Florida
How net metering actually works
No jargon, no savings calculator that assumes you use twice the power you do.
- What is net metering, actually?
- Your panels make the most power in the middle of the day, which is usually when nobody is home to use it. That surplus flows out to the grid and your meter records it. At night you pull power back. Net metering is the accounting that nets those two numbers against each other, so you only pay for the difference.
- What is one kilowatt hour of my surplus worth?
- If you are with FPL, Duke Energy Florida, Tampa Electric or Florida Public Utilities, it is worth exactly what you pay for a kilowatt hour, because Florida PSC Rule 25-6.065 requires those four to credit at the full retail rate. If you are with a municipal utility or a rural cooperative, that rule does not apply and your utility sets its own rate.
- What happens to credits I do not use?
- They roll forward month to month, which is how a big spring surplus pays for an August air conditioning bill. Once a year the utility trues up the account, and any surplus still sitting there is bought out at the avoided cost rate, which is well below retail. That is why systems are sized to your usage rather than as large as the roof allows.
- How big a system am I allowed?
- For the four investor owned utilities, up to 115 percent of what you used over the previous twelve months. Oversizing past that does not pay, which is the honest reason to be suspicious of anyone trying to sell you more panels than your bill justifies.
- Do I still get a power bill?
- Yes. Even at full offset there are fixed charges, meter fees and taxes that solar does not erase. Anyone promising a zero dollar bill is selling you something. A realistic target is the bill dropping to those fixed charges.
- What does this site cost me?
- Nothing. Installers pay us when we introduce them to a homeowner. You are never charged and we never sell your details to anyone other than the single company you pick.