Who can install solar on my Florida house, and how will my utility credit the power I send out?

Which Florida license covers a rooftop install

DBPR's Construction Industry Licensing Board lists a Solar Contractor category in two forms, certified (CV) and registered (RV). Section 489.105(3)(o) defines the work: installing, altering, repairing, maintaining, relocating or replacing solar panels for potable solar water heating, swimming pool solar heating and photovoltaic systems, along with the equipment used with them. DBPR also lists solar-specific exam and application forms (CILB 1, 5-O, 6-O and 7-O).

The solar license isn't the only one that counts. A contractor certified or registered in another Chapter 489 category doesn't have to become a solar contractor to do work within that other license's scope. And section 489.113, as the statute reads (its paragraph number isn't confirmed here), says a solar contractor needn't subcontract minor electrical, mechanical, plumbing or roofing work that falls within its own license and exclusively pertains to residential solar equipment, as defined by rules the board adopts with the Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board.

Get each company's license number and category in writing and check both with DBPR. DBPR's licensing pages don't print the solar exam's content, its fees or the experience it takes, so ask the board directly if you want to know how a solar license is earned.

Florida installation prices: the model, then Berkeley Lab's state median

In our model, a typical rooftop installation comes to $18,500 to $25,600 for a typical 7 kW rooftop system, before any incentive. Florida's solar installer wage ratio of 0.95 adjusts two national ranges, and the model adds $151, a typical city solar permit fee. That's an estimate, and nothing comes off for a federal credit because none applies to a system finished in 2026.

Batteries, panel upgrades, roof work and financing charges sit outside the range. Berkeley Lab's Florida median is printed beside it and the two come from different methods, so we don't reconcile them. Get three figures from every company: cost per watt before incentives, system size in kW DC, and the utility credit its production estimate is built on.

Estimated range. Built from national published ranges (2 sources), adjusted by Florida's solar installer median wage ratio to the US (0.95, BLS May 2025), plus the city solar permit fee where the city publishes one. Not a quote. One Florida installer publishes its own current price on its own page (Palmetto, per watt), too few to build a range from; the others print blog or market averages or dated figures, which we do not count. We have no Florida company price for this job, so the range is our national estimate alone. Full method. Prices as of Oct 24, 2026.

Net metering by size: the Rule 25-6.065 tiers

Section 366.91 defines net metering as metering and billing that lets customer-owned renewable generation offset the customer's own use on site. Investor-owned utilities had to have a standard interconnection agreement and net metering program by January 1, 2009, and municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives had to set up their own by July 1, 2009.

Florida Public Service Commission Rule 25-6.065 sets the tiers for the investor-owned utilities. Tier 1 covers systems of 10 kW or less, Tier 2 those over 10 kW up to 100 kW, and Tier 3 those over 100 kW up to 2 MW. A Tier 1 customer pays no fees beyond those other retail customers pay, application fees included, and needs no liability insurance. For Tiers 2 and 3 each utility may propose a cost-based standard application fee, plus a study charge at Tier 3, and insurance can be required up to $1 million at Tier 2 and $2 million at Tier 3.

Exports carry forward. Excess generation is credited to the next month's bill, credits build for up to 12 months, and at calendar year end any unused credit is paid at an average annual rate based on the utility's COG-1 as-available energy tariff.

What your own utility adds to the rule

FPL has customers apply online and pre-approves a system before it's installed. At Tier 1, which FPL defines as 10 kW AC or less, it signs the interconnection agreement within 30 calendar days of a complete application, and unused kWh still banked at the December meter reading become a credit on the December bill. Tampa Electric allows up to 30 calendar days from a complete application, requires a visible load-break manual disconnect, and credits excess generation at the current retail energy rate.

Duke Energy Florida is an investor-owned utility, so the Rule 25-6.065 tier limits apply to it. In its 2026 response to PSC staff, Duke reported processing 881 Tier 2 and Tier 3 applications in 2025 that paired a customer-owned generator with a battery, each with technical review and a field inspection.

City utilities set their own terms. OUC moved customers interconnected on or after July 1, 2025 to its Community Solar Energy Rate for five years, through June 30, 2030, then to its Retail Fuel Rate; it set a grace period through October 31, 2026, and from November 1, 2026 it retires the solar bank and credits exports straight to the account under TruNet Solar. OUC's page is partly ambiguous about which rate applies from that date, so read it before you sign. Lakeland Electric credits exports at its full retail rate for residential systems up to 10 kW, and JEA assigns a PV Billing Rate that compares the kWh it delivers with the kWh your system sends back.

Sales tax, the assessment and your association

Section 212.08(7)(hh) exempts solar energy systems and their components from sales and use tax, and the Florida Solar Energy Center certifies to the Department of Revenue the list of equipment that counts. The department's TIP 19A01-09, dated August 9, 2019, says sellers must document exempt sales and prints a suggested purchaser certification.

For residential property, section 193.624 says the just value of a renewable energy device (collectors, PV modules, inverters, storage, wiring and structural supports) isn't considered in the assessed value, for devices installed on or after January 1, 2013. The 80 percent exemption in section 196.182 is for devices that are tangible personal property, such as leased or nonresidential ones, and it isn't the rule for a home system you own.

Section 163.04 bars an ordinance or a deed restriction from prohibiting solar collectors, and an owner may not be denied permission to install them. The approving entity may still pick the roof location, within an orientation to the south or within 45 degrees east or west of due south, as long as that doesn't impair effective operation. Ask your association for its decision in writing.

The local permit, and price markers

Section 553.79, as the statute pages cited here read, has local permits carry "reasonable fees adopted by the enforcing agency" and has each agency post its application types and attachments online. Section 553.791 lets a private provider handle single-trade inspection or plan review for solar energy and energy storage installations. City rows vary widely, from Miami's full waiver of city building permit fees for solar to Lakeland's $72 and Spring Hill's $180, and the interconnection page lists them all.

Two outside figures help you read a quote. Berkeley Lab's 2026 Data Update charts the median installed price of host-owned residential PV installed in Florida in 2025 at about $3.1 per watt before incentives, a figure printed as a bar label on a chart. EIA puts the Florida average residential electricity price at 14.99 cents per kWh in August 2026, against 15.33 a year earlier; both are single months.

What can't wait with a solar system

What to have in hand before you compare quotes

1. Name your electric utility from the latest bill, since the PSC rule covers investor-owned utilities and OUC, Lakeland and JEA set their own terms.
2. Get each company's DBPR license number and category in writing and check it with DBPR.
3. Ask your association for its written rules on roof placement.

Your county or city permit, then the utility's sign-off

Your city or county issues the permit and your utility signs the interconnection agreement. Miami waives all city building permit fees for solar, though state and Miami-Dade County surcharges still apply; Lakeland prints $72; Spring Hill, in Hernando County, prints $180; Pompano Beach prints $260 per trade up to 10 kW.

Ask who files the utility application, since FPL pre-approves a system before installation.

Ask for the company's contractor license number and look it up with your state's licensing board before you sign.

Questions people ask

Keep reading

Guides

• Solar quotes: what to compare, and what to get in writing, before you sign
• The federal solar tax credit in 2026: what the IRS says and what it means for a quote
• Net metering, distributed generation and net billing: how each state credits the power you send out
• Solar leases, PPAs and loans: the questions to ask before you sign any of them

Related services

• Interconnection and permits
• Solar battery storage
• Ground-mount solar

Florida licensing, code and permit facts · Report a wrong price or rule