Florida net metering

The PSC rule and who it covers

Florida net metering for investor-owned utilities rests on Public Service Commission Rule 25-6.065, Florida Administrative Code, whose stated purpose is to promote small customer-owned renewable generation, particularly solar and wind. Per the DSIRE summary for Florida, House Bill 7135 in 2008 required the PSC to adopt rules for investor-owned utilities for systems up to 2 MW, and required municipal utilities and cooperatives to offer net metering without stipulating standards.

That split decides the terms at an address: the rule text below for investor-owned customers, and a locally set program for municipal and cooperative customers. DSIRE also records that Florida law does not allow third-party power purchase agreements.

Three tiers, three different treatments

The PSC rule states that expedited interconnection requires a rating no more than 90 percent of the customer's utility distribution service rating, in one of three tiers: Tier 1, 10 kW or less; Tier 2, greater than 10 kW to 100 kW; Tier 3, greater than 100 kW to 2 MW. For inverter-based systems, gross rating is the DC nameplate total multiplied by 0.85, so tier follows that AC figure.

Treatment follows tier. Tier 1 customers shall not be charged fees beyond those charged to other retail customers, including application fees, per the rule. Utilities may propose an application fee for Tiers 2 and 3, and a study charge for Tier 3, with Commission approval. Liability cover is capped at no more than $1 million for Tier 2 and $2 million for Tier 3, and the utility shall not require liability insurance for Tier 1. Inverter-based Tier 1 systems are exempt from the manual disconnect switch requirement unless the utility installs the switch at its own expense.

Monthly rollover and the annual true-up

Each investor-owned utility must install, at no additional cost, metering at the point of delivery measuring the difference between electricity supplied to the customer and electricity delivered to the grid, read monthly. Excess generation in a billing cycle is credited to consumption in the next month's cycle, per the rule. Those kilowatt-hour credits, not dollar credits, are what roll forward.

The rule states that credits accumulate for not more than twelve months. At the end of each calendar year, the utility shall pay for unused credits at an average annual rate based on its COG-1, as-available energy tariff, and the same basis applies when a customer leaves the system. The customer still pays the applicable customer charge and any demand charge, and retains any renewable energy certificates from the system.

Municipal terms and the vetoed 2022 phase-down

Municipal and cooperative customers were required to be offered net metering by the 2008 law, but without the PSC standards, so their credit, rollover and payout are local terms, not Rule 25-6.065. House Bill 741 in 2022 would have changed the investor-owned terms instead: as documented in summaries of the bill, new customers would have been credited at 75 percent in 2024 and 2025, 60 percent in 2026, and 50 percent in 2027 and 2028, then at avoided cost from 2029. Governor DeSantis vetoed it on April 27, 2022, so that phase-down never became law and the rule above remains the terms to verify in the current tariff.