Kissimmee, FL Solar Panels

Florida’s Property Tax Exemption for renewable energy systems ensures that installing solar panels or other qualifying equipment won’t increase your property taxes. When you add a solar energy system to your home, the property appraiser excludes 100% of the added value from your property’s assessed value for tax purposes. This means you get all the benefits of a valuable home improvement without paying higher property taxes on that investment.

For residential properties, the exemption applies to solar equipment installed on or after January 1, 2013, and continues through December 31, 2037. The exemption covers solar panels, inverters, batteries, mounting equipment, and other essential components that are part of your solar system. However, it doesn’t include backup systems or equipment that would exist regardless of the solar installation. There are no income requirements or application fees—the exemption automatically applies when your property is assessed, helping you maximize your savings from going solar.

Florida’s Sales Tax Exemption eliminates the state’s sales tax on solar energy systems and all their components. This means when you purchase solar panels, inverters, batteries, mounting equipment, and other essential solar hardware, you won’t pay Florida’s sales tax (typically 6% plus any local option taxes). For a typical residential solar installation costing $25,000, this exemption saves you approximately $1,500 or more at the time of purchase.

This exemption applies to both solar electric (photovoltaic) systems and solar thermal systems used for water heating or space heating and cooling. All equipment that’s integral to collecting, converting, storing, or using solar energy qualifies—including solar panels, inverters, batteries, charge controllers, mounting hardware, wiring specific to the solar system, and even pool blankets when used as passive solar collectors. Your solar installer will handle the exemption documentation at the point of sale by having you certify that the equipment is being used exclusively in a solar energy system.

There are no income requirements, system size limits, or application deadlines for this exemption—it’s available to all Florida residents purchasing qualifying solar equipment. However, the exemption doesn’t apply to standard household wiring that would exist regardless of the solar system, or to products where solar components are built into other items (like solar calculators) without a separate cost breakdown. Your solar provider should automatically apply this exemption to your purchase, reducing your upfront investment in clean energy.

Net metering in Florida allows homeowners with solar panels to receive credits for excess electricity their system produces and sends back to the grid. When your solar panels generate more power than your home uses, the extra energy flows to the utility grid, and you receive credits on your electric bill. These credits offset the cost of electricity you draw from the grid when your panels aren’t producing enough power, such as at night or on cloudy days.

The specific benefits vary by utility company. Most Florida utilities offer 1:1 net metering, meaning you receive a credit equal to the full retail rate for each kilowatt-hour (kWh) you send to the grid. These credits typically roll over month to month throughout the year. However, during an annual true-up period (usually in December), any remaining excess credits are either paid out at a lower rate (typically 1.5 to 3 cents per kWh) or at the full retail rate, depending on your utility. Some utilities like FPL, Duke Energy, and FPL North have implemented minimum monthly bills ranging from $25 to $30.

A few Florida utilities use net billing instead of traditional net metering. With net billing, excess energy is credited at a lower export rate rather than the full retail rate. For example, Kissimmee Utility Authority credits exports at approximately 8-9 cents per kWh, while Jacksonville Electric Utility uses a variable monthly fuel rate that has averaged 3-8 cents per kWh. These credits are applied to your current month’s bill first, with any remaining balance typically carrying forward.

Net metering is generally available to residential solar customers, though each utility has its own interconnection requirements and application process. Some utilities require customers to switch to specific rate plans, such as Lakeland Electric’s demand pricing structure. It’s important to understand your specific utility’s net metering policy before installing solar, as the rules significantly impact your potential savings and payback period.