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Net Metering Program
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SECO Energy net metering in Florida

Sumter, Lake, Marion, Citrus, Hernando and Pasco.

Type
Cooperative
Accounts
230K

What they credit you

Wholesale rate

Published terms

SECO credits exported solar at wholesale, but its tariff defines that precisely and the gap is smaller than the word suggests. The Net Metering sheet credits excess kilowatt hours at the base cost of power in Schedule PCA plus that month’s wholesale power cost adjustment. Schedule PCA sets the base cost at 9.5 cents, and the same adjustment is added to the 11.94 cents you pay on the first 1,000 kWh, so the two move together and an exported unit is worth about 2.44 cents less than one you simply avoid buying. Above 1,000 kWh you pay 14.79 cents and the gap widens to about 5.29 cents.

Published terms · checked 2026-09-19 · source

Installers serving SECO Energy 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 SECO Energy 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 SECO Energy 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$107.20
$107.20
Minimum monthly bill$39.00
Still due$39.00
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 $107.20 to $0.00 at 9.71 cents per kilowatt hour. A fixed monthly charge of $39.00 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. SECO Energy, Rate Tariff, Schedule RS, Sixteenth Revised Sheet No. 9.0, effective 1 May 2025.

SECO Energy requirementRequired

Battery backup is mandatory
in SECO Energy territory.

SECO Energy 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 SECO Energy 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. SECO Energy sets its own limits. Ask SECO Energy 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 SECO Energy 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

Self consumption is still worth more than exporting, but by a couple of cents a kilowatt hour here rather than by the ten or more that the word wholesale implies elsewhere in Florida. The bigger number on a SECO bill is the fixed charge: $1.30 a day, which is $39.00 to $40.30 a month that no array removes. Work out the payback against that, and ask for the current wholesale power cost adjustment factor, because it sits on both sides of the comparison.

What SECO Energy 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
$1.30 a day, which is $39.00 to $40.30 a month
How it is set
Schedule RS states the Customer Charge as $1.30 per DAY, not per month, and the monthly minimum charge as "the daily Customer Charge times the number of days in the billing cycle". A 30 day cycle is $39.00 and a 31 day cycle is $40.30. Quoted by the day it reads like a small number; it is one of the highest residential fixed charges in Florida, and no amount of generation reduces it.

Schedule RS, Sixteenth Revised Sheet No. 9.0, effective 1 May 2025 · checked 2026-09-19 · source

Applying to SECO Energy

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

There is a fee at every size
Since 1 May 2024 every new solar interconnection application carries an interconnection application fee, and it varies by system size. There is no free tier here. FPL, Duke, TECO and FPUC cannot charge a Tier 1 customer this, because the state rule forbids it for investor owned utilities; SECO is a cooperative and that rule does not reach it.
Changing an existing system costs too
Applications for a modification to an already-approved system are also charged. Adding panels later is not free, so factor it in if you are planning to expand in stages.
No payment, no permission to operate
SECO states plainly that permission to operate will not be issued until all fees are paid. The system can be finished, inspected and sitting on your roof, and it stays off until the account is clear.
Five feet
Your disconnect switch must be within five feet of the meter, and your one-line diagram has to show that proximity. This is a more specific requirement than most Florida utilities publish, and it is a cheap thing to get wrong at install and an expensive one to move afterwards.
Photograph five things
SECO wants photos of the meter, the meter with the disconnect, the inverters and equipment, the panels, and the interconnection point. Have your installer take these on the day rather than making a second trip.
Your credit is SECO’s wholesale rate
SECO credits exported power at SECO’s wholesale rate, not the retail rate, and its explainer does not print the figure. Ask SECO for the current rate in writing before you size a system.
Insurance only above 10 kW
At 10 kW or less no proof of insurance is required. Above that SECO applies the same thresholds the state sets for the investor owned utilities, up to $1 million to 100 kW and up to $2 million above it.

From SECO Energy’s published guidelines · checked 2026-08-26 · source

SECO Energy net metering questions

Does SECO Energy offer one for one net metering?
No. SECO credits exported solar at wholesale, but its tariff defines that precisely and the gap is smaller than the word suggests. The Net Metering sheet credits excess kilowatt hours at the base cost of power in Schedule PCA plus that month’s wholesale power cost adjustment. Schedule PCA sets the base cost at 9.5 cents, and the same adjustment is added to the 11.94 cents you pay on the first 1,000 kWh, so the two move together and an exported unit is worth about 2.44 cents less than one you simply avoid buying. Above 1,000 kWh you pay 14.79 cents and the gap widens to about 5.29 cents.
What does SECO Energy pay for power sent back to the grid?
Wholesale rate.
Do I need a battery with SECO Energy?
Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because SECO Energy 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 SECO Energy territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
How do I find my SECO Energy bill?
Sign in at secoenergy.com or open the SECO app. Open Billing and payments, then Bill history. Download the latest statement. Or screenshot the summary page. If you cannot get to it, a rough guess at your average monthly amount is enough to start.
What is the catch with SECO Energy?
Self consumption is still worth more than exporting, but by a couple of cents a kilowatt hour here rather than by the ten or more that the word wholesale implies elsewhere in Florida. The bigger number on a SECO bill is the fixed charge: $1.30 a day, which is $39.00 to $40.30 a month that no array removes. Work out the payback against that, and ask for the current wholesale power cost adjustment factor, because it sits on both sides of the comparison.