile part. A buyback rate that expires when the plan expires is not a 25-year assumption. Hail is less the headline than it is in Dallas, and wind and insurance are more the headline. The 2025 EIA residential average for Texas was 15.40 cents per kWh. That statewide figure is what our calculator uses. It is not the CenterPoint Energy deliv tariff. A rounded solar resource for this metro is about 4.6 peak sun hours a day.

Export credits and any SREC or REC

Houston is in competitive ERCOT territory for a typical address: CenterPoint Energy deliv delivers the power, and a retail electric provider sells it. Any solar buyback is a term of that retail plan. It can end when the plan ends. That is not classic net metering, and it is not a 25-year assumption. Austin, San Antonio, and El Paso do not fit this sentence. This page does not quote a buyback cent. Ask the retailer, in writing, what they pay and for how many months.

Roofs, climate, permits, and HOAs

Vast subdivisions with asphalt shingles are the volume market. Older inner-loop houses have more tree shade and more complicated roofs. Slab foundations are normal. The electrical panel in a 1970s house is a common extra cost. Say so before the deposit. A Houston permit comes from the local building department, not from CenterPoint Energy deliv. An HOA can add its own review. This page does not quote a TX permit fee or an approval, because both depend on the address. Ask the retailer, in writing, what they pay for exports and for how many months. Ask the installer what happens in the model when that rate ends. Compare the proposal with our statewide estimate only as a sanity check. They are answering different questions.

Estimated cost range

Estimated cost range for Houston, labeled as an estimate and not a local quote: Berkeley Lab's August 2026 update put 2025 host-owned residential systems at about $3.60 per watt before incentives, about $3.00 per watt in the cash subset, and about $4.50 per watt in the loan subset. The median size in that set was 7.7 kW. Houston is about 4.6 peak sun hours a day, against about 5.3 statewide. The federal residential credit under 26 U.S.C. § 25D ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025. The IRS treats that expenditure as made when the original installation is completed.

• Cash

  $3.00/W

  $23,100

  Subset classified as cash

• Middle published case

  $3.60/W

  $27,720

  All host-owned systems

• Loan

  $4.50/W

  $34,650

  Financed subset, before interest

Before incentives. A loan price here excludes interest. The federal residential credit under section 25D ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025. Berkeley Lab, U.S. Distributed Solar and Storage, August 2026 data update.