Solar and battery storage in Florida

What is different about going solar in Florida?

Four things. Your utility decides your net-metering terms, and Florida has both investor-owned utilities governed by PSC Rule 25-6.065 and municipal utilities that set their own rules. Florida exempts solar equipment from sales tax and excludes the added value from property tax. Hurricane wind-load requirements add engineering and permitting cost. And as of 2026 there is no federal tax credit, which changes the arithmetic more than any of the others.

Federal tax credit
Ended after 31 Dec 2025
United States Congress
Florida sales tax on equipment
Exempt
Florida Legislature
Property tax on added value
Excluded
Florida Legislature
Net metering rule
PSC Rule 25-6.065 (investor-owned utilities)
Florida Public Service Commission

Last verified August 16, 2026

Your utility decides more than your city does

Florida electricity service territories do not follow city limits. Investor-owned utilities — FPL, Duke Energy Florida and Tampa Electric among them — must offer net metering under Florida PSC Rule 25-6.065. Municipal utilities such as JEA in Jacksonville and OUC in Orlando are not bound by that rule and run their own programmes, as do the cooperatives serving parts of the state.

The practical consequence is that generic Florida solar advice can be simply wrong for you. Before trusting any figure, including ours, confirm which utility bills your address.

What Florida gives you, and what it took away

Incentives affecting a Florida homeowner buying in 2026
IncentiveStatusHow you receive it
Federal Residential Clean Energy Credit (§25D)Ended for systems placed in service after 31 December 2025No longer available. Repealed early by Public Law 119-21.
Florida sales and use tax exemptionIn forceSales tax is not charged on the equipment, so the saving is inside your quoted price.
Florida property tax exemptionIn forceThe added home value is excluded from your assessment, generally applied automatically.

Hurricanes change the engineering and the reason to buy

Rooftop solar in Florida is a permitted structural attachment engineered to the design wind speed for its location. Miami-Dade and Broward sit within the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, which applies stricter product approval and inspection requirements than the rest of the state. This adds cost, and it is not optional.

Storms also change why Florida homeowners buy storage. In most of the country a battery is about bills. Here it is usually about whether the air conditioning runs in August when the grid is down, which is a question about continuous output in kilowatts rather than stored capacity in kilowatt-hours.

The three numbers to bring to any conversation

  1. Your annual electricity consumption in kilowatt-hours, from twelve months of bills rather than one.
  2. The name of the utility on your bill, because it determines your net-metering terms.
  3. How many years of life your roof realistically has left, because installing on a roof that is nearly done is the most expensive avoidable mistake in Florida solar.

See what this means for your home

Tell us where you are and how much electricity you use, and we will show you what the verified data supports.

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Common questions

Is Florida a good state for solar?

The solar resource is strong and reasonably consistent year-round, and summer air-conditioning load coincides well with peak production. Against that, hurricane engineering adds cost and the federal credit is gone. Whether it works for you comes down to your rate, your usage and your installed price.

Does Florida have a state solar rebate?

Not a rebate or a state income tax credit — Florida has no state personal income tax. What it has is the sales tax exemption on equipment and the property tax exclusion on added home value, both of which remain in force.

Can my HOA stop me installing solar?

Florida law limits the ability of homeowner associations to prohibit solar collectors on residential property, though associations can have a say in some placement decisions. If you are in an association, raise it early and get any requirements in writing before design work starts.

Sources

What each source supports on this page, and when we last verified it. Every source we use, with its freshness policy, is listed in the source register.

  1. Florida Administrative Code Rule 25-6.065, Interconnection and Metering of Customer-Owned Renewable Generation

    Florida Public Service Commission

    Net-metering eligibility, interconnection tiers and system-sizing limits for customers of Florida investor-owned utilities.

    Verified August 16, 2026

  2. One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Public Law 119-21 (enacted 4 July 2025)

    United States Congress

    Termination of the §25D Residential Clean Energy Credit for expenditures made after 31 December 2025.

    Verified August 16, 2026 · Primary text not reachable from the build environment; status corroborated across multiple independent tax and legislative summaries citing the public law. Flagged for primary confirmation.

  3. Florida Statutes §212.08(7)(hh), Solar energy systems sales and use tax exemption

    Florida Legislature

    Exemption of solar energy systems and components from Florida sales and use tax.

    Verified August 16, 2026

  4. Florida Statutes §193.624, Assessment of residential renewable energy source devices

    Florida Legislature

    Exclusion of the added value of a residential renewable energy source device from Florida property tax assessment.

    Verified August 16, 2026

  5. Florida Building Code — high-velocity hurricane zone and wind-borne debris provisions

    Florida Building Commission

    Wind-load and permitting requirements applying to rooftop solar installations in Florida, including the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

    Verified August 16, 2026

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