Florida’s electric market looks more fragmented than most people expect once you actually check who serves a specific address, and in Central Florida specifically, that fragmentation now has real financial consequences if solar is part of the plan.
Short version: Florida’s electric market runs on three large investor-owned utilities, FPL, Duke Energy Florida, and TECO, plus roughly 33 municipal utilities and a handful of rural cooperatives. In Central Florida, Duke Energy Florida is the dominant investor-owned provider, but Orlando’s OUC and Kissimmee’s KUA are municipal utilities covering large chunks of Orange and Osceola counties, and municipal utilities aren’t bound by the state’s mandatory net metering rule for investor-owned utilities. KUA ended net metering entirely in 2023, and OUC has scaled it back significantly for new solar customers starting in 2025, meaningfully different outcomes than what a Duke Energy Florida customer gets.
Florida’s electric landscape, briefly
Three investor-owned utilities cover most of the state: Florida Power & Light (FPL), the largest, serving roughly 12 million people across eastern and southern Florida; Duke Energy Florida, serving central and northern Florida; and Tampa Electric (TECO), serving the Tampa Bay area. Beyond those three, roughly 33 municipal utilities, city-owned and governed by local commissions rather than the state Public Service Commission, serve about 14% of Florida’s population, including some of the state’s largest cities. Jacksonville’s JEA, Orlando’s OUC, and Gainesville Regional Utilities are all municipal, not investor-owned, several of them bundling electric with water and sewer into one account. Rural electric cooperatives fill in parts of the rest of the state.
Who actually serves Central Florida
Duke Energy Florida is the dominant investor-owned utility across most of Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, and Polk counties outside the municipal footprints. Within those footprints, it’s different: OUC (Orlando Utilities Commission), a municipally owned utility, serves the City of Orlando and parts of adjacent unincorporated Orange County, providing both electric and water on one combined bill. KUA (Kissimmee Utility Authority) serves Kissimmee and parts of Osceola County. SECO Energy, a member-owned cooperative, covers parts of Lake County. Lakeland Electric, another municipal utility, serves the city of Lakeland in Polk County. Confirm the actual provider for a specific address before assuming, moving a few miles can put you on a completely different utility with different rates and rules.
Net metering: the part that no longer works the same everywhere
This is the wrinkle that catches people off guard, and it matters more here than it used to. Florida Public Service Commission Rule 25-6.065 requires investor-owned utilities, FPL, Duke Energy Florida, and TECO, to offer full 1:1 retail-rate net metering for residential solar systems up to 2 MW, meaning every kilowatt-hour exported to the grid offsets one imported at the same price. That rule binds the state’s investor-owned utilities. It does not bind municipal utilities, which set their own net metering terms independently, and two of Central Florida’s own municipal utilities have already moved away from the traditional deal.
KUA ended net metering entirely in May 2023. OUC passed a program called TruNet Solar in late 2024: residential systems interconnected before June 30, 2025 stay grandfathered at the full retail rate for 20 years, through 2045, but systems interconnected after that date receive a reduced Community Solar Energy rate for five years before dropping further, a meaningfully worse deal than a Duke Energy Florida customer gets a few miles away under the state-mandated rule. If solar is part of a purchase or building decision in Orange or Osceola County specifically, confirm which utility actually serves the address and what its current net metering terms are before running the numbers, the answer genuinely isn’t the same across the county. For the fuller picture on solar economics generally, see solar panels in Florida, and for a deeper, independent walkthrough of costs and installer selection, E-Z Solar covers that ground in more detail.
Grid vs. off-grid: legal, but not unconditional
Florida doesn’t ban off-grid living outright, but it’s more regulated than people assume, and the regulation happens locally, not through one statewide rule. Where no utility service is available at all, going off-grid is straightforward. Where service is available, some jurisdictions have adopted the International Property Maintenance Code, which has real teeth here: a Cape Coral homeowner was penalized in 2020 for refusing to connect to available city utilities, and the ruling held that skipping an available connection violated the code. Orlando itself has adopted the same code, worth knowing if going fully off-grid inside city limits is part of a plan rather than building somewhere genuinely unserved. Regardless of electric grid status, every permanent residence still needs a septic permit through the county health department if it’s not on sewer, covered in sewer, septic, and drainage in Florida, and a private well follows its own separate permitting path, covered in wells and water lines in Florida. Going off-grid on electricity doesn’t exempt a property from any of the other utility-adjacent permitting that applies either way.
Reliability and storm hardening
All of Florida’s major utilities, investor-owned and municipal alike, operate under state-mandated storm protection plans requiring ongoing pole hardening and vegetation management, not just post-storm repair. After major hurricanes, utilities are permitted to recover restoration costs through temporary surcharges on customer bills, worth expecting as a normal part of the cost of living here rather than an unusual one-off charge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Currently, Duke Energy Florida, as an investor-owned utility, is required by state rule to offer full 1:1 retail-rate net metering. OUC, a municipal utility, has scaled back net metering for new customers since 2025 and isn’t bound by that same state rule.
No. Kissimmee Utility Authority ended net metering entirely in May 2023.
Yes, where no utility service is available. Where service is available, some jurisdictions, including Orlando, have adopted a property maintenance code that can require connecting to available utilities, a Cape Coral homeowner was penalized in 2020 for refusing to do so.
No. Investor-owned utilities like Duke Energy Florida, FPL, and TECO are regulated by the state Public Service Commission. Municipal utilities like OUC and KUA are governed by local city commissions and set many of their own policies, including net metering terms.
Check directly with the county or ask a local agent, since coverage areas can change within a few miles, especially near the edges of a municipal utility’s territory like OUC’s or KUA’s.
Sources:
https://www.ouc.com/solutions-programs/solar-programs/rooftop-solar/
https://www.cfpublic.org/environment/2024-11-06/skeptical-ouc-pricing-plan
https://legalclarity.org/can-you-live-off-the-grid-in-florida/
https://e-zsolar.com/