A Solar Buyback plan is an energy plan where you can earn bill credits for 100% of the extra electricity your solar panels generate.
You are eligible to enroll in our Solar Buyback plans if you live in the Texas deregulated market under ERCOT and already have solar panels installed on your home.
Please note, if it is determined that you are a ‘net exporter’, you are not eligible to enroll in our Rise Solar Buyback plan. Being a ‘net exporter’ means that your meter reads show that your rooftop solar power system generates more electricity than your property consumes.
You have the option to choose from two solar buyback products, Rise and Shine, in which you can earn credits for their solar panel’s excess solar generation.
With our Rise Solar Buyback plan, you can earn buyback credits at a 1:1 rate, meaning Chariot pays them what they pay Chariot. Please note, customers who are deemed ‘net exporters’ are not eligible to enroll in our Rise Solar Buyback plan.
With our Shine Solar Buyback plan, you can earn buyback credits at real-time market rates, up to 25¢/kWh. The real-time market rates are determined by ERCOT and are based on seasonal demand, time of day, and location of your load zone. To find ERCOT’s real-time market rates, click HERE.
Solar buyback credits will vary depending on the plan that you are on.
A customer enrolled in our Rise Solar Buyback plan will receive a credit rate that reflects the contracted rate that the customer pays us. For example, if the customer’s contracted rate is 14¢/kWh, then the customer receives 14¢/extra kWh. Please note, customers determined to be net exporters are not eligible for this plan.
A customer enrolled in our Shine Solar Buyback plan will receive real-time market rate credits that are determined by ERCOT, up to 25¢/kWh. These real-time market rates change constantly and are based on seasonal demand, time of day, and location of your load zone.
You can find average historical solar buyback real-time market rate history by clicking HERE.
The real-time market rates used for buyback credits with our Shine Solar Buyback plan are determined by The Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). You can find ERCOT’s real-time market rates by clicking HERE.
Please download the zip file associated with the current year’s ‘Friendly Name’ (i.e. for 2024, refer to Friendly Name ‘RTMLZHBSPP_2024’). While in the file, filter the top columns so that ‘Settlement Point Type’ only shows LZ, ‘Settlement Point Name’ reflects your load zone location, and Delivery Date reflects the current month. While looking at ‘Settlement Point Price’, please divide the price by 1000. That will be the real-time marketing rate delivered to you for excess solar generation.
You can find average historical solar buyback real-time market rate history by clicking HERE.