Community solar vs. subscription solar

What is community solar?

Community solar is a subscription to a share of a solar farm you'll never see and never own. A utility or developer builds a large array somewhere else, and subscribers get a monthly bill credit sized to their share of what it produces. No panels, no roof work, no equipment at your house at all.

It's a genuinely good product for the right person. The U.S. Department of Energybuilt the category specifically for people who can't put panels on their own roof: renters, condo owners, people with too much shade, people who move often, and anyone who just doesn't want to deal with equipment on their house. If that's you, community solar can be the right call, and a subscription to a rooftop system may not be a fit at all. See below.

What is subscription solar?

Subscription solar puts an actual rooftop system on your actual house. The provider owns, insures, and maintains it, and you pay monthly for the power it produces. It is a service contract, not a purchase. $0 down, no lien on your home, and your real commitment is 36 months inside a 10-year agreement.

The two products share one word, "subscription," and not much else. Community solar credits a slice of someone else's remote array against your existing utility bill; you keep buying power from the grid and get a discount. Subscription solar replaces most of that utility bill outright, because the power is coming from panels on your own roof. One is a discount on a bill you still get. The other is a different bill.

Why is a community solar price so much lower than a subscription quote?

Because they're not pricing the same thing. A community solar listing advertises the utility tariff credit on one slice of a remote farm. Duke Energy Florida's Clean Energy Connection charges a fixed $8.35 per kW of capacity, and community solar blocks around the country commonly list for about $5.36 a month. A subscription quote prices an entire rooftop system sized to your whole home's usage, so it's a bigger number for a bigger thing.

This is the trap. If you've been reading "subscription solar cost" results and anchored on a number like $5.36 a month or $8.35 per kW, a real rooftop quote, sized to replace most of a $200–$400 monthly bill, can read like a bait-and-switch. It isn't one. You were pricing a fractional utility credit; the quote in front of you is pricing a system. Same word, different product, different math. Naming that gap before you get a quote is the whole point of this page.

OUC's SunChoice program is a clean example of the same mechanic from a different angle: it charges 5.467¢/kWh on the portion of usage you subscribe to, replacing only the fuel-cost line on your bill rather than the bill itself. That's a fair price for what it is: a partial credit, not a power source.

Which one is right for you?

If you rent, own a condo, have a shaded roof, or expect to move again soon, community solar is probably the better fit, and there's nothing on your property to deal with at the sale. If you own a single-family home with decent sun and want to replace most of your bill rather than shave a slice off it, subscription solar is built for that instead.

Lean toward community solar if:

• You rent or don't control your roof.
• You own a condo or live in a multifamily building with no dedicated roof to subscribe.
• Your roof is heavily shaded, faces the wrong way, or needs replacing. A rooftop system won't pencil until that's fixed.
• You expect to move within a year or two and don't want anything tied to a specific address.
• You just want a smaller, no-hassle discount and aren't trying to replace your whole bill.

Lean toward subscription solar if:

• You own a single-family home, townhome, or mobile home with a roof that gets real sun.
• You want most of your utility bill replaced, not a partial credit on it.
• You'd rather the provider own, insure, and maintain the equipment than deal with it yourself.
• You're not planning to stay 20+ years. No lien and a 36-month exit make this the flexible option, not the risky one, if you might sell.

And the honest caveat that applies to both: if you're confident you're staying in the home 20+ years, have decent sun, and can pay cash, owning a system outright may beat either of these on lifetime cost. Run that math with your CPA before you subscribe to anything.

What community solar programs are Florida readers actually finding?

Three names, mostly: FPL SolarTogether, Duke Energy Florida's Clean Energy Connection, and OUC's SunChoice. All three are real, utility-run community solar programs approved by the Florida Public Service Commission, and if you searched your way here from one of them, you're not lost. You're just looking at a different product than the one this page is about.

FPL SolarTogether is the largest community solar program in the country: a voluntary subscription against FPL's own large-scale solar sites, with the fixed monthly charge disclosed once you start an application rather than on the public marketing page.Duke Energy Florida's Clean Energy Connection charges that fixed $8.35 per kW of subscribed capacity mentioned above. OUC's SunChoice works in 10% increments of your usage at 5.467¢/kWh. None of the three puts a panel on your roof, and none of them is what this site sells. See how subscription solar works for Florida homeownersfor the rooftop version, including the hurricane-insurance question community solar doesn't have to answer because it owns nothing on your property.

Community solar vs. subscription solar, side by side

The row worth sitting with is "how you save." Community solar discounts a bill you keep paying to your utility. Subscription solar becomes most of your electricity bill. Neither is better in the abstract, because they answer different questions. Seehow subscription solar actually works for the full mechanics, orwhether either structure puts a lien on your house(subscription solar doesn't; community solar, with no equipment on your property, never could).

Get your number

If you own the roof and want to see what a real subscription quote looks like for your home,run your bill through the estimator. It takes about a minute, and a real person follows up with exact figures. If you're renting, in a condo, or moving soon, community solar through your own utility is the better place to start. That is the honest answer, even though it isn't what this site sells.