Duke vs FPL vs OUC: what an exported kilowatt-hour is actually worth

Central Florida is not one electric company. The I-4 corridor is a patchwork. City of Orlando and St. Cloud are mostly OUC. Large parts of Orange, Seminole, Lake, and west-central Florida are Duke Energy Florida. FPL covers other pockets (including parts of Osceola, Brevard, and the east side of the state). The panels on the roof do the same physics in all three. The bill does not.

If a salesperson quotes “Florida net metering” as if it were one program, they are selling a map they do not have. Open last month’s bill. The utility name is the article.

The legal split that actually matters

Duke and FPL are investor-owned utilities. The Florida Public Service Commission writes their interconnection and net-metering rule: Florida Administrative Code 25-6.065, sitting on top of Florida Statute 366.91. TECO is under the same rule. A 2022 bill (SB 1024) would have walked retail net metering down toward avoided cost. The governor vetoed it. As of September 2026 the PSC has not replaced 25-6.065 with a California-style export rate. Monthly extras still offset later months at retail. Year-end leftovers do not.

OUC is a municipal utility. The PSC rule does not bind it. OUC’s Board set TruNet Solar as part of PeakSHIFT. That is why a house in Winter Park (often Duke) and a house five miles south in Orlando (OUC) can get two different answers to “what is an exported kilowatt-hour worth?”

How 1-for-1 actually works (Duke and FPL)

A bidirectional meter at the service point counts kWh in and kWh out. Solar used instantly in the house never hits that meter. That is the best kWh you will ever make: it avoids a retail purchase, 1 for 1, no bank required.

What the meter sees as export is credited against what you pulled from the grid in the same billing cycle. If you exported more than you imported, the extra kWh become a reserve. Under Rule 25-6.065(8) those credits roll to later months for not more than 12 months. At the end of the calendar year, unused credits are paid at the utility’s COG-1 as-available (avoided-cost) energy rate, not at retail. FPL’s public FAQ says leftover kWh at the December read become a dollar credit at that COG-1 rate. Duke’s tariff language is the same statewide rule.

That is why oversizing is a trap. Spring production that covers August AC is valuable. A pile of unused kWh on December 31 is sold wholesale. Design to annual kilowatt-hours, not to a salesman who wants a bigger array.

Tiers are paperwork, not a different credit rate:

• Tier 1: 10 kW AC or less. Typical house. Simplest interconnection. Meter at no extra charge.
• Tier 2: above 10 kW through 100 kW. Fees, insurance, extra gear.
• Tier 3: above 100 kW through 2 MW.

FPL also states, in its published guidelines, that estimated production must be less than 115% of the account’s annual kWh. They size the AC rating for tiering as DC times 0.85. Duke follows the statewide tiers. Confirm the current interconnection packet before you sign. The 115% cap is an FPL guideline, not a Duke slogan, and not an OUC slogan.

What still sits on the bill

Net metering offsets energy. It does not erase the utility.

FPL (RS-1, rates in the September 2026 residential insert). Base charge $10.52 per month. Inclining block: cheaper first 1,000 kWh, a cent more above that, plus fuel and a stack of riders (storm protection, environmental, conservation, capacity, plus temporary credits and refunds that move). All-in volumetric in late 2026 is roughly 11-13 cents per kWh depending on the block and which riders are live that month. Read the insert, not a 2024 blog. The floor that solar does not kill: a $30 minimum base bill. If energy charges after credits fall below $30, FPL adds a minimum-base-bill line to get there. Taxes and franchise fees sit on top. A “zero electric bill” pitch on FPL is false. You are buying a lower volumetric bill and a remaining $30-plus floor.

Duke Energy Florida (RS-1, effective June 1, 2026). Customer charge $14.35. Non-fuel energy is seasonal: December-February first 1,000 kWh at 8.754 cents, extra at 10.242; March-November first 1,000 at 7.686, extra at 8.453. Fuel and other BA-1 riders stack on top (fuel in a mid-2026 notice was about 3.465 cents on the first 1,000 kWh, higher above that). All-in volumetric commonly lands in the low-to-mid teens of cents once riders are included, plus the $14.35 that does not net away. Duke does not copy FPL’s $30 minimum base bill. The customer charge still survives a fully offset month. Rule 25-6.065 says so in plain language: you keep paying the applicable customer charge.

Those cents move. Fuel clauses change. Storm riders come and go. Quote the current tariff sheet, not this paragraph, when you sign a 25-year loan.

OUC: TruNet is a different machine

OUC still lets you interconnect. Solar you use on site still avoids a retail purchase. The fight is the export.

Grandfathered (complete interconnection application in by June 30, 2025). Full retail export credit through June 30, 2045. OUC has been quoting about 10.7 cents per kWh for that residential retail credit. Sell the house after June 30, 2025 and the new account holder is not grandfathered. The panels stay. The rate class does not automatically travel with the roof.

New (application July 1, 2025 or later). Temporary full retail through October 31, 2026 (OUC’s published grace). After that, exported kWh are credited at the Community Solar Energy rate through June 30, 2030 (OUC has quoted about 4.6 cents), then at the retail levelized fuel rate (OUC has quoted about 3.8 cents). Those two numbers will move with OUC’s published community-solar and fuel rates. The structure will not magically become 1-for-1 again unless the Board says so.

Billing is changing with the grace. Before the fall 2026 TruNet billing cutover, OUC still nets kWh and can park a dollar value in a solar bank, with true-ups (including a second true-up before the new billing). After the cutover, OUC says excess is credited in the same billing period as a dollar credit. No kWh piggy bank to carry August into January. That is net billing, not classic net metering, even if the website still says “net metering” in the nav.

OUC also warns, correctly, that the monitoring app’s kWh is total generation. The bill line “customer-supplied” is export only. If the app says 1,000 kWh and the bill says 400 kWh customer-supplied, 600 kWh never left the house. That 600 kWh was the valuable part. After October 2026, it is the only part worth retail on a new OUC account.

PeakSHIFT’s DemandLevel (tiered monthly charge tied to peak draw, discussed as $5 / $10 / $15 in OUC materials, with a lower volumetric energy price) is a separate bill redesign. It is not TruNet, but a solar-plus-battery house that clips its peak will care about both. Confirm the live PeakSHIFT calendar on OUC’s site. Program dates have slipped before.

OUC interconnection fees: Tier 1 (0-10 kW) no fee; Tier 2 $340; Tier 3 $1,300, per OUC’s rooftop page. Insurance proof for Tier 2 and 3.

Side by side

	Duke Energy Florida	FPL	OUC
Who writes the rule	PSC Rule 25-6.065	PSC Rule 25-6.065	OUC Board (TruNet / PeakSHIFT)
Export, monthly	1-for-1 kWh at retail	1-for-1 kWh at retail	Grace: retail through Oct 31, 2026. Then $ credit at community-solar rate, then fuel rate
Year-end leftover	Paid at COG-1 avoided cost	December read, paid at COG-1	After cutover: no kWh bank. Monthly $ credit
Self-consumed solar	Full retail avoided	Full retail avoided	Full retail avoided (this does not change)
Fixed / floor	$14.35 customer charge (June 2026 RS-1)	$10.52 base + $30 minimum base bill	Customer / DemandLevel charges. Credits do not erase them
Size limit to know	Statewide tiers to 2 MW	Estimated production under 115% of annual kWh; same tiers	Size to the house’s need. Export is cheap after grace
Battery logic	Backup and TOU, not required for the credit	Backup and TOU, not required for the credit	After grace, a battery that raises self-use is doing real math
If you sell the house	Interconnection stays with the premise under the IOU rule. Buyer still under 25-6.065	Same idea. Transfer the account and PTO paperwork	Post-June 30, 2025 buyer is not grandfathered

What this does to a quote

On Duke or FPL, a well-sized rooftop that matches last year’s kWh is still a bill-offset machine. Spring extras cover summer AC at retail. Do not build a 20 kW monument on a 10,000 kWh house so someone can brag about “production.” The December COG-1 check is not a retirement plan. FPL’s 115% cap is the utility saying the same thing with a number.

On new OUC, the quote has to show two columns: kWh used in the house, kWh exported. After October 31, 2026 the second column is a 4-ish-cent product, then a 3-ish-cent product. Lunchtime export while the house is empty is the hole. A modest array, occupancy that uses power midday, a heat-pump water heater on a timer, or a battery that holds the afternoon for evening AC will beat a giant grid-dump. OUC’s own battery rebate, if you take it, currently requires giving up the TruNet full-retail export rate. Read that trade before you grab the rebate.

Payback stories that ignore the utility are fiction. An OUC number copied from an FPL neighbor is worse fiction.

Interconnection is not the credit

Permission to operate is a separate file: application, signed interconnection, AHJ permit, inspection, utility meter, PTO letter. Duke and FPL install the bidirectional meter at no extra cost under the rule. Do not throw the main breaker on until PTO is in writing. The credit math does not start because the installer left a glossy.

If the installer later disappears, the interconnection is still between you and the utility. That is a different article on this site. The meter does not care who bolted the rails.

How to read the next quote

1. Utility name on the bill. Not “Central Florida.”
2. For OUC: application date versus June 30, 2025, and whether you are still in the October 31, 2026 grace.
3. For FPL: 115% of your actual 12-month kWh, not a summer bill times 12.
4. Annual kWh versus system kWh. Leftover kWh at year-end are cheap on Duke and FPL. After grace they are cheap every month on new OUC.
5. Fixed charges after solar: FPL $30 floor, Duke $14.35 customer charge, OUC’s customer / DemandLevel line. Subtract those from any “your bill will be $0” sentence.
6. App kWh versus bill kWh. Especially OUC.

The sun is the same. The tariff is not. Duke and FPL in 2026 still pay retail for a banked kilowatt-hour inside the year. OUC, for a new array after the grace, pays retail only for the kilowatt-hour you actually used before it crossed the meter. That is the whole comparison. Everything else is riders, dates, and whether someone read the bill.