The city of Austin has run into a bit of a problem with their solar energy rebate program. Austin Energy was required, through a tariff, to zero out all of the energy credits that were given last year. This means that about 300 customers without their credits for producing more solar energy than they used.

Now that the customers are upset about the loss of their credits, Austin Energy is hoping to win back the trust of customers by offering them rolling credits that they can build up throughout the year. While these credits do not give back the credits that the customers lost, Austin Energy is hoping that rolling credits will make customers happy enough to stick with the program.

The production of solar energy will continue while the company will give solar owners credit that can roll on and on for months and even years. This change in the program may make some upset, but at least Austin Energy is working with solar users as fairly as possible.

Solar energy could be at a turning point in Texas, where adoption of solar power has been slow compared to wind energy.  In deregulated parts of the state like Dallas and Houston, providers such as Green Mountain energy are beginning to offer solar only electricity plans that allow consumers to use pure solar energy without putting panels on their rooftops.