Solar Panels in San Antonio, TX: 2026 Cost, CPS Energy Net Metering & Savings

San Antonio and the bill

CPS Energy serves San Antonio. It is a municipal utility, not a retail-choice market. Neighboring cooperatives serve some suburbs. A Selma or Boerne bill may not be CPS. San Antonio has a slightly stronger rounded resource than Austin and a completely different utility. People treat the two cities as one market. The tariffs are not one market. CPS Energy's solar rates and credits are local political and regulatory documents. They have been revised before. Summer cooling load is heavy. Shade from live oaks on the north side is a real production cut. New subdivisions on the far west side are more open. 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 CPS Energy tariff. A rounded solar resource for this metro is about 5.2 peak sun hours a day.

Export credits and any SREC or REC

San Antonio is on a municipal utility, CPS Energy, not on a competitive retail plan. Austin Energy and CPS Energy publish their own solar tariffs. Most of the rest of ERCOT separates delivery (Oncor, CenterPoint, or AEP Texas) from a retail electric provider, and any buyback lives in the retail contract, which can expire. Do not use a Houston retail-plan screenshot on an Austin or San Antonio bill. This page does not quote the municipal credit.

Roofs, climate, permits, and HOAs

Single-story houses are common, which helps layout. Tile roofs appear, especially in newer communities, and tile is a different labor price than shingle. Older central homes may need a panel upgrade before an array of any size. A San Antonio permit comes from the local building department, not from CPS Energy. 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. Confirm CPS versus a cooperative before you compare per-watt prices. Ask for the current CPS solar tariff in the proposal. Do not import an Austin Energy netting example.

Estimated cost range

Estimated cost range for San Antonio, 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. San Antonio is about 5.2 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.