Solar Panels in Florida: 2026 Cost, Incentives & Savings

• Cash

  $3.00/W

  $23,100

  Subset classified as cash

• Middle published case

  $3.60/W

  $27,720

  All host-owned systems

• Loan

  $4.50/W

  $34,650

  Financed subset, before interest

Before incentives. A loan price here excludes interest. The federal residential credit under section 25D ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025. Berkeley Lab, U.S. Distributed Solar and Storage, August 2026 data update.

How to read Florida

Florida households use a lot of electricity for cooling, and the 2025 EIA residential average was 15.21 cents per kWh. That is a statewide blend, not a Tampa Electric or FPL rate. The solar resource is stronger than in the Northeast and weaker than in the Arizona desert. Hurricanes, insurance, and the age of the roof decide as many projects as the bill does.

Utilities

Investor-owned utilities include Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy Florida, and Tampa Electric. Municipal utilities include JEA in Jacksonville, OUC in Orlando, Lakeland Electric, Gainesville Regional Utilities, and the City of Tallahassee. A suburb can sit on a different company than the city next door. The name on the bill is the one that matters for export credits.

Export credits and tariffs

Florida does not have one export credit for every utility. Investor-owned riders and municipal tariffs diverge, and they change. This page does not quote a credit in cents. Ask the installer to name the rider and to show it on the utility site. Do not treat a national 'one-for-one' assumption as Florida's rule.

Climate and roofs

Afternoon thunderstorms, humidity, and hurricane season are the local production and construction issues. Heat lowers module output relative to the nameplate rating. Wind design is a Florida Building Code question and it is stricter in coastal counties than inland. A system is not a storm shelter and it is not a promise that an insurer will ignore the roof.

Cities

• Tampa

  TECO serves most of the city, with a humid subtropical roof and real hurricane exposure on the bay.

• St. Petersburg

  A peninsula city on Duke Energy Florida, with older roofs, live oaks, and storm exposure on three sides.

• Clearwater

  Duke Energy Florida again, with barrier-island roofs that see more wind and salt than inland Pinellas.

• Orlando

  OUC inside much of the city, Duke in a lot of the suburbs, and inland storm patterns rather than beach wind.

• Lakeland

  A municipal utility, Lakeland Electric, between Tampa and Orlando, with less beach exposure and its own tariff.

• Jacksonville

  JEA, a municipal utility, in a large northern Florida city with a slightly softer solar resource than South Florida.

• Miami

  FPL, a strong solar resource, and a housing stock full of tile roofs, condos, and hurricane exposure.

• Fort Lauderdale

  FPL in Broward, canal-front houses, tile roofs, and the same coastal insurance pressure as Miami with a different city government.

• West Palm Beach

  FPL in Palm Beach County, a strong resource, and a split between coastal houses and inland suburban roofs.

• Fort Myers

  FPL in Lee County, a Gulf Coast wind and insurance market, and a lot of single-story retirement housing.

• Sarasota

  FPL on the southern Gulf coast, with barrier-island limits and a strong sun resource.

• Tallahassee

  A municipal utility in the Panhandle, with a softer resource than South Florida and a real tree canopy.