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Bryan council adopts BTU solar compensation change and requests grandfather language for original system owners
Summary
Council approved an amendment to BTU's electric rate policy that shifts rooftop solar from retail net metering to avoided-cost net billing, and also passed a motion asking BTU/legal to craft language to grandfather original parties to interconnection agreements while occupying the property.
The Bryan City Council voted to adopt an amendment to Ordinance 2788 that changes how Bryan Texas Utilities (BTU) compensates rooftop solar customers, moving from a retail net‑metering credit to a net‑billing model based on BTU's avoided power cost.
Doug, a BTU representative, told the council the switch aligns compensation with wholesale value and reduces what he described as cross‑subsidization. "As a community owned utility, BTU's responsibility is to all customers, not just 1 customer class," he said, explaining that the proposed avoided‑cost credit is currently the power cost recovery charge (3.76¢/kWh) versus the prior retail credit (11.44¢/kWh).
The presentation included BTU estimates that rooftop solar exports accounted for roughly 0.27% of BTU's 2025 retail energy and that changing the compensation model would reduce annual outlays for excess solar credits from about $520,000 to $170,000—figures BTU used to justify the policy shift.
Several solar system owners and residents urged the council to protect legacy investors. Patrick Bergen warned that his contract required net billing and said the city should instruct BTU to fix outstanding contractual issues rather than force customers to sign new terms: "If BTU stops doing that without my agreement, in my opinion, BTU is in breach of its own contract," Bergen said.
Responding to those concerns, the council approved a separate motion asking BTU and the city attorney to draft specific grandfathering language that would preserve the original agreement for the lifetime of the original party so long as that person continues to occupy the property. Council discussion explored alternatives including fixed multi‑year transitions; proponents argued the measure strikes a balance between fiscal stewardship for the full customer base and fairness to early adopters.
The ordinance amendment and the motion to return drafted grandfathering language to BTU/legal were recorded as passed in the meeting transcript. The council's action does not itself change BTU's contractual termination or notice provisions; the motions direct staff and BTU to prepare language for subsequent implementation and to return with precise wording.
Next steps: BTU and city legal staff will draft the grandfathering language and bring it back to the council or BTU board for formal adoption and implementation.
