Ambit rates and plan details are as of November 2, 2026, from Ambit's Electricity Facts Labels (Oncor, CenterPoint). TXU and Green Mountain details are as of November 10, 2026, from each provider's own page. Other providers' figures are as of July 2026, from third-party plan comparison sources (MeterPlan, EnergyBot, TexasPowerGuide). Plan details and rates subject to change. Energy Facts Label available at ambitenergy.com.
Ambit Energy's Texas Solar Buyback plan credits your excess solar exports at a fixed 3.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, with an energy charge of 11.3 cents per kWh in Oncor or 10.2 cents in CenterPoint, a $9.95 monthly base charge, and a $199 early cancellation fee (as of November 2, 2026, per Ambit's EFLs). It is a straightforward, no-frills solar plan that works well for households that self-consume most of what they produce, and works poorly for oversized rooftops that push a lot of energy back to the grid. I sell Ambit through VIP Energy Service, and I will walk you through the actual numbers, the plan mechanics, and how it stacks up against TXU, Chariot, Reliant, and Green Mountain so you can decide with clear eyes.
Ambit's solar buyback plan is a retail electricity contract for Texas homes with rooftop solar that credits you at a fixed rate for every kilowatt-hour of excess solar you send to the grid. Your solar panels power your home first. When your panels produce more than you use, the surplus flows back through your smart meter, and Ambit posts a credit to your bill at the plan's published export rate.
The mechanic is simple. Your monthly statement shows the kWh you imported from the grid at Ambit's energy rate, plus the fixed base fee, plus the TDU delivery charges from Oncor or CenterPoint. Then Ambit multiplies your exported kWh by the export credit rate and subtracts that amount from your energy charges. If your credit exceeds your energy charges in a given month, the surplus rolls over to the next bill.
This is not net metering in the classic California or Massachusetts sense. Texas is a deregulated ERCOT market and does not require utilities to offer true one-to-one net metering. Each retail electric provider (REP) sets its own buyback rules, its own credit rate, and its own eligibility limits, which is why plan-to-plan comparisons matter so much for solar homeowners here. As MeterPlan notes in its April 2026 market update, no Texas REP currently offers a true statewide 1:1 solar buyback that survives after credits are applied.
Ambit currently offers its Texas Solar Buyback plan in two terms, plus a night-of-use option that some solar owners use as a workaround. Here is what each one does:
Ambit's flagship solar plan is a 12-month fixed-rate contract with a 3.5 cent per kWh buyback rate (as of November 2, 2026). The energy charge on the current EFL is 11.3 cents per kWh in Oncor and 10.2 cents in CenterPoint, and it varies by TDU area. Base charge is $9.95 per month and the early cancellation fee is $199, per Ambit's Oncor EFL and CenterPoint EFL. Plan details and rates subject to change.
The 24-month version carries the same energy charge as the 12-month plan, the same 3.5 cent buyback rate, a $9.95 base charge and a $199 early cancellation fee (as of November 2, 2026, per Ambit's EFLs). Only the term is different. The 24-month term is the play if you expect Texas retail electricity rates to keep drifting up and want to lock in longer.
Ambit's Free & Clear Nights plan is not marketed as a solar plan, but some solar owners with home batteries use it strategically. Nights are free (typically 9 pm to 7 am), which lets a battery-plus-solar home charge for free overnight and export during the day. The tradeoff is a higher daytime import rate, so it only pencils out for solar-plus-battery homes with heavy nighttime shifting.
For most solar-only Texas homes without a battery, the Texas Solar Buyback 12 or 24 is the right Ambit plan.
Ambit's current solar buyback rate is a fixed 3.5 cents per kilowatt-hour (as of November 2, 2026, per Ambit's EFL). That rate does not float with the ERCOT wholesale market, does not step up seasonally, and does not scale with system size. Every exported kWh earns you 3.5 cents in bill credit, up to the credit limits below. The EFL does let Ambit lower the buyback rate with 45 days' written notice.
To put that number in context, EnergyBot's comparison of Texas solar buyback plans lists the current market range from 3.0 cents per kWh (Gexa Solar Export, Amigo Nights Free, David Energy Smart Battery) at the low end, to real-time wholesale rates that can spike above 25 cents per kWh on Chariot's Shine plans during peak-demand hours.
Ambit's 3.5 cent export credit is near the bottom of that market range for fixed-rate plans. That is the most important fact in this review.
No, Ambit does not offer a 1:1 solar buyback plan. Its Texas Solar Buyback plans use a fixed 3.5 cent per kWh buyback rate that is well below the 11.3 cent (Oncor) or 10.2 cent (CenterPoint) energy charge (as of November 2, 2026, per Ambit's EFLs). The gap between the energy charge you pay to import and the credit you earn to export is 7.8 cents per kWh in Oncor and 6.7 cents in CenterPoint.
If a retail-match buyback is your priority, the choice is narrower than it was. TXU Energy's Solar Buyback page lists System Flex, Plus and Saver, and it doesn't describe any of them as a match (as of November 10, 2026). Green Mountain Energy's Renewable Rewards Essentials credits exports at the plan's energy charge rate, but only up to the energy you pull from the grid in each billing cycle.
The tradeoff with retail-match plans is that the underlying import rate is often higher than a fixed-rate plan like Ambit, so the math only works if you are pushing enough exports to make the higher import rate worthwhile. That is exactly the modeling I walk through below.
Beyond the headline rates, three fee and credit rules materially change what Ambit's Texas Solar Buyback actually costs you month to month.
Ambit's base fee is a flat $9.95 charged every billing cycle, regardless of your solar exports. Even if your solar credit wipes out your entire energy charge, you still owe the base fee, per Ambit's published plan terms. Over a 12-month contract that is $119.40 in fixed costs that your solar production cannot touch.
Your Oncor or CenterPoint delivery charges (transmission, distribution, and other utility line-item charges) are billed through Ambit but are set by your TDU. On Ambit's Texas Solar Buyback plan, your export credits reduce only the energy portion of your bill, NOT the delivery portion. That's common in Texas. TXU and Green Mountain also apply buyback credits to energy charges only, not to delivery charges, base charges or taxes (as of November 10, 2026, per each provider's solar buyback page), so check how any plan you're comparing treats delivery on its EFL.
Ambit does roll over unused solar credits from one billing cycle to the next, up to $500 in banked credits. You keep that bank as long as you're enrolled on an eligible Ambit solar buyback plan, but the credits have no cash value, can't be transferred, and never convert to a check. If you cancel or switch providers with a $200 solar-credit balance, that balance is gone (as of November 2, 2026, per Ambit's EFL).
The best way to see how Ambit compares to alternatives is to run the numbers on a realistic Texas solar home. Say you are in Oncor territory (Dallas-Fort Worth), your household consumes 1,500 kWh per month, your rooftop solar generates 1,800 kWh in a good production month, you self-consume 1,000 kWh directly (never touching the grid), you import 500 kWh from the grid, and you export 800 kWh back to the grid.
Here is what your bill looks like on Ambit Texas Solar Buyback 12 versus Chariot Shine 12, using Ambit's Oncor EFL (as of November 2, 2026), Chariot's published plan rates (as of July 2026), and typical Oncor delivery charges of $47 per month for a 1,500 kWh home:
| Line item | Ambit Texas Solar Buyback 12 | Chariot Shine 12 |
|---|---|---|
| Import (500 kWh) | $56.50 (500 x 11.3 cents) | $48.50 (500 x 9.7 cents) |
| Base fee | $9.95 | $0.00 (Chariot has no base) |
| TDU delivery (Oncor) | $47.00 | $47.00 |
| Export credit (800 kWh) | -$28.00 (800 x 3.5 cents) | -$36.00 (800 x avg 4.5 cent ERCOT wholesale) |
| Monthly total | $85.45 | $59.50 |
At this export ratio (roughly 53% of production sent to the grid), Chariot comes out about $26 a month lower in this example, though its credit depends heavily on ERCOT wholesale prices in any given month. A plan that credited exports at the full energy rate would do better still, but those are harder to find now. TXU Energy no longer lists one, and Green Mountain's Renewable Rewards Essentials stops crediting at your grid usage, so in this example it would credit 500 of the 800 exported kWh (as of November 10, 2026).
Now flip the scenario. Say your solar system is right-sized and you self-consume 90% of production, so you import 500 kWh and export only 150 kWh. On Ambit, the math looks like this:
| Line item | Ambit Texas Solar Buyback 12 |
|---|---|
| Import (500 kWh) | $56.50 |
| Base fee | $9.95 |
| TDU delivery | $47.00 |
| Export credit (150 kWh) | -$5.25 (150 x 3.5 cents) |
| Monthly total | $108.20 |
With only 150 kWh going back to the grid, the export credit is worth $5.25 here. At that ratio the export rate barely moves the bill. The energy charge and the base fee do most of the work, so compare those first.
The lesson: your export ratio (kWh exported divided by kWh generated) is the single most important variable in choosing a Texas solar buyback plan. Below 20%, Ambit's numbers get respectable. Above 40%, a plan that pays more per exported kWh usually wins, as long as its credit doesn't stop below what you export.
Here is a side-by-side comparison of the major Texas solar buyback plans available as of July 2026, drawn from EnergyBot's provider table and MeterPlan's plan-detail pages, with Ambit's rows from Ambit's EFLs as of November 2, 2026, and the TXU and Green Mountain rows from each provider's solar buyback page as of November 10, 2026. Plan details and rates subject to change; confirm current rates on each provider's Electricity Facts Label before enrolling.
| Provider | Plan | Import rate (c/kWh) | Export credit rate | Base fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambit Energy | Texas Solar Buyback 12 | 11.3 (Oncor), 10.2 (CenterPoint) | Fixed 3.5 c/kWh | $9.95/mo | Credit offsets energy only, not base or TDU |
| Ambit Energy | Texas Solar Buyback 24 | 11.3 (Oncor), 10.2 (CenterPoint) | Fixed 3.5 c/kWh | $9.95/mo | Longer term, same credit rules |
| TXU Energy | Solar Buyback System Flex, Plus, Saver | Per EFL | Per EFL, not a retail match | Per EFL | No 1:1 plan listed (as of November 10, 2026) |
| Chariot Energy | Shine 12 | ~9.7 | ERCOT wholesale, up to 25 c/kWh | None | Wholesale-linked, upside + downside |
| Reliant Energy | Solar Payback Plus 12 | ~10.9 | 5.9 c/kWh | Varies | Mid-range fixed |
| Green Mountain | Renewable Rewards Essentials | Per EFL | Matches the energy charge rate | Per EFL | Credits stop at your grid usage each cycle (as of November 10, 2026) |
| Gexa Energy | Solar Export 12 | ~7.9 | 3.0 c/kWh | Varies | Cheapest import, low export |
| Rhythm Energy | Powershift Solar Buyback 12 | ~21.9 | 10.2 c/kWh | Varies | High import, high credit |
None of these plans are objectively the "best." The best plan for you depends on your export ratio, your TDU territory, and whether you value stable fixed rates or want upside on ERCOT wholesale spikes.
I use a simple five-factor check with every Texas solar customer before recommending Ambit. Call it the Solar Export Fit Framework. If you score three or more yeses, Ambit's Texas Solar Buyback is a reasonable pick. Two or fewer, and a retail-match or wholesale-linked plan will probably serve you better.
If you scored two or fewer, look at Green Mountain Renewable Rewards Essentials (for a credit at the energy rate, up to your grid usage) or Chariot Shine (for wholesale exposure).
If Ambit is the right fit, here is the enrollment path from start to first solar credit on your bill. Give yourself 4 to 8 weeks total for a first-time solar install, or about 2 weeks if you already have Permission to Operate.
Unused Ambit solar credits stay banked, up to $500, for as long as you're enrolled on an eligible Ambit solar buyback plan, including when you renew onto one. They have no cash value and can't be transferred, so if you leave Ambit's solar buyback plans, the banked balance doesn't go with you (as of November 2, 2026, per Ambit's EFL).
Time a switch intentionally. Texas solar production peaks March through September and dips in November through January, so a summer of exports can leave a balance in the bank. If you plan to leave, check that balance first, because Ambit won't refund it.
Ambit Texas Solar Buyback is a solid, no-drama solar plan for the right household. It is a bad plan for the wrong household. The 3.5 cent per kWh export credit is well below the market for retail-match plans, and the fact that credits do not offset the base fee or Oncor and CenterPoint TDU delivery charges is a real structural limitation.
That said, it is one of the simpler plans on the Texas market to understand. There is no wholesale price swing, no seasonal step-down, no complicated tier logic. If your solar system is right-sized (export ratio under 25%) and you value predictability over optimization, Ambit's Texas Solar Buyback 12 or 24 will do what it says on the label.
If your export ratio is over 40%, a plan that pays more per exported kWh can keep more money in your pocket. Green Mountain's Renewable Rewards Essentials pays the energy charge rate, up to your grid usage each billing cycle. And if you have a home battery and want to arbitrage ERCOT wholesale prices, Chariot Shine or Octopus Energy's Octo 12 are worth a look.
I run the Solar Export Fit math for anyone who is thinking about signing up, so if you want a second set of eyes on your bill before you enroll, I am happy to help. You can also compare Ambit head-to-head against every current Texas solar buyback plan on our Best Solar Buyback Plans in Texas breakdown, or read our foundational Solar Buyback Plans in Texas Complete Guide if you are new to how these plans work. Solar owners weighing a battery upgrade instead of a new buyback plan should also read our Solar Buyback vs Battery Storage comparison.
Ambit rates and plan details in this article are as of November 2, 2026, from Ambit's Electricity Facts Labels. TXU and Green Mountain details are as of November 10, 2026. Other providers' figures are as of July 2026. Plan details and rates subject to change. Energy Facts Label available at ambitenergy.com. Always confirm current plan rates and terms on the provider's official EFL before enrolling.
No. Ambit's Texas Solar Buyback plans pay a fixed 3.5 cent per kWh buyback rate versus an 11.3 cent (Oncor) or 10.2 cent (CenterPoint) per kWh energy charge (as of November 2, 2026, per Ambit's EFLs). Green Mountain's Renewable Rewards Essentials is the mainstream match-rate alternative, with credits limited to your grid usage each billing cycle. TXU Energy no longer lists a 1:1 plan (as of November 10, 2026).
No. Ambit's export credits reduce only the energy portion of your bill, not the $9.95 base fee and not your Oncor or CenterPoint TDU delivery charges. That's common: TXU and Green Mountain also apply credits to energy charges only (as of November 10, 2026). Check each plan's EFL for how it treats delivery.
Ambit's current Texas Solar Buyback EFL doesn't list a system-size cap. It requires an executed Interconnection Agreement with your TDU, lets buyback credits offset up to 100% of your monthly energy charges, and banks up to $500 in unused credits (as of November 2, 2026, per Ambit's EFL). If you have a large system or you're a commercial customer, contact Ambit or a VIP consultant to confirm eligibility.
No. Ambit solar credits have no cash, credit or other redemption value. You can keep up to $500 in banked credits while you're enrolled on an eligible Ambit solar buyback plan, but the bank doesn't follow you if you cancel or switch providers (as of November 2, 2026, per Ambit's EFL).
Ambit lists Texas Solar Buyback for addresses in all five of its Texas TDU areas: Oncor (Dallas-Fort Worth), CenterPoint (Houston), AEP Texas Central (Corpus Christi, Rio Grande Valley), AEP Texas North (Abilene) and TNMP (as of November 2, 2026, per Ambit's online plan listings). The energy charge differs by area, from 10.2 cents per kWh in CenterPoint (EFL) to 12.7 cents in AEP Texas North (EFL), so check the EFL for your ZIP code on Ambit's plan page.
You can switch from one Ambit plan to another (for example, from Texas Solar Buyback 12 to 24) but the $199 ETF may apply if the switch happens before your contract end date. Confirm the switch terms with Ambit customer service or your consultant before initiating the change so you do not get surprised on your final bill.
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