Florida Net Metering Explained

A grid-connected solar home does two things throughout the day: it consumes electricity, and at times it produces more than it is using and sends the surplus to the grid. Net metering is the accounting method for that exchange. Florida statute defines net metering as a metering and billing methodology under which customer-owned renewable generation is allowed to offset the customer’s electricity consumption on site.¹

The practical effect is that the electricity your system produces and your home uses immediately never has to be purchased, and surplus production is accounted for by your utility according to its program terms rather than simply being given away or ignored.

This is the part most homeowners miss. Florida statute directs the Commission to establish requirements relating to customer-owned renewable generation for public utilities, and separately requires municipal electric utilities and rural electric cooperatives to develop their own standards for interconnection and net metering through their own governing bodies.¹ The statutory definition of “public utility” excludes municipalities and rural electric cooperatives, which is why the two paths exist.²

For investor-owned utilities, the operative rule governing interconnection and metering of customer-owned renewable generation is Florida Administrative Code Rule 25-6.065.³ The Florida Public Service Commission also maintains a consumer page on customer-owned renewable generation.⁴

• Served by an investor-owned utility — your terms follow the Commission’s framework as reflected in your utility’s approved tariff.
• Served by a municipal utility — your city or utility board sets the program, and terms can differ from investor-owned utility programs.
• Served by a rural electric cooperative — the cooperative’s governing body sets the program.

Many articles state specific mechanics as if they were universal Florida rules — how surplus is credited, whether credits roll over monthly, when an annual true-up happens, and at what rate any remaining balance is settled. Those mechanics vary and are subject to change, and we were not able to confirm current, universally applicable figures from primary regulatory text at the time this page was written.

Rather than repeat unverified numbers, we would rather tell you exactly what to ask. A confident, specific claim from a salesperson about your credit rate is worth checking against your utility’s own current published tariff before it becomes an assumption in your savings estimate.

• Does my utility currently offer a net-metering program to new residential customers, and where is it published?
• How is surplus energy credited — and at what rate?
• Do credits carry forward from month to month, and what happens to any remaining balance at the end of a period?
• What fixed monthly charges apply regardless of how much solar I produce?
• Is there an interconnection application, fee, insurance requirement, or system size limit?
• How long does interconnection approval typically take after installation?
• Could program terms change for systems interconnected after a certain date, and are existing customers treated differently?

Ask your utility directly, in writing, and keep the answer. It is the single highest-value piece of homework in a Florida solar decision.

Even a well-sized system on a grid-connected home usually leaves a monthly utility relationship in place. Fixed charges typically continue, nighttime and low-production periods still draw from the grid, and seasonal swings mean production and consumption rarely line up perfectly month to month. The Federal Trade Commission’s consumer guidance specifically notes that homeowners generally continue paying fixed utility charges after going solar.⁵

What happens to your electric bill after solar walks through a post-installation bill line by line.

Because net metering is a billing arrangement, it says nothing about what happens during an outage. A standard grid-tied system without storage generally stops producing when the grid goes down, for the safety of utility line workers. Resilience during hurricane season is a storage and system-design question, not a net-metering question. See do I need a battery.

Savings projections are built on assumptions about what your surplus production is worth. If two companies assume different crediting treatment, their savings estimates will differ even with identical hardware. Before comparing bottom-line numbers, confirm that each proposal reflects your utility’s actual current program.

See how to compare solar quotes fairly and why Florida electric bills keep rising, which covers the rate assumptions often built into long-term projections.