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Net Metering Program
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Clay Electric Cooperative net metering in Florida

Fourteen counties across north central Florida.

Type
Cooperative
Accounts
185K

What they credit you

Wholesale rate

Published terms

Clay enrolls new solar members in an avoided cost net billing program. Excess generation is bought back instantly at Clay’s current wholesale base rate rather than the retail rate you pay.

Month to month
Credits appear on the following bill.

Published terms · checked 2026-08-23 · source

Installers serving Clay Electric customers

Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.

Not sure which to choose?

These are real companies operating in Clay Electric territory. EPC Solar and Bold Energy are listed first because they are the companies we introduce first. Volt Home is listed last. That order is our choice, not a score. The other companies are ordered by reviews, years trading and BBB grade. None of them pays us for placement. Pick the one you want and we will call you to arrange it.

Ordering combines three things we read from primary sources: Google review count and rating, years trading taken from the company’s Better Business Bureau profile rather than its own marketing, and its BBB letter grade. BBB accreditation is shown but never scored, because it is a paid membership rather than a mark of quality.

Check any contractor license yourself at the state register. Do that before you sign anything, with any company, including ours.

What this looks like on a Clay Electric bill

An average Florida household, against a system sized to cover its year. The energy charge is the part that goes to zero. The fixed monthly charge underneath it is the part that never does, and it is the number that decides whether a system pays for itself.

Meter readingkWh
Energy charge$108.19
$108.19
Minimum monthly bill$37.00
Still due$37.00
DirectionReading…

Meter reading falling from 41926 to 41618 kilowatt hours. A 1,104 kilowatt hour month against 1,412 kilowatt hours produced leaves 0 kilowatt hours billed and 308 banked for next month, so the energy charge falls from $108.19 to $0.00 at 9.80 cents per kilowatt hour. A fixed monthly charge of $37.00 still applies and is not offset.

Florida average household use, 1,104 kWh a month, at this provider’s own published residential rate. The fixed charge is its minimum bill: it lands at zero kilowatt hours, so nothing you generate removes it. Clay Electric, Summary of Rate Schedules, Residential Rate Schedule R, effective 1 June 2025.

Clay Electric requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in Clay Electric territory.

Clay Electric does not credit the power you send back at the rate it charges you to take it.

That does not make solar a bad idea in Clay Electric territory. It changes what you should build. When exports are worth a fraction of retail the credit stops being the return, and the job becomes using more of your own production inside the house, which usually means a larger array than a one for one utility would need.

Sizing is where that gets decided, so ask about it directly. Florida’s state interconnection rule caps generation at 90% of your electrical distribution service rating and says nothing at all about your past usage, and it binds only the investor owned utilities. Clay Electric sets its own limits. Ask Clay Electric what it allows before you accept that a bigger system is off the table.

A battery then does two separate jobs. It moves daytime production into the evening so you use it instead of selling it, and it keeps the house running when the grid goes down. That second job is not a bonus. Panels on their own shut off in an outage, by design, so a roof full of them powers nothing during a storm. That is the part we will not refer around.

So we treat it as a requirement, not an upgrade. We will not refer you for a panels-only system in Clay Electric territory, and you should be skeptical of anyone who quotes you one without raising storage first.

Our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement

What your installer should be telling you

Systems interconnected before 1 May 2022 were grandfathered into the old banked net meter program until 2037. Clay also states that any grandfathered account which changes FOR ANY REASON loses that status and reverts to avoided cost net billing. It publishes a separate move-in packet and system upgrade form, so buying the house, changing the name on the account or adding panels are all changes. If you are buying a property with panels already on it, find out which program the account is on before you close, because it is worth real money and it does not survive carelessness.

What Clay Electric bills you anyway

In a month when your production covers everything you use, the energy charge can reach zero. This does not. It is the floor under every bill, and it is the number that decides whether a system pays for itself.

The charge
$37.00 a month
How it is set
Clay calls it a Monthly Access Charge rather than a customer or base charge, and on Rate Schedule R it is $37.00 a month, with energy at 8.20 cents for the first 1,000 kWh and 9.30 cents above that, plus the power cost adjustment and taxes. It is one of the highest residential fixed charges in Florida and nothing you generate reduces it.

Summary of Rate Schedules, Residential Service Rate Schedule R, effective 1 June 2025 · checked 2026-09-19 · source

Applying to Clay Electric

What Clay Electric itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.

The grandfathered rate is fragile
Pre-May-2022 systems hold the old banked program until 2037, but Clay says a grandfathered account that changes for any reason loses it and reverts to avoided cost. Selling, inheriting, changing the name on the bill or upgrading the array are all changes. Ask before you do any of them, not after.
A kilowatt hour you use as you make it is worth full retail
Clay’s own explainer is worth reading twice: if the system makes 5 kW and the house draws 5 kW, "your bi-directional net meter will stand still, offsetting at a 1 to 1 ratio", and neither register moves. The avoided cost rate only touches power that leaves the property. Because the meter settles instantly rather than monthly, what matters is matching production to load at the moment it happens, so a timer on the pool pump or the water heater is worth more here than in a territory that nets over a month, and it is the clearest case in Florida for storage.
Your exports are bought instantly, not banked
Under avoided cost net billing the excess is bought back instantly, at Clay’s current wholesale base rate, at the moment it is generated. There is no reserve building up at retail value to draw on later.
There is a $60 trip fee
Clay charges $60 to come out and install the net meter, and photographs the installation while it is there. Small, but it is real money nobody quotes you.
A stricter sizing test than the state uses
Clay allows up to 90 percent of your service entrance rating OR the cooperative’s transformer kVA rating at your location, whichever is LOWER. The investor owned utilities test against your service alone. A shared or older transformer can cap you well below what your own panel would allow.
20 kW and up needs approval before you install
Clay engineering evaluates the drawings first to decide whether the location can carry it safely. Installing and asking afterwards is not an available route at that size.
Clay will not upgrade the grid for you
It states outright that it will not upgrade the utility grid simply to accommodate an oversized system. If your plan needs more capacity than the local network has, the plan changes, not the network.
The disconnect has to be outside
A manual single-throw lockable disconnect between the inverter and your electrical service, located outside, accessible to Clay, and preferably next to the meter. Inside-mounted switches will not pass.
Insurance from 10 kW up
At 10 kW and above you need $1,000,000 active property and personal liability cover, and Tiers 2 and 3 must supply an actual copy of the policy rather than a declaration.

From Clay Electric’s published guidelines · checked 2026-08-26 · source

Clay Electric net metering questions

Does Clay Electric offer one for one net metering?
No. Clay enrolls new solar members in an avoided cost net billing program. Excess generation is bought back instantly at Clay’s current wholesale base rate rather than the retail rate you pay.
What does Clay Electric pay for power sent back to the grid?
Wholesale rate. Credits appear on the following bill.
Do I need a battery with Clay Electric?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Clay Electric does not credit exports one for one, the return has to come from using your own production rather than selling it, which after dark means storage and usually a larger array than a one for one utility would need. The other half is backup: panels alone shut off in an outage, so a battery is what keeps the house running in a storm. We do not refer panels-only systems in Clay Electric territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my Clay Electric bill?
Sign in at clayelectric.com or open the Clay Electric app. Open Billing, then Billing history. Download the most recent statement. A screenshot showing your total and kWh is fine. If you cannot get to it, a rough guess at your average monthly amount is enough to start.
What is the catch with Clay Electric?
Systems interconnected before 1 May 2022 were grandfathered into the old banked net meter program until 2037. Clay also states that any grandfathered account which changes FOR ANY REASON loses that status and reverts to avoided cost net billing. It publishes a separate move-in packet and system upgrade form, so buying the house, changing the name on the account or adding panels are all changes. If you are buying a property with panels already on it, find out which program the account is on before you close, because it is worth real money and it does not survive carelessness.