Texas is the most deregulated energy market in the country. That complexity is exactly why solar sales teams love it — and exactly why so many Texans end up confused, overcharged, and trapped. The pitch sounds perfect: "Opt out of TXU's rate hikes. Lock in your energy costs forever. The sun is free." But in a deregulated market, the math is more complicated than any door-to-door rep is going to explain at your kitchen table. The good news? Texas law is built for exactly this situation.

The Texas Net Metering Reality Nobody Told You About

Here is the thing about Texas solar that changes everything: Texas does not have mandatory statewide net metering. Each Retail Electric Provider (REP) sets its own buyback rate. Most pay 3–4 cents per kilowatt-hour for the power you send back to the grid — while charging you 12–15 cents for what you use at night. If your sales rep showed you a savings calculation based on 1:1 net metering, they either did not know this (incompetence) or did know it (fraud). Either way, the contract may be challengeable.

What the Texas DTPA Actually Gives You

The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act is one of the most powerful consumer protection statutes in the country. Section 17.46 contains a "laundry list" of 27 specific prohibited acts — and solar sales teams routinely violate multiple items on that list in a single sales presentation.

• Representing that goods or services have characteristics they do not have (§ 17.46(b)(5)) — like claiming panels will eliminate your electric bill
• Representing that an agreement confers rights that it does not confer (§ 17.46(b)(12)) — like claiming you're in a "government program"
• Failing to disclose information intended to induce a consumer into a transaction (§ 17.46(b)(24)) — like hiding the net metering buyback rate
• Using false or misleading statements of fact (§ 17.46(b)(5)) — like overstating the federal tax credit
• Unconscionable action or course of action (§ 17.50(a)(3)) — like targeting elderly homeowners with complex 25-year contracts

The Hidden Dealer Fee That Inflated Your Loan

In Texas, the average solar loan includes a dealer fee of 20–30% of the total system cost. This fee is paid by the lender to the installer as a commission — but it is baked into your loan principal. So a system that costs $25,000 to install might result in a $35,000 loan balance on day one. If this fee was not clearly disclosed in your contract, that is a TILA violation at the federal level and potentially a DTPA violation at the state level.

What Happens If Your Texas Solar Company Went Out of Business?

Texas has seen a wave of solar installer bankruptcies and market exits — ADT Solar, Titan Solar, and others. If your installer is gone, you are still paying a lender like GoodLeap or Mosaic for a system that has no active warranty support. Texas law provides specific remedies when a contractor abandons a project or fails to perform promised services. The lender's security interest in your home does not disappear when the installer does — but your obligation to pay for a non-performing system is a very different legal question.