Community solar keeps losing in Tallahassee

I. What a shared-solar bill actually does

Community solar, also called shared solar, is a program that lets several customers subscribe to one off-site solar array (a solar farm you do not own and may never see) and take credits on their monthly bills for the power their share produces. It is built for the roughly half of households that cannot host panels: renters, condo owners, people with shaded or north-facing roofs, and anyone whose association forbids rooftop equipment.

The bills that keep dying in Tallahassee would go further than any current Florida program. They would let independent companies, not only the big utilities, build these arrays and sell subscriptions directly, the way a third-party developer can in states like Minnesota or Massachusetts. For a renter in Tampa, that is the difference between waiting for a utility to offer a plan and being able to choose one.

II. Who shows up to oppose them

Opposition comes most steadily from the investor-owned utilities that serve most of the state: Florida Power and Light, Duke Energy Florida, and Tampa Electric. Their argument is a cost-shift one. They say that when subscribers earn credits, the fixed costs of the poles, wires, and substations get spread across everyone else, so non-subscribers pay a little more. Solar advocates dispute the size of that effect, and the studies disagree depending on who commissions them.

In Tallahassee, the Public Service Commission, the state agency that regulates utility rates, does not write these laws; the Legislature does. That matters because a community-solar bill has to survive committees where utility lobbyists are well funded and well known. Session after session, the broad versions stall before a floor vote. The narrow, utility-run version is the one that made it through the Commission instead.

III. The narrow version that did pass

Instead of independent developers, Florida got utility-administered subscription programs approved by the Public Service Commission. Florida Power and Light runs SolarTogether, a subscription plan tied to a fleet of solar centers totaling on the order of 1,500 megawatts at last public report. Duke Energy Florida runs a similar program, Clean Energy Connection, on the order of 750 megawatts. You pay a subscription charge and receive a credit that, over time, is designed to exceed what you paid.

The catch is who the capacity serves. A large share of these programs was taken up front by big anchor subscribers: governments, school districts, and commercial customers that could commit to large blocks. Residential slots have been more limited, and the credit math rewards customers who stay enrolled for years. For a household that may move within a year or two, that is a real consideration, not a technicality.

IV. What it means for your bill

For an FPL or Duke residential customer, the practical question is whether a subscription nets out ahead over the years you expect to stay put. Both programs are structured so the bill credit grows over time and is meant to pass the amount you paid in after several years, but that depends on how long you subscribe and on future rates, neither of which is guaranteed. Read the enrollment terms before you sign, especially the part about what happens if you move.

Renters, and customers of cooperative or municipal utilities outside the big three, have thinner options still, because the utility programs are the only shared-solar game in the state and they do not cover every service territory. That gap is exactly what the failed bills were trying to close. Until one passes, the honest answer for many Floridians is that shared solar is not yet available to them.

V. Worth watching this session

1. Watch the prefiling of bills ahead of the 2026 regular legislative session, where a community-solar or shared-solar measure has reappeared most years and may again.

2. Track whether any new bill lets independent developers sell subscriptions, which is the line that has drawn the most utility opposition.

3. Watch the Public Service Commission docket pages for any proposed changes or expansions to the existing SolarTogether and Clean Energy Connection programs.

4. Note whether residential capacity, as opposed to large commercial blocks, opens up in those two utility programs, since that is what most households actually need.

5. Keep an eye on committee assignments, because a bill routed through an unfriendly committee is usually a bill already in trouble.

Is community solar legal in Florida right now?

Only in the narrow, utility-run form. Florida Power and Light and Duke Energy Florida offer subscription programs approved by the Public Service Commission, but there is no general law letting independent companies sell community-solar subscriptions statewide.

How is this different from rooftop solar and net metering?

Rooftop solar means panels you own on your own roof, and net metering is the credit your utility gives you for the excess power those panels send back to the grid. Community solar is for people who cannot or do not want to install their own panels; you subscribe to a share of an off-site array instead.

Will subscribing actually lower my bill?

It can, over time, but not instantly. Both utility programs charge a subscription and return a credit designed to exceed it after several years, so the benefit depends on how long you stay enrolled and on future rates.

Why do the broad bills keep failing?

The investor-owned utilities oppose letting third-party developers sell subscriptions, arguing it shifts grid costs onto non-subscribers. Those bills have repeatedly stalled in legislative committees rather than reaching a floor vote.

Can renters sign up?

Sometimes, if they are retail customers of a utility that offers a program and residential slots are open. Renters in cooperative or municipal territories, or in areas where slots are full, often cannot.