Florida Solar Estimate

Municipal utility

Solar with Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU)

Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) members pay 16.6¢ per kWh and no demand charge; a typical home's solar pays back in about 17 years.

See the numbers for your address

At a glance

Energy rate
16.6¢/kWh
tiered by monthly use
Fixed charge
$17/mo
$17 minimum bill
Demand charge
None
every offset kWh saves the full rate
Net-metering limit
2000 kW AC
exports paid at wholesale

Residential schedule effective October 1, 2026; checked November 1, 2026. Sources.

What this means for solar

  • Power you use on site saves the full retail rate; power you export is credited at about 4.00¢ per kWh, well below retail, and credits offset energy charges only.
  • Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) has no residential demand charge, so every kWh solar offsets saves the full energy rate.
  • Systems up to 2000 kW AC qualify for net metering; above that, capacity would run without export credit.

A typical home: 1100 kWh a month, electric heat

Net-zero system
9.1 kW
1453 kWh per kW per year
Installed cost
as low as$19,599
up to $23,954
First-year savings
up to$1,094
at least $960
Payback
as low as15.3 yrs
15.3–20.1 yrs at 2.7%/yr

Best-case figures with the range shown; Florida's tax exemptions included. Production reference: Gainesville. Your roof, usage and heating change every number, which is what the estimate is for.

Full schedule and net-metering rules
Fixed charge
$17 per month; minimum bill $17
Energy
12.96¢ up to 1,000 kWh; 16.63¢ above that
Net metering
FY2026 fee schedule: 'Distributed Resources approved for interconnection by GRU shall be credited at a rate based upon the utility's avoided cost' (value unpublished; 4c is an estimate); admin fees Tier 1 (<=10 kW) none, Tier 2 (<=100 kW) $400, Tier 3 (<=2 MW) $1,000. Systems applied for before the GRU Authority's April 17 2024 resolution remain on full retail net metering.
Notes
Fuel adjustment changes monthly (2026: 0.040 Jan, 0.045 Feb, 0.050 Mar-Sep, 0.045 from Sep 29). Minimum bill = customer charge.
Effective
October 1, 2026; checked November 1, 2026

Questions members ask

Does Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) pay for excess solar power?
Power you use on site saves the full retail rate; power you export is credited at about 4.00¢ per kWh, well below retail, and credits offset energy charges only.
How big a solar system can I net-meter with Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU)?
Systems up to 2000 kW AC qualify for net metering.
Does Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) have a demand charge?
Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) has no residential demand charge, so every kWh solar offsets saves the full energy rate.
What would solar cost and save for a typical Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) home?
For a electrically heated home using about 1100 kWh a month, a net-zero system is about 9.1 kW, costs roughly $19,599 to $23,954 installed, saves $960 to $1,094 in the first year, and pays back in 15.3 to 20.1 years at 2.7% a year rate growth. Your address gives a real figure in about a minute.
What federal incentives apply in 2026?
Florida exempts solar equipment from sales tax and keeps the value it adds off your property-tax bill, and both are already in these figures. Business-owned systems, including rental property, qualify for the 30% federal investment credit (Section 48E) and bonus depreciation when placed in service by the end of 2027; tax-exempt owners receive the 30% as cash. Not tax advice.
Where do these numbers come from?
The rate figures are read from Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU)'s own published schedule and net-metering policy (linked under Sources), last checked November 1, 2026. The worked example runs the same engine as the estimator, using a production reference for Gainesville and Florida installed-cost data. If you spot an error, email us and we will correct it.

Service area

Tampa Electric (TECO)Florida Power & LightDuke Energy FloridaFlorida Public Utilities (FPUC)Kissimmee Utility Authority (KUA)Lake Worth Beach Electric UtilityLakeland ElectricLee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC)City Of LeesburgBaldwin County El Member CorpCity Of Moore HavenCity Of BartowCity Of Mount DoraNew Smyrna Beach Utilities CommissionCity Of NewberryOcala Electric UtilityPeace River Electric Cooperative (PRECO)Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC)City Of QuincyReedy Creek Improvement DistSouthern Pine Electric CooperativeCity Of StarkeSECO Energy (Sumter Electric Cooperative)Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative (SVEC)City of Tallahassee UtilitiesTalquin Electric CooperativeThree Notch Electric Member CorpCity Of BlountstownTri-County Electric Cooperative (Madison)Alabama PowerCity Of AlachuaCity Of WauchulaWest Florida Electric CooperativeCity Of WillistonWiregrass Electric CooperativeWithlacoochee River Electric Cooperative (WREC)City Of BushnellOkefenoke REMCCentral Florida Electric Cooperative (CFEC)City Of ChattahoocheeChoctawhatchee Electric Cooperative (CHELCO)Clay Electric CooperativeCity Of ClewistonColquitt Electric Membership CorpCovington Electric CooperativeCity of Winter Park Electric UtilityEscambia River Electric Cooperative (EREC)Florida Keys Electric Cooperative (FKEC)City Of Fort MeadeFort Pierce Utilities AuthorityGeorgia PowerGlades Electric CooperativeGrady Electric Membership CorpCity Of Green Cove SpringsGulf Coast Electric CooperativeHavana Power & Light CompanyCity Of HomesteadBeaches Energy Services (Jacksonville Beach)JEA (Jacksonville)Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU)
Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU)'s service territory (highlighted). Hover a region to see its utility.

Solar by city in Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU)'s area: Gainesville. All Florida cities.

Other Florida utilities: JEA (Jacksonville), Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC), Lakeland Electric, City of Tallahassee Utilities, Kissimmee Utility Authority (KUA), Ocala Electric Utility. All 34 utilities.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from the documents below. We print the schedule’s effective date and the date we last read it; when a utility publishes nothing, we say so instead of guessing quietly.

  1. Residential rate schedule: fixed charge, energy rate
    GRU FY2026 Adopted Utility Fees, Rates & Charges (unchanged for FY2027 per GRU 'Fiscal Year 2027 Rates' page, effective Oct 1 2026): customer charge $17.00; first 1,000 kWh $0.0846 total (incl. $0.0065 taxable fuel); over 1,000 kWh $0.1213; plus Fuel Adjustment $0.0450/kWh for Nov 2026 (Monthly Billing Factors) => $0.1296/$0.1663.
    Effective October 1, 2026 · Checked November 1, 2026 · Read from the primary source
  2. Net-metering / distributed-generation policy
    FY2026 fee schedule: 'Distributed Resources approved for interconnection by GRU shall be credited at a rate based upon the utility's avoided cost' (value unpublished; 4c is an estimate); admin fees Tier 1 (<=10 kW) none, Tier 2 (<=100 kW) $400, Tier 3 (<=2 MW) $1,000. Systems applied for before the GRU Authority's April 17 2024 resolution remain on full retail net metering.
    Checked November 1, 2026 · Not verified: placeholder figures
  3. Service territory on the map
    HIFLD Electric Retail Service Territories (U.S. DHS / Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Florida subset, 2020 vintage; boundaries are coarse at town edges
    Checked November 1, 2026 · Read from the primary source
  4. Worked example: production, installed cost, savings and payback
    Florida Solar Estimate engine: PVGIS-ERA5-based production reference for Gainesville (1453 kWh per kW per year after shading and soiling and orientation), installed-cost ladder (Florida cash-price range, Oct 2026), 2.7%/yr rate escalation and 0.5%/yr panel degradation
    Checked November 1, 2026 · Read from the primary source
  • Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU)'s net-metering terms are not published; the common Florida co-op pattern is assumed until confirmed.

Spot an error or a rate change? Email mtsolarestimate@gmail.com. How the estimate itself is built: methodology.

Your address, your numbers

Roof, usage and heating change everything above. The estimate takes about a minute and asks for no contact details.