Is balcony (plug-in) solar legal in Texas?

What applies in Texas without a plug-in law

Without a plug-in law, solar connected to the grid falls under the Public Utility Commission of Texas's rules for on-site distributed generation: 16 TAC § 25.211 (interconnection) and § 25.212 (technical requirements). Before connecting, a customer must apply to the utility for interconnection and parallel operation and sign an interconnection agreement on the commission's forms, and the utility may refuse to connect a system without one.

Who it covers: Electric utilities, for on-site generation of 10 MW or less at the customer's point of delivery. Of § 25.211, only subsection (o), on natural gas generation, applies to electric cooperatives.

• For pre-certified equipment (certified for safety and reliability by an entity the commission approves), interconnection is to take place within four weeks of the utility receiving a completed application; for other equipment, within six weeks. These are best-efforts targets: a utility that can't meet them must tell the applicant in writing and give an estimated date.
• A utility may not charge a study fee for pre-certified systems up to 500 kW that stay within the rule's limits on the local feeder.
• Each utility must post the contact details of its distributed generation contact person on its website.
• The customer furnishes and installs a manual disconnect device that utility staff can reach and lock open.
• The generator must have protection that keeps it from connecting to a de-energized utility line, and the installation must meet national, state and local construction and safety codes.
• The customer gives the utility at least two weeks' notice before first energizing and testing the equipment.

Who isn't covered

• Electric cooperatives: the only part of § 25.211 that applies to them is subsection (o), on natural gas generation.
• City-owned utilities, such as Austin Energy, and electric cooperatives: the Public Utility Commission doesn't regulate their poles and wires, so ask them about their own process.

Source: 16 TAC §§ 25.211 and 25.212 (law.cornell.edu), checked Oct 26, 2026. General information, not legal advice.

Who's your utility?

Ask the utility that delivers your power, before you buy anything. Each one below has its own page on connecting customer solar. In ERCOT's competitive areas, one of four wires companies (CenterPoint Energy, Oncor, TNMP or AEP Texas) owns the poles and wires, and the retail electric provider you chose bills you. You choose a retail provider only if you live in ERCOT and aren't served by an electric cooperative or a city-owned utility; if one of those serves you, it is the utility to ask. Solar is registered with the local utility that manages the poles and wires, not with your retail provider.

HOAs and Texas's solar-access law

A property owners' association may not prohibit or restrict an owner from installing a solar energy device, and a rule that does is void. It may still prohibit a device that is on property the association owns or maintains or that members own in common; anywhere other than the roof of the home (or another allowed structure) or a fenced yard or patio the owner owns and maintains; on the roof outside an area the association designates, unless the owner's spot would raise the device's estimated yearly output by more than 10 percent; taller than the fence in a yard or patio; or installed without the association's prior approval. The law was written for solar devices on owners' homes: the places it protects are the roof and a fenced yard or patio the owner owns. It doesn't clearly cover a plug-in kit on a balcony or railing, and it speaks of property owners, not renters.

• HB 431 (2025) added solar roof tiles to the law's definition of a solar energy device. It took effect on May 29, 2025, and says it clarifies rather than changes the law.

Source: Tex. Prop. Code § 202.010 (tcss.legis.texas.gov), checked Oct 26, 2026.

When could Texas get a plug-in law?

The earliest is the 90th Legislature's regular session, which convenes on Jan 12, 2027 and is scheduled to end on May 31, 2027. Texas's legislature meets in regular session only in odd-numbered years, so the next regular session after that is in 2029. A plug-in bill would have to pass both chambers and become law before anything changed.

1. Nov 9, 2026Bill prefiling opens
2. Jan 12, 2027Session convenes
3. Mar 12, 2027Deadline to file most bills
4. May 31, 2027Session ends

Mar 12, 2027 is the 60th day of the session, the deadline for filing most bills; legislators can file bills for the 90th Legislature from Nov 9, 2026.

Session dates: Texas Legislative Council: Drafting Manual, Sec. 7.87 (regular session calendar), Texas Legislative Council: Dates of Interest, Legislative Reference Library of Texas: sessions and years; meeting schedule: Texas Government Code § 301.001.

Past bills

The Legislature's own subject index lists 39 solar bills in the 2025 regular session and none in the two 2025 special sessions, and none of them is about plug-in, balcony or portable solar. A scan of the introduced text of every 2025 House and Senate bill on the Legislature's bill-text server found no mention of plug-in, balcony or portable solar either. Source: Texas Legislature Online: Bills by Subject, Energy--Solar, 89th Regular Session, searched Oct 26, 2026.

The 10 plug-in solar laws signed in other states follow a common pattern: a size cap (1,200 W in 9 of them), a safety certification for the device (10 of 10), and no utility approval needed (9 of 10). See every state's law and bills on the map.

What a kit would save here

These are our calculator's own results for 3 city centers. They model output and savings only and say nothing about what the law allows. They use the calculator's default kit: 800 W of panels facing south, tilted 30°, with a 150 W always-on load in the home and nothing paid for power sent to the grid. Run on Oct 26, 2026.

Options in Texas today

1. Ask your utility, and use its interconnection process

   Any solar connected to your home's wiring goes through the utility that owns the poles and wires; find yours in the table above. Oncor lists these steps:

   1. The customer picks an installer, who sends the customer a tariff application to sign.
   2. The installer submits the installation through Oncor's online installer portal.
   3. Oncor reviews the application and documents, performs a study and prepares an interconnection agreement.
   4. Once everyone has signed the agreement, Oncor sends a Permission To Operate letter to the customer and the installer, then has the meter programmed to measure surplus generation.

   Source: Oncor: Residential and small commercial, thinking about solar? (oncor.com).

2. Renting? Ask your landlord in writing

   If you rent, ask your landlord before anything goes on the building; the utility's process above applies the same way. Our landlord letter puts the request in writing, matched to Texas's rules. Write the letter

3. Solar that never connects to your home wiring

   Panels that only charge a portable power station, which then powers devices plugged into it, never connect to your home's wiring or to the grid. Texas's interconnection rule is about applications for interconnection and parallel operation with the utility system, so it doesn't apply to them.

   Source: 16 TAC § 25.211 (Cornell LII) (law.cornell.edu).

General information, not legal advice.