How Tampa Electric (TECO) handles home solar (net metering)
Tampa Electric credits the solar power your home sends to its grid under its net metering schedule, NM-1. In any month you send out more kilowatt-hours (kWh) than you take in, the extra kWh carry forward to the next month's bill. Credits left at the end of the calendar year are paid out at a separate rate, and TECO's sample net-meter bill says that money credit appears on your February statement.
This page is general information, not legal or financial advice. Tariffs and rules change, so confirm the details with Tampa Electric.
The rules behind it
The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) lists Tampa Electric as an investor-owned utility, so PSC Rule 25-6.065 applies. It requires investor-owned utilities to offer net metering to interconnected customer-owned renewable systems.
TECO's terms are Schedule NM-1 in Section 3 of its Retail Tariff Book: Fourth Revised Sheet No. 3.255 (effective January 1, 2022) and Original Sheets No. 3.260 and 3.265 (effective October 1, 2008), in the Section 3 PDF. It covers renewable systems up to 2,000 kilowatts, meant mainly for your own use, with a signed interconnection agreement. Moving into a home whose system TECO already approved? You sign an "Agreement Adopting Standard Interconnection Agreement".
How the monthly bill works
- The meter. TECO provides a two-way meter at its own expense, with no extra metering or billing charge (Sheet 3.260).
- Net use. Use more kWh from the grid than you send in a month, and you pay for the difference at your regular rate.
- Net export. Send more, and the extra kWh are credited against next month's use. TECO's Connecting Your Solar page says the credit is based on your current retail energy rate.
- Fixed charges. Credits count only against kWh. NM-1 says you still pay your rate's other charges, such as the basic service charge; Rule 25-6.065 says the same of the customer charge.
- Same address. Credits can't be used on a TECO account at another location, or for lighting service (Sheet 3.265).
On the bill, the "Total Used" column shows "kWh Delivered" from TECO and "kWh Received" from your panels. TECO's sample net-meter bill notes that the meter counts only what your panels send to the grid, not everything they produce.
The year-end payout
Under Sheet 3.260, net kWh exported in the calendar year's last monthly billing period are paid on a later bill at TECO's annual average COG-1 rate for the prior year. COG-1 is TECO's rate for buying as-available energy (Fourth Revised Sheet No. 8.020, effective June 19, 2012, in the Section 8 PDF). The sample bill puts this money credit on the February statement.
If you stop service with TECO, unused credits are paid on your final bill at the COG-1 rate.
The daily charge and minimum charge
TECO's standard residential rate, Schedule RS, has a Basic Service Charge of $0.45 per day, which is also its minimum charge (Thirty-Fourth Revised Sheet No. 6.030, effective January 1, 2026, in the Section 6 PDF). The fuel charge is normally adjusted each January (Eighth Revised Sheet No. 6.022, effective January 1, 2025), and TECO's rates page says it asked the PSC in September 2026 to approve new charges from January 2027.
Connecting a system: TECO's steps
TECO's Steps to Connect page says you apply once the system is installed; approval may take up to 30 calendar days from a completed application, subject to inspection. Tiers go by the system's AC rating:
- Tier 1, 10 kW or less: no application fee. TECO's Tier 1 agreement encourages liability insurance, but the PSC rule bars requiring it.
- Tier 2, over 10 kW to 100 kW: a $250 application fee and at least $1,000,000 of liability insurance, with proof each year (TECO).
- Tier 3, over 100 kW to 2 MW: a $500 fee, at least $2,000,000 of insurance, and possibly an interconnection study (TECO).
For inverter systems, the AC rating is the panels' total DC rating times 0.85. It may not exceed 90% of your electric service's rating unless you pay for an upgrade (Tier 1 agreement).
The steps:
- Complete your tier's agreement, with the inverter's instructions, a photo of the required outdoor disconnect switch beside the meter with its placard, and proof the local code authority approved the system. For Tier 1, TECO reimburses the switch, up to $320 single-phase or $395 three-phase (TECO).
- Apply online (solar, battery, or both) and pay any fee.
- TECO inspects, charging $37 if the inspection can't be completed for any reason, and for each re-inspection (TECO).
- If it passes, TECO fits the two-way meter if needed and emails the signed agreement to you and your contractor, saying the system is ready to operate.
Other TECO specifics
- Energy Planner. TECO says net metering does not support this program, so net-metered homes move to the standard residential rate (Connecting Your Solar).
- Sun Select. This shared solar rider is not available to NM-1 customers (Second Revised Sheet No. 3.300, effective January 1, 2025).
- Smart meter opt-out. The non-standard meter rider is not available to net-metered customers (First Revised Sheet No. 3.280, effective January 1, 2022).
- Batteries. A battery of 1 kW or more needs its own battery interconnection agreement (Substitute Original Sheet No. 8.1150, effective March 19, 2018). The battery must serve your own use, sending power to the grid only inadvertently, and needs liability insurance: at least $100,000 up to 15 kW AC, $1,000,000 above. What a battery can keep running in an outage depends on system design.
Is TECO your utility?
TECO says it serves 2,000 square miles of Hillsborough and parts of Pasco, Pinellas and Polk counties (service area). Your electric bill shows which utility serves you. The PSC's service-area map says its service areas are only approximations.
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