Texas's new solar registration rule

Registration catches the sales pitch, not the crew on the roof

Beginning September 1, 2026, Texas requires every residential solar retailer and every solar salesperson to hold a TDLR registration before selling or leasing a residential solar energy system. That sits on top of Senate Bill 1036's other rules, which took effect a year earlier — the right to cancel, the ban on claiming a utility affiliation, the no-soliciting rule — and the registration now closes the remaining gap by reaching the person who actually makes the sales pitch. It catches the retailer, meaning the company that employs or contracts the salesperson, and it catches the individual salesperson by name. It does not touch the crew that bolts panels to a roof and ties them into the home's electrical panel — that work has sat under a separate license for years, the one covering electrical contracting generally, and a company can be a fully registered retailer with no standing to do that wiring itself. The scope is residential only — a system sized for a homeowner's roof, not a commercial array on a warehouse — so a commercial solar contractor watching this rule land is watching a program built for a different customer entirely.

Sept. 1, 2026Residential solar retailers and solar salespersons must register with TDLR beginning September 1, 2026. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-16

1 kWSystems generating less than one kilowatt of peak output in the aggregate are exempt from the Act. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-16

A turnkey solar sale still needs a licensed electrical contractor

Selling residential solar and installing it are two different regulatory questions, and the September 2026 registration only answers the first one. A company offering a turnkey residential solar package — the panels, the inverter, the wiring, all in one signed deal — is performing electrical work the moment that scope includes tying the system into the home's panel, and Texas treats that as work requiring the electrical contractor license, the same one that covers a service upgrade or a subpanel. A solar retailer without that license is not exempt from needing it; the company is relying on a licensed subcontractor to do the physical install, and the contract has to say so. The rules require the agreement to name that installing contractor and state their license number in the document itself, or to list several contractors the buyer can choose among, so a buyer can check the name against the license before signing anything.

A residential solar sale or lease agreement must provide that installation will be performed by a licensed electrical contractor. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-16

The agreement must conspicuously state the installing electrical contractor's name and license number. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-16

The new rules force specific disclosures into every solar contract

The registration requirement arrived alongside a set of disclosure rules that apply to the contract itself, regardless of who is registered. A residential solar agreement has to spell out the last date the buyer can cancel without penalty — the fifth business day after signing — and give a mailing or email address for sending that cancellation notice; leave the address out, and the buyer can cancel by any reasonable method instead. The retailer cannot claim or imply a tie to a public utility or a government program, a line that shows up often in door-to-door pitches. If a third-party lender is affiliated with or referred by the retailer, the loan itself has to cancel automatically when the buyer cancels the solar agreement, so a homeowner backing out of the panels is not left holding financing for equipment that was never installed.

5 business daysA buyer or lessee may cancel a residential solar agreement without penalty through the fifth business day after signing. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-16

Residential solar retailers may not state or imply they are affiliated with a public utility or government agency. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-16

A third-party lender affiliated with or referred by the retailer must cancel its loan when the buyer cancels the agreement. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-16

Interconnection approval runs on the utility's clock, not TDLR's

Getting registered with TDLR and getting a system approved by the utility are two separate processes on two separate clocks, and confusing them is a common way a solar project stalls. The contract itself has to provide that the retailer or the electrical contractor will obtain the utility's sign-off on interconnecting the system — under the Utilities Code sections covering investor-owned utilities and, separately, electric cooperatives or municipally owned ones. That approval depends on the utility's own interconnection queue and its net-metering or buyback terms, not on anything TDLR tracks or times. A fully registered retailer and a fully licensed installer can still have a system sitting wired and inspected but not turned on, because the utility application has not cleared, and no amount of state-level paperwork moves that step along any faster. Net-metering or buyback terms also vary by utility, so what a homeowner is told about selling surplus power back to the grid depends on who serves that address, not on anything the contract with the retailer can promise on its own.

The agreement must provide for the utility's approval of interconnection under Utilities Code Section 554 or 39.916. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-16

The city permit for solar covers wiring and the roof both

A solar installation still has to clear the city before anyone turns it on, and that permit is rarely a single stamp. Most jurisdictions route a residential solar application through municipal licensing and permitting twice over: an electrical permit for the wiring and the interconnection equipment, and a separate structural or building permit reviewing whether the roof framing carries the added weight and wind load of the array. The two reviewers do not always share a timeline, so a job that clears electrical inspection can still be waiting on a structural sign-off, or the other way around. Some cities fold both into one solar-specific permit type; others make the applicant file for each separately, under each department's own fee schedule and inspection calendar. Either way, both inspections have to close out before the utility will energize the interconnection, which makes this step the one most likely to set the project's real timeline.

A battery attached to the system raises its own code questions

Attaching a battery to a residential solar system adds code questions that a panels-only install does not raise. Where the battery sits changes the answer: many jurisdictions restrict indoor placement relative to exits and habitable rooms, and a garage or exterior wall mount brings its own clearance and ventilation requirements. The disconnect has to be located and labeled so a firefighter can isolate the battery from both the panels and the grid in one motion, not several. Battery equipment listed and labeled to the relevant safety standard tends to clear inspection with less friction than equipment that is not, and an inspector unfamiliar with a newer battery product may simply ask for more documentation before signing off. None of this changes who is allowed to do the work — it is still electrical work under the same contractor license — but it does change how long the inspection takes and what the inspector asks to see on-site.

Adding solar to an existing contracting business rarely needs a new license

A contractor who already holds a Texas electrical contractor license does not need a new state license category to start installing solar — the wiring, the panel connection, the disconnects are electrical work the existing license already covers, and the master electrician attached to the business does not need a separate solar credential to sign off on it. What usually takes longer is everything downstream of the wiring itself: learning a given utility's interconnection application, its net-metering agreement, and its own inspection scheduling, none of which TDLR standardizes and each of which runs on that utility's own timeline. The licensing side only gets harder if the contractor also starts selling directly to homeowners rather than installing under someone else's sales contract — at that point the business is acting as a residential solar retailer itself, and both the company and whoever does the pitching need the registration that took effect this year. TDLR's public license search covers both the electrical contractor license and, once a registrant is on file, the retailer and salesperson registration, so a homeowner comparing bids can check a company's standing on both counts before signing anything.

The insurance a solar buyer relies on is the electrical contractor's

The coverage a solar buyer is actually relying on comes from the electrical contractor, not the retailer. A Texas electrical contractor license already carries its own insurance requirements — the cover has to be in place before the license is issued and stay in place to keep it — and that policy is what responds if the installer damages the roof, miswires a circuit, or leaves a fault behind. Registering as a residential solar retailer does not carry an equivalent insurance floor of its own; that registration is aimed at sales conduct, not the physical work. A buyer checking a company's standing before signing gets a fuller picture by looking up both registrations — the retailer or salesperson registration for the sales side, and the electrical contractor's license and insurance for the side that actually touches the house.

A licensed electrical contractor must hold a master electrician license or employ one, and must carry insurance. — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, retrieved 2026-09-16

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