Florida is widely known as “The Sunshine State” (and for good reason). Florida is in the top five sunniest states in the nation, right up there with Arizona, California and Hawaii. That being said, it’s no wonder why Florida’s incentives to go solar are some of the best in the U.S.
Both Duke Energy and Florida Power & Light (FPL) offer net metering programs for residential solar owners. Net metering allows homeowners to sell the excess energy created and stored by their PV system back to the utility companies.
In addition to attractive net metering incentives, solar is also exempt from property tax. That’s right, instead of property taxes increasing (as one might assume since value is being added to the home), homeowners will actually pay no more in taxes after the installation of their solar panel system. But Florida takes the tax incentives one step further by exempting solar panel systems from sales tax saving homeowners an additional six percent on their system.
Nicki Zvik, Founder of Green Solar Technologies, a solar panel distribution company headquartered in Southern California, states, “At GST we love seeing states like Florida go above and beyond to encourage the use of solar energy. Not only is solar more environmentally friendly, but with advancing technology and statewide incentives, solar has become far more affordable than fossil fuels.”
All of these incentives specific to Florida are made even better by the Federal Solar Tax Credit also known as the Investment Tax Credit (ITC). Homeowners who install their solar panel system up until the end of 2019 will receive a tax credit of 30 percent meaning that they will receive 30 percent of what they paid for their system back on their taxes next season. This is the last year to take advantage of this generous tax credit before the percentage decreases.
For homeowners who install in 2020, the ITC will drop to 26 percent, followed by a drop to 21 percent in 2021, and after 2021 it will officially drop to 10 percent for commercial systems and zero percent for homeowners.
Because the ITC will eventually drop off, 2019 is currently the best time for anybody who’s been considering solar to make the switch.
Nicki Zvik adds, “The ITC plus Florida’s tax incentives plus Florida’s net metering incentives adds up to incredible savings on a system that will continue to help homeowners save for many years and even decades. Hopefully Florida’s efforts can help to set the standard for the rest of the nation.”