Florida electricity rates in 2026 and solar payback

If you are weighing solar in Florida, the price you pay per kilowatt-hour (kWh) is the number that matters most. Every kWh your panels cover is a kWh you do not buy, so the higher your rate, the faster a system tends to pay for itself. Florida rates are not standing still, and they differ by utility. This post pulls together what the public record shows for 2026.

Key takeaways

• Florida’s average residential price was 15.21 cents per kWh in 2025, against 17.23 for the U.S. (EIA, 2025 data). Florida is below the national average, which makes payback slower than in higher-rate states.
• FPL’s four-year rate plan for 2026 through 2029 was approved on November 20, 2025. FPL’s own estimate is a bill increase of about $2.50 a month for a typical 1,000 kWh home in 2026.
• Duke Energy Florida and TECO bills in 2026 combined base-rate steps with temporary storm-cost charges and fuel adjustments. Tampa Electric says a previously approved base-rate adjustment was the largest part of its January 2026 change; Duke has a $59 million base increase in 2026.
• The temporary pieces (a Duke fuel-charge refund in June-September 2026 and a Tampa Electric storm surcharge through August 2026) have now run their scheduled course, so the savings from each solar kWh can change over time. Treat any payback figure as a range.

What Florida homeowners pay compared with the country

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) publishes average residential prices by state. Its annual table for 2025 and 2024 shows:

Average residential price (cents/kWh)	2024	2025
Florida residential, cents per kWh	14.14	15.21
U.S. residential, cents per kWh	16.48	17.23

Florida rose about 1.07 cents (roughly 7.6%) between those years, while the U.S. average rose about 0.75 cents (roughly 4.6%). The gap to the national average stayed around 2 cents.

EIA’s monthly data for August 2026, which are preliminary estimates, show Florida at 14.99 cents per kWh versus 15.33 in August 2025, a decline of about 2%. The U.S. average was 18.16 cents versus 17.57 a year earlier, up about 3%. That puts Florida roughly 3 cents below the national figure in the latest month. One month is a snapshot, not a trend, and it reflects fuel costs and the timing of storm charges as much as base rates.

FPL: a four-year plan approved in November 2025

The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) approved a settlement covering 2026 through 2029 on November 20, 2025, according to the Florida Public Power Association and NBC Miami. Reported terms include (from secondary reports, not the PSC order itself):

• Base-rate increases of $945 million in 2026 and $705 million in 2027, with additional collections in 2028 and 2029 tied to solar and battery-storage projects.
• A target return on equity of 10.95%, which opponents called excessive.
• Opposition from the state’s Office of Public Counsel. Opponents estimated cumulative increases of about $6.9 billion over four years, and consumer-group attorneys said in November 2025 that they expected a challenge at the Florida Supreme Court. We did not find a filing or ruling in the sources we checked, so the status of any appeal as of October 2026 is unverified here.

For a household using 1,000 kWh a month, FPL’s estimate from September 2025 was a bill rising from $134.14 to $136.64 in January 2026 in peninsular Florida, about $2.50. NBC Miami reported that the former Gulf Power area (labeled Northwest Florida on FPL’s newsroom page) would see a slight fall, from $143.60 to $141.36. FPL’s newsroom page projected a December 2029 bill of $148.15 for the peninsular typical customer. These are the utility’s projections made before the final vote, so check your actual bill rather than treating them as guarantees.

What this means for solar: FPL’s base rates rise by $945 million in 2026 and $705 million in 2027 (opponents estimate $6.9 billion over four years), but FPL says the typical total bill change in 2026 is only about $2.50 a month because the new base rates are partly offset by lower fuel and storm costs. That “rate is not jumping” reading is this post’s own inference from the net bill change, not an FPL claim about base rates. The later years add upward pressure, but the exact path depends on fuel prices, which pass through to customers. See FPL solar and rate details.

Duke Energy Florida: base rates settled, storm costs and fuel moving

Duke Energy Florida’s PSC-approved settlement (approved in August 2024) runs 2025 through 2027. It allows base-rate increases of $203 million in 2025 and $59 million in 2026, and no base-rate increase for 2027 because roughly $50 million in anticipated federal tax credits offsets it. Duke can also recover costs for 12 new solar facilities. The allowed return on equity is 9.3% to 11.3%, with a 10.3% midpoint. Those settlement terms are from the Florida Public Power Association’s report.

The bigger swings for customers came from storm restoration after Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton. According to WTXL’s report on the PSC action:

• The storm charge that began in March 2025 added about $33 per 1,000 kWh to residential bills and ended in January 2026, earlier than scheduled.
• The storm charge collected more than actual costs, and $90.5 million was scheduled to be returned through a temporary fuel-charge reduction from the June 2026 billing cycle through September 2026.
• During that window, the residential fuel rate was set to fall from 4.414 to 3.852 cents per kWh, with fuel charges returning to approved rates afterward. Duke’s October 2026 clause table, which we read for our Duke Energy Florida page, lists fuel at 4.127 cents per kWh up to 1,000 kWh and 5.197 cents over 1,000 kWh, so the temporary reduction has ended. Check your latest bill, since fuel charges change.

For solar, the point is timing. A bill from June through September 2026 contained a temporary credit, so it understates the avoided cost outside that window. Using a bill from that period to size savings can be misleading. See Duke Energy Florida solar and rate details.

TECO (Tampa Electric): storm surcharge ran through August 2026

Tampa Electric’s January 2026 rate notice describes updated rates that follow a December 2024 PSC approval, plus an annual fuel adjustment. For a residential customer using 1,000 kWh a month, Tampa Electric said all bill components combined would rise by $8.88, and its fuel filing projected a typical bill of $176.89 a month if the PSC approved the request as filed. That is a pre-approval projection, it includes the storm surcharge that has since ended, and it has been superseded by the approved figures and current rates. Fuel is passed through at cost, and Tampa Electric said fuel is about one-fifth of a residential bill.

The same notice says a temporary storm surcharge, spread over 18 months from March 2025 to August 2026, was scheduled to end in August 2026, with lower bills expected from September through December 2026. The company’s fuel filing said the typical 1,000 kWh bill would drop about $20 in September 2026.

The tariff lets us see the effect per kWh. For the standard residential rate (RS), usage up to 1,000 kWh in January 2026, the components listed are:

Component (cents per kWh)	Rate
Energy charge	9.569
Fuel charge	3.210
Storm protection charge	0.717
Clean energy transition mechanism	0.406
Storm surcharge	1.995

Illustrative arithmetic from those listed rates: they sum to 15.897 cents per kWh, before the daily basic service charge, taxes and fees. Without the 1.995-cent storm surcharge, the sum is 13.902 cents, about 12.5% lower. The fuel charge can also change again, so this is only a snapshot of one tariff sheet.

For solar, that means a Tampa Electric home’s avoided cost per kWh was scheduled to drop after August 2026 (Tampa Electric’s current tariff sheets, read on October 25, 2026, show the storm surcharge ended and fuel at 3.210 cents per kWh up to 1,000 kWh and 4.210 over, for an all-in rate of 13.902 and 15.902 cents per kWh before taxes and fees; details are on our TECO page). Quotes that assumed the earlier all-in rate may overstate savings. See TECO solar and rate details.

What this means for solar payback

Putting the three utilities together:

1. Florida’s lower average rate lengthens payback. With an average of 15.21 cents per kWh in 2025 versus 17.23 nationally, each kWh of solar is worth less than in many states.
2. Rates are not a straight line. Base-rate steps, fuel pass-throughs and temporary storm charges rise and fall. A payback estimate built on one month’s bill can be too rosy or too gloomy.
3. Settlements lock in some years but not all. FPL’s plan covers 2026 through 2029; Duke’s runs through 2027. Beyond those years, rates are an assumption.
4. No federal credit changes the starting point. The federal residential credit is not available for 2026 installs, so the system price you pay is the price you recover through bill savings.

Our calculator starts from each utility’s published tariff and shows a low, likely and high result instead of a single number. How we treat future rate growth is described on the methodology page. Read Is solar worth it without the federal tax credit? and Florida solar without the federal tax credit for the bigger picture.

Next steps

• Look at your last 12 bills, not just one, and note which charges are fuel, storm or base.
• Run the Florida solar calculator with your utility and typical usage.
• If you collect quotes, read how to compare solar quotes and ask each installer which rate they used to calculate savings. You can request quotes at /quotes when you are ready.