Texas · city guide
Solar in Austin, Texas: city-level honesty
Austin pairs strong sun with a competitive retail-electricity market, so a good rate plan can do real work for a solar bill. The city owns its municipal utility, which means the export deal is decided by Austin Energy policy — read the city's own rules, not a blanket rule.
Honesty gate: state-level figures below are sourced; city-specific claims stay labeled in review until verified against primary local data.
- Utility: Austin Energy (ERCOT, retail-choice market)
- State guide: Texas — export rules, incentives and source notes
- Measured sun (Texas): 4.96 kWh/m²/day (source: 2024 solar radiation (GHI, kWh/m2/day) at each state's capital, Open-Meteo archive (ERA5 reanalysis), measured daily sums -> monthly means, fetched 2026-08-08. State-wide average for the capital's site; an exact roof differs (tilt, shade).)
What standing here means
Summer A/C load is the shape of Austin's bill; a west-facing array with a time-of-use plan can match it. Use the main solar calculator for an annual planning scenario; it does not simulate hourly time-of-use matching.
The honest next step
City-level numbers come from real quotes, not websites: use the solar planning calculator with your bill and utility assumptions, then score three itemized bids with the quote scorecard.