The number published sources disagree about
Retail rate crediting means an exported kilowatt hour is worth what an imported one costs you. Fuel rate crediting means it is worth only the generation fuel component, which is a fraction of that, because the retail rate also covers wires, meters, staff and debt service.
Both descriptions of JEA are in circulation in current material. We are not going to pick one, because JEA is the authority on its own tariff and guessing would be worse than saying so.
What we can tell you is how much it matters. On a typical residential system the gap between full retail and a three to four cent fuel rate can change the payback period by many years, and it changes the right system size and the case for a battery at the same time.
So call JEA, ask what a new residential solar interconnection is credited at, ask whether the arrangement is called net metering or distributed generation, and ask for the answer in writing. Then check it against whatever figure your installer used.
Why the state rule will not settle it for you
Florida Administrative Code Rule 25-6.065 establishes net metering and interconnection rules for the state, and the substance of it applies to investor-owned electric utilities. Only the reporting requirements in subsection (10) also reach municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives.
JEA is a municipal utility, so the substantive requirements of that rule do not bind it. There is no state floor under your export credit and no regulator you can appeal a rate decision to.
This is why so much Florida solar content misleads in Jacksonville. Guidance about full retail net metering, monthly rollover and an annual true-up describes the investor-owned utilities, and a reader who does not notice the distinction will apply it to the wrong account.
It also means the terms can change by decision of the utility and its board rather than through a regulatory proceeding, as customers in Orlando found when OUC revised its residential solar compensation in 2025. Ask how long any rate you are quoted is guaranteed for.
The rebate, and whether it is still open
JEA has been reported as offering a residential solar rebate of $0.50 per watt up to a maximum of $4,000 per system, which on a mid sized installation is a meaningful contribution.
Treat that as a figure to verify rather than to budget on. Utility rebate programmes run to budgets and application windows, they close when funds are exhausted, and published third party summaries lag the utility own position.
Ask JEA whether the rebate is currently open, what the amount and cap are, whether funds remain for the current period, and what the application sequence is relative to installation. Some programmes require approval before work begins, and applying afterwards forfeits the money.
Ask your installer who submits the application and when. A rebate you qualified for and missed on a sequencing technicality is the same loss as one that was never offered.
The parts of the return that are actually firm
Self-consumption is firm. Electricity you use in the moment it is generated avoids a retail purchase at the full rate, and that is true whether JEA credits exports at retail or at a fuel rate. Under the fuel rate reading it becomes almost the entire return.
That makes the design advice the same under either answer, which is convenient: size against your daytime consumption rather than your annual total, and treat exports as upside rather than as the basis of the case.
It also raises the value of storage, because a battery converts a low value export into a high value avoided purchase. In a coastal city with hurricane exposure the resilience argument sits alongside the economic one.
Florida exempts the added value of a residential renewable energy source device from property tax and exempts equipment from sales tax. The 30 percent Section 25D federal credit expired for property placed in service after 31 December 2025, though Section 48E survives at 30 percent for third-party owners under a lease or PPA.