Is solar worth it in Florida without the federal tax credit?

Key takeaways

• The federal residential credit no longer applies to 2026 installs, so you carry the full installed cost.
• Under FPL’s net metering, excess solar is banked as kWh and applied to later bills, with the balance settled at the December reading. Other Florida utilities set their own terms, so check yours.
• Florida’s average residential rate is lower than the U.S. average, so the same system earns back less per kilowatt-hour than in many other states.
• A battery mostly buys backup power. We expect little extra bill savings, though that is our reasoning rather than measured data.
• Prices vary a lot between installers. Compare several written quotes.

The short answer

It depends on your bill, your roof and how long you will stay. Without the federal credit, solar costs more to earn back than it did, and in Florida the savings per kilowatt-hour are modest compared with other states. For a home with a high summer air-conditioning bill, a sunny roof with little shade and a plan to stay for many years, it can still pay back. For a small bill or a shaded roof, it may not.

We cannot tell you which side you are on from a general guide. Put your bill and ZIP code into the Florida calculator, which shows a low, likely and high range rather than one number. Nothing here is a promise of savings.

What changed with the federal credit

The IRS states that the Residential Clean Energy Credit, which was worth 30% of costs for property installed from 2022 through December 31, 2025, is not available for property placed in service after December 31, 2025. RayValue applies no federal credit to any 2026 or later install, and neither should a quote you receive.

In practice, the price you pay is the price you must earn back. A system that once had a large part of its cost returned through a tax credit now has to recover all of it through lower electric bills. Payback is longer for the same system. What you save each year has not changed.

Some Florida tax rules still help:

• Sales tax. Florida Statute 212.08 exempts solar energy systems and their components from state sales tax. Ask your installer to confirm how this appears on your contract.
• Property tax. Under Florida Statute 193.624, the value that a solar device adds to a home is not considered when the property is assessed for residential property tax. The statute text says the current version runs through December 31, 2037, then reverts to an earlier version with similar effect.

Neither of these is a rebate. They avoid extra costs; they do not reduce your installed price the way a credit did.

How Florida net metering affects payback

Florida law (section 366.91) defines net metering as a billing method in which customer-owned renewable generation offsets your electricity consumption on site, and requires utilities to offer it. The details come from your utility.

Using FPL as the example, the utility says extra solar power goes to the grid and is stored as a “kWh reserve” on your bill and applied to future bills. You earn kWh credits, not cash. Unused kWh at the December reading are credited on your December bill at FPL’s average annual cost of generation (a bill credit, not a cash payment; FPL net metering FAQ). FPL says that rate is recalculated yearly and largely follows natural gas prices. We have not reviewed the Duke Energy Florida or TECO tariffs for this guide, so their terms may differ; see our pages for Duke Energy Florida and TECO, and for FPL.

Why this matters for payback:

• Under FPL’s approach, a kWh exported in the day can offset a kWh bought later, until the December settlement. That is generally better for a homeowner than a low fixed export price.
• Oversizing is not rewarded. Year-end leftovers are valued at a generation cost, which is lower than the retail rate. Our methodology takes a cautious view and counts unused year-end credits as worth nothing.
• Fixed charges still apply. Solar cannot take your bill below your utility’s fixed charge or minimum bill.
• Rates set the savings. According to EIA, Florida’s average residential price was 14.99 cents per kWh in August 2026 (preliminary), against 18.16 cents for the U.S., and 15.33 cents in August 2025 for Florida. Lower rates mean each solar kWh is worth less than in higher-priced states. See Florida electricity rates in 2026 for context.

Utilities also set size tiers. FPL lists Tier 1 as up to 10 kW AC, Tier 2 as over 10 kW up to 100 kW, with the AC rating figured as the DC array rating times 0.85, and per the FPL guidelines page, interconnection applications must be approved prior to installation and operation of the system.

What a system costs

Berkeley Lab’s August 2026 data update reports that median prices for host-owned residential systems installed in 2025 fell by $0.5 per watt in inflation-adjusted terms from 2024, before any incentives. Among the 100 largest residential installers, median prices in 2025 ranged from about $2.4 to $6.3 per watt (ignoring outliers); roughly 60% were below $4 per watt and about 10% above $5. Loan-financed systems were priced considerably higher than cash purchases, possibly because loan fees are rolled into the price. The sample is dominated by California, so Florida prices can differ. See residential solar prices in 2026.

The gap between low and high installers is the main reason to collect several quotes.

Where batteries fit

A battery does two things: it holds energy for outages, and it can shift when you use solar power. In a place with strong export credits, the second matters less. Where net metering banks excess kWh for later use, as FPL describes, the grid partly plays the storage role during the year, so a battery may add cost without adding much bill savings. Treat that as our reasoning rather than a measured result; we have not reviewed Florida rate-plan or time-of-use data, and your utility’s rules and rate plan decide.

The real case for a battery is resilience. EIA reports that Hurricane Milton left 3.4 million customers in Florida without power in 2024, and that major events such as Hurricanes Beryl, Helene and Milton accounted for 80% of the hours without electricity that year. If running a refrigerator, internet and a few circuits through a multi-day outage is worth real money to you, a battery can be reasonable. If it is mainly about the bill, the savings may be small relative to its cost, so run the numbers first.

Some context from Berkeley Lab: 37% of new U.S. residential solar systems were paired with storage in 2025 (25% in 2024), with much of the increase driven by California, and the median residential battery was 13.5 kWh. Among cash purchases, paired PV-plus-storage systems had median prices $2.1 per watt higher than stand-alone solar, with about 80% of that data from California. Our battery costs and backup post goes deeper. In California, the economics differ because of net billing; see the California NEM 3 and batteries guide.

What to check before you sign

• Get at least three written quotes with price per watt, system size in kW, panel and inverter models, and battery capacity in kWh if included. How to compare solar quotes shows what to line up.
• Ask what is assumed about the federal credit. For a 2026 install the answer should be none.
• Ask how the production estimate was made and what shade loss and degradation it assumes.
• Read the warranty terms: who honors panel, inverter and workmanship warranties if the installer closes, and how long each lasts.
• Confirm interconnection. Your utility must approve the system before installation and you will sign a net metering agreement. Ask who handles the paperwork and what happens on a delay.
• Understand the financing. Compare a cash price with a loan price, and read lease or PPA escalators and transfer terms. See solar lease vs buy.
• Check licensing and the contract for cancellation rights and a payment schedule tied to milestones.

Next steps

1. Gather 12 months of electric bills and check your roof for shade.
2. Run the Florida calculator to see a range for your home.
3. Read the page for your utility: FPL, Duke Energy Florida or TECO.
4. If the range looks worth pursuing, compare quotes and use the checklist above.

For the broader picture across both states, see is solar worth it without the federal tax credit.