Thinking About Solar Panels for Your Home? 

If you are thinking about solar panels for your home, check out this guide from the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

Installation Requirements 

• 10 kilowatts (kW) AC maximum size allowed.
• The system must remain off until permission to operate has been granted by GP&L.
• Customer must provide proof of insurance showing at least $100,000.00 personal liability coverage.

Contact our Energy Advisor at 972-205-2929 or email with any questions.

Installation Process

• Residential or commercial customer selects a solar system installation company.

• The solar system installation company and their third-party solar inspection provider must meet all the requirements for solar system installation within the GP&L service area. This includes submitting the third-party plans to the City of Garland Building Inspection Department to obtain a permit.

Building Inspection Department
800 Main Street, Garland, TX
972-205-2300 
Email Building Inspections

• All reviews and inspections are performed by the third-party solar inspection provider. They must provide the Building Inspections with the Letter of Compliance/Inspections results page to close out the permit.

• Once the permitting process is complete, Building Inspections sends the solar project documents to GP&L, which installs a bi-directional meter.

How to Read a Bi-Directional Meter

A bi-directional meter allows solar-power producing customers to participate on GP&L’s electric system as a distributed energy producer. 

The bi-directional meter records electricity flow both to and from GP&L’s electric system. These power flow readings are used for net metering. The buy back for each excess kWh produced is $0.0819 per kWh.

Solar panels first supply power to the home or business. When the solar panels produce more power than the premise is using, the electricity is sent onto the GP&L system. If the customer needs more power than the PV system can supply, electricity will be delivered from the GP&L system.

The bi-directional meters provide two different readings:

1. The kilowatt (kWh) of electricity produced and delivered from the PV system to the GP&L electric system since the meter was installed. It indicates energy produced by the PV system in excess of what was used by the customer.
2. The kilowatt (kWh) of electricity delivered from the GP&L electric system to the customer since the meter was installed. It indicates energy delivered to the customer in excess of the PV system production.

These power flow readings are provided on your monthly bill and are netted out to determine the monthly energy consumption. The meter readings do not reset each month, but instead tally up the cumulative electricity flows since the meter was installed. The meters do not record the total kWh generated by a PV system.