Short answer: for customers of Florida’s three big investor-owned utilities — FPL, Duke Energy Florida, and TECO — net metering has not changed. As of mid-2026 they still credit the solar power you export to the grid at the full retail rate, under the same Florida Public Service Commission rule that has governed net metering since 2008. What you may have heard about net metering “going away” comes from three real but frequently garbled stories: a 2022 bill that would have phased the credits down and was vetoed; an industry-wide expectation that some phase-down will eventually come, with no date or rule actually on the table; and a growing split between the big utilities and Florida’s municipal utilities and electric cooperatives, several of which already credit exports at less than retail. This article separates what is actually in force today from what is speculation, utility by utility, so you can make decisions on facts rather than on a salesperson’s countdown clock.
Net metering is the billing arrangement that makes rooftop solar economics work in Florida. When your panels produce more than your house is using — a sunny afternoon while you are at work — the surplus flows to the grid and your meter records the export. When you pull power back at night, the exported kilowatt-hours are credited against what you consume.
For Florida’s investor-owned utilities, the framework comes from a Florida Public Service Commission rule adopted in 2008. The pieces that matter to a homeowner:
If you are with FPL, our FPL net metering guide walks through that utility’s specific application and billing mechanics; TECO customers can find the same detail in our TECO net metering guide. Duke Energy Florida follows the same PSC framework.
Three things remain exactly as they were, and each one gets misreported regularly:
1. Full-retail net metering at FPL, Duke Energy Florida, and TECO. All three continue to credit residential solar exports at the full retail rate. No filed rule change, no approved tariff revision, and no legislation currently in force alters that for these utilities as of mid-2026.
2. The 2008 PSC rule itself. The rule that requires investor-owned utilities to offer net metering to customer-owned renewable systems is still in force, unchanged.
3. Florida’s state-level solar fundamentals. The state sales-tax exemption on residential solar equipment and the property-tax exclusion for the value a renewable-energy system adds to your home both remain in place. Neither has anything to do with net metering, but they are frequently swept into the same “solar incentives are ending” rumor, so it is worth saying plainly: they are intact.
The genuine changes in the last few years are federal and local — not the IOU net-metering rules.
The federal residential tax credit expired. The federal residential clean energy credit for homeowner-purchased systems was terminated for expenditures made after December 31, 2025. That changed the purchase economics of solar significantly — but it changed nothing about how your utility credits your exports. We covered the post-expiration math in detail in our 2026 solar economics guide.
Several municipal utilities and co-ops moved away from full retail. Florida’s municipal utilities and electric cooperatives are not bound by the PSC’s net-metering rule, and some have adopted their own export-credit policies. JEA in Jacksonville credits exports for newer solar customers at a rate below retail, as we explain in our JEA guide; OUC in Orlando likewise applies reduced export credits to customers who enrolled after its policy change — details in our OUC guide. If your power comes from a municipal utility or a co-op, the single most important number in your solar analysis is the export-credit rate on your utility’s current tariff sheet — not a statewide generalization.
Much of the “net metering is ending” narrative traces back to one bill. In 2022 the Florida Legislature passed House Bill 741, which would have stepped residential export credits down from full retail toward the utilities’ avoided cost over a period of years. Governor DeSantis vetoed it, citing — among other things — the cost pressure on households at a time of high inflation. The veto left the 2008 rule fully intact.
Two details of that episode still matter for 2026 decisions:
Probably eventually — and anyone who claims to know when is guessing. Here is the honest version of the outlook:
Utilities in Florida and nationally have argued for years that full-retail crediting shifts fixed grid costs onto non-solar customers, and states like California have already moved to lower export rates for new customers. The direction of travel across the country is real. In Florida specifically, though, a change requires either legislation that survives a governor’s signature or a PSC rulemaking — and neither has produced a filed schedule, a percentage, or an effective date. “Expected at some point, with no date set” is the accurate summary, and it has been the accurate summary for several years running.
The planning implication cuts one way: historically, when net-metering rules change — in Florida’s municipal utilities and in other states — customers who were already interconnected have been grandfathered under the rules in effect when they signed up, and even Florida’s vetoed phase-down bill wrote a 20-year grandfather into law. Nobody can promise future legislation will do the same. But it is the reason some homeowners choose to interconnect under today’s full-retail rules rather than wait to see what a future rule looks like. That is a reasonable judgment call, not an emergency — treat any pitch built on a specific deadline with skepticism, because no such deadline exists.
If you are evaluating solar in Florida in 2026, net metering enters the math in three practical ways:
Did Florida end net metering? No. The investor-owned utilities — FPL, Duke Energy Florida, TECO — still offer full-retail net metering under the 2008 PSC rule. The 2022 bill that would have changed that was vetoed.
My neighbor in Jacksonville gets credited less than I do. How? Municipal utilities like JEA and co-ops set their own policies; several credit exports below retail for newer customers. The PSC rule binds the investor-owned utilities, not the munis.
If the rules change after I install, do I lose my crediting? History says existing customers get grandfathered — Florida’s vetoed 2022 bill included a 20-year grandfather, and municipal policy changes have generally applied to new customers only. It is a strong pattern, not a legal guarantee.
Do my credits expire? At the big IOUs, unused credits roll month to month and are trued up annually, with any remaining balance paid at the avoided-cost rate. You do not lose exported energy; surplus beyond your annual usage is simply worth less per kWh.
Does a battery change the net-metering math? It can. A battery lets you consume more of your own production directly instead of exporting it, which matters most where export credits are below retail — and it adds backup power during outages, which no billing arrangement provides.
For broader Florida solar questions — permits, HOAs, insurance, batteries — see our Florida Solar FAQ.
Florida net metering in 2026 is a story of stability at the big utilities and divergence at the local ones. FPL, Duke, and TECO customers still get the full-retail, one-for-one crediting that has anchored Florida solar economics for nearly two decades. Municipal and co-op customers need to read their own utility’s tariff, because several have already moved to lower export rates. A statewide phase-down is a reasonable long-term expectation with no date, no rule, and no bill currently attached to it — which means it belongs in your planning as a reason to understand grandfathering, not as a deadline to panic over. If you want to know exactly how your utility would credit a system on your roof — your rates, your usage, your address — we will run the numbers with you, honestly.
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About the author: Joe Cataldo is the CEO of Goldin Solar, LLC, a Vero Beach, Florida–based solar installation company serving homeowners and businesses across the state. He holds a Florida Certified Solar Contractor license (CVC57300) and a Florida Certified Electrical Contractor license (EC13013985), both issued by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Joe personally oversees system design standards and code compliance on Goldin Solar projects.
