Our research studied the bistable mechanism in electro-thermal switching reverse polymer-stabilized cholesteric texture (ET-RPSCT) light shutters. The bistable mechanism in ET-RPSCT is a result of a polymer distortion effect induced by applying a high-voltage pulse. It was found that long-pitch cholesteric liquid crystals will maintain a focal conic texture by a distorted polymer network which exhibits a translucent state. An annealing treatment method was used to recover cholesteric liquid crystals back to the planar texture through alignment layers. We compared the ET-RPSCT cells in different polymer network structures, which were built from different UV curable diacrylate monomers and concentrations, resulting in different anchoring forces and polymer distortion effects. We found that when the polymer network structure is tight and fiber-like, the long-pitch cholesteric liquid crystals are more stable in the focal conic texture because of polymer distortion, and are resistant to switching states. On the other hand, the long-pitch cholesteric liquid crystals recover to the planar texture easily by thermal switching due to a loose and grain-like polymer network structure. Furthermore, the effects of polymer structure on the electro-optical performance of ET-RPSCT were also investigated.