Top Tier — Florida Battery Sales Reference

LCEC (Lee County Electric Cooperative) · Cape Coral, Sanibel & Southwest Florida

Sales reference for reps working LCEC territory. This is the deep reference — how to sell it up top, full utility detail below. LCEC is a member-owned cooperative serving roughly 235,000 members across Cape Coral, North Fort Myers, Sanibel, Marco Island, and Immokalee — the territory Hurricane Ian hit head-on. Ian took out 214,208 LCEC meters — more than 90% of the entire system — with weeks-long restoration on the islands. That is the strongest resilience anchor anywhere we sell, and it IS the LCEC pitch. The export picture here is honest and mild: LCEC still nets monthly kWh-for-kWh with a rolling bank, and only the December residual cashes out at avoided cost — so this is NOT a spread market and we never pretend it is. What solar customers do get is a separate NEM rate (a flat 8.21 cents that trades away the inverted block, plus $2.22 a month) and an interconnection gotcha worth knowing cold: when a home sells, the new owner must re-sign AND re-pay the interconnection fees. The battery here is hurricane armor first, a rate hedge second, and a takeover.

What kind of market this is

LCEC is a mildly exposed, resilience-first co-op market — Ian took down 90% of this system, and that is the pitch. The battery is hurricane armor, a rate hedge, and a takeover — never a spread story. Five defining facts:

1. Ian is the anchor — the strongest in our entire book. September 2022, direct landfall: 214,208 LCEC meters out — more than 90% of the system. Cape Coral alone: ~94,000. North Fort Myers: ~55,000. The Sanibel causeway was destroyed; island restoration ran weeks. Irma (2017) had already taken ~170,000 (~70%). Every LCEC member has lived this.
2. The export picture is mild — and we say so. LCEC's rider nets monthly kWh-for-kWh, excess rolls forward as a kWh bank, and only the December residual cashes out at avoided cost (¢ unpublished — confirm in the tool). No sunset, no cliff, no grandfather drama. Exposure is limited to annual over-generation — this is NOT a spread market, and running spread panic here is manufacturing urgency.
3. Solar customers take a separate NEM rate — carry both structures. Interconnecting moves the member to a flat 8.21¢ energy rate (+$2.22/mo), trading away the standard inverted-block rate (11.29/12.06/12.82¢ + PCA, ~14.7¢ at 1,000 kWh by LCEC's own example). For most solar homes the flat rate is fine-to-mild; the tool models the actual switch, and the rep explains it plainly instead of hiding it.
4. The sale gotcha: when the home sells, the new owner must re-sign the interconnection agreement AND re-pay the fees ($35/$1,000/$1,000 tiered). Not a cliff — the netting itself continues — but a real-dollar surprise a listing agent won't know. We tell customers first.
5. LCEC is member-owned — respect that. More than $350 million in capital credits returned. Co-ops set their own rules (the PSC's NEM rule doesn't bind LCEC) — and this one's rules are genuinely reasonable. The pitch is Ian and the rate math, never the co-op's character.

Your lead is Ian. Full stop. No customer in America needs the resilience case explained less than someone who watched 90% of their utility go dark and the causeway wash out. The rate story supports (the hedge on ~14.7¢ power, the NEM-rate mechanics told straight); the export story is deliberately quiet because the exposure is genuinely mild. Sell the armor; the math rides along.

Default configuration: backup-capable is the strong default — this is hurricane country.

• Backup-capable: $18,500 cash / $23,942 financed / ~$228/mo
• Self-consumption-only: $17,000 cash / $22,068 financed / ~$210/mo

Confirm pricing and configuration in the tool before quoting.

PART A — The Pitch (Problem → Solution → Urgency → Close)

The spine is multiple beats per section: customer headline + statement + rep layer (+ objection where noted). Beats marked (BACKUP ONLY) render only for backup config; beats with Self-consumption:/Backup: branches swap the customer line by config.

The Problem

Your rates climbed with everyone's — and your solar rate has its own fine print. LCEC power runs about fourteen and a half cents all-in on the standard rate — and as a solar member you're on (or moving to) the NEM rate: a flat 8.21 cents per kilowatt-hour plus $2.22 a month, instead of the tiered blocks. For most solar homes that trade is fine — and it's a trade, and you deserve to see both sides of it in your numbers.

Rep layer: The LCEC opener — rate reality with the NEM-rate switch told straight: standard residential = tiered 11.29/12.06/12.82¢ + PCA 1.035¢ (~14.7¢ @1,000 kWh — LCEC's own published example; customer charge $20.00/mo) vs the solar NEM rate = flat 8.21¢ + $2.22/mo. The tool models the customer's actual structure — show both, hide nothing. HONESTY GATE: do NOT run a spread pitch here — monthly kWh netting with a rolling bank means exports offset retail within the year; only the December residual cashes at avoided cost (¢ unpublished — confirm in tool). The exposure is annual over-generation only, and saying so plainly is the credibility that carries the Ian pitch. Objection — "My solar covers my bill." Within the year, largely yes — and it covers exactly nothing when the grid is gone, which in this territory is not a hypothetical.

Your system is orphaned. Whoever installed your solar is likely gone, merged, or unreachable — especially after so many installers folded when the federal tax credit expired at the end of 2025. If something goes wrong, there's no one accountable. You own the system and the risk.

Rep layer: Standard orphaned-system beat. Ask who installed it and whether they'd answer a service call. Objection — "My installer's still around." Would they answer within a week, and cover it?

Your inverter is on the clock. Your inverter is several years old. When it fails out of warranty, that's about $3,500 to $5,000 out of pocket — and your system produces nothing until it's replaced, typically 4 to 8 weeks.

Rep layer: Standard inverter beat. SolarEdge ~12-yr warranty, real failure 8–15 yrs; Enphase 25-yr, real issues 10–20. Objection — "Still under warranty." Good — until it isn't, and then it's $3,500–5,000.

(BACKUP ONLY) You lived Ian. Your solar was off the whole time. Anti-islanding is a safety cutoff: in an outage, your panels produce nothing — even under a clear post-storm sky. Ian took out 214,208 LCEC meters — more than ninety percent of this system — and the islands waited weeks. Every one of those solar roofs sat dead in full sun. A battery is the difference: it keeps your critical systems running, and with sun, it recharges through even a weeks-long restoration.

Rep layer: Renders ONLY for backup config — and at LCEC this is THE beat. Anchors (all documented): Ian 2022 direct landfall — 214,208 out (>90% of system; Cape Coral ~94K; N. Fort Myers ~55K; Sanibel causeway destroyed, island restoration in weeks); Irma 2017 — ~170K (~70%). Two system-wide events in five years. The dead-solar-roof image is the honest core: grid-tied panels produced nothing through the entire Ian restoration. No embellishment needed — understatement sells here because every customer's memory outruns any pitch.

The Solution

A battery is the part of your system that works when Ian comes back. Stores your daytime solar and serves your home with it — every ordinary night as a rate hedge, and through the next restoration as the only power on your street.

• Self-consumption: "Your battery leans on your own stored solar instead of buying at the co-op's rate — a hedge that works every night."
• Backup: "Hedges the climb the same way — and it's the difference between a hurricane outage and a hurricane inconvenience."

Monthly Cost Chart and Net Bill Breakdown render here.

Rep layer: First cure beat. LCEC's monthly netting + bank means the mechanism is "self-supply as rate hedge + December-residual capture," NOT a spread play — the bill-savings case here is honest but modest, and the guide says so; resilience carries the sale. Modeling: the tool carries both rate structures (NEM flat 8.21¢+$2.22 vs standard tiered) and the December avoided-cost residual (¢ unpublished — placeholder). No LCEC battery program — the value is armor + hedge + takeover, not income.

(BACKUP ONLY) It keeps your home running when the grid goes down. Powers your essentials — refrigerator, A/C circulation, well pump, medical devices, connectivity — through an outage, and with Florida sun, recharges to carry you through a multi-day restoration.

Rep layer: The resilience cure beat. Size expectations honestly (essentials, not necessarily whole-home indefinite; A/C load management matters in Florida heat — set expectations on cooling honestly).

We take it over. Top Tier becomes the single point of contact for your entire system — a new 10-year workmanship warranty, the 5-year Align Solar Protection contract ($0 deductible, non-transferable), and manufacturer warranty coordination.

Rep layer: Answers the orphaned-system problem. Transfers: workmanship with written consent; Align non-transferable; manufacturer per OEM terms.

Thousands you don't pay. The $11K+ Hidden Costs Avoided bundle — built into the takeover, not sold as extras.

Rep layer: Reframes total cost. "Your payment buys the battery plus warranty plus service plus inverter-replacement coverage — over $11K of value."

And your netting stays what it is — reasonable, with the fine print in your numbers. LCEC's monthly netting with a rolling bank is genuinely fair as co-op policies go — no sunset, no cliff — and the two honest footnotes (the flat NEM rate you're on, and the December residual at avoided cost) are built into your numbers instead of hidden. A battery maximizes what you have and keeps you independent no matter what the next board meeting does.

Rate Justification + Own vs Rent render here.

Rep layer: Ties to the grandfathering section. LCEC = monthly kWh netting + rolling bank, December residual at avoided cost, separate NEM rate — flag is EXPOSED-MILD and the guide treats it that way: no cliff exists, no sunset exists, and manufacturing either is the PA mistake in co-op clothing. Volunteer the two footnotes (NEM-rate trade + December residual) before the customer finds them. Also volunteer the SALE GOTCHA where relevant (new owner re-signs + re-pays interconnection fees — a real-dollar surprise, not a netting loss). 25-yr scenarios: conservative 4%, moderate 6%, aggressive 8%.

What you actually own. The savings hero — combined value: the rate hedge + hurricane resilience + protected net metering + the takeover bundle.

• Self-consumption: "Hedges the co-op's rate and maximizes your netting. Does not provide backup — and in this territory, ask about the upgrade."
• Backup: "Does all of that, plus keeps your critical loads running through a hurricane restoration."

Rep layer: LCEC combined value = Ian resilience (the lead, overwhelmingly) + rate hedge + honest netting + takeover. No program income exists. No-backup disclosure fires ONLY for self-consumption config — and at LCEC, a self-consumption-only sale deserves one extra honest beat: this is the territory where backup earns its price.

Urgency

The honest clocks — hurricane season above all, the rate hedge in support; no manufactured deadlines.

The hurricane clock — and here, it's the only clock that matters. Season runs June through November, every year. This system has been taken down twice in five years — 70% by Irma, more than 90% by Ian. A battery installed before the next storm is protection; one ordered after landfall joins a waiting list behind two hundred thousand neighbors.

Rep layer: THE LCEC urgency, and it's entirely honest — two documented system-wide events. No rate cliff exists, no export deadline exists, and none is manufactured; the calendar and the memory of Ian do all the work.

The rate clock — supporting role. Power costs about fourteen and a half cents and co-op costs climb with everyone's. Every month without a battery is a month buying every evening kilowatt-hour at the co-op's rate with no hedge.

Rep layer: Honest supporting urgency — real but secondary; never let it lead over Ian.

System aging. Your inverter is aging toward its failure window. The longer you wait, the closer you get to an out-of-warranty replacement at $3,500–5,000 with no service relationship to handle it.

Rep layer: Universal urgency beat.

The Close

1. Verify credit + confirm the utility and configuration. Run the credit check; verify the address is actually LCEC — Fort Myers city proper is largely FPL while Cape Coral and Sanibel are LCEC, and getting this wrong wastes everyone's day — and confirm the backup/self-consumption configuration.
2. Customer reads and signs the service agreement. Walk through the disclosures honestly — the NEM-rate structure, the December residual, the sale gotcha (new-owner re-sign + re-pay), and that there's no federal credit or LCEC program.
3. Complete the Welcome Call. Finalizes the sale and sets expectations for installation.

Standing Rules (Do NOT Violate)

• ❌ NEVER coach reps to disqualify based on home tenure. Resale story is real — not "walk away."
• ❌ NEVER claim "all warranties transfer." Workmanship: with written consent. Align: non-transferable. Manufacturer: per OEM terms.
• ❌ NEVER fabricate inspection findings.
• ❌ NEVER quote a bill-reduction factor as a guarantee.
• ❌ NEVER quote a REP buyback rate as fixed/guaranteed — plan-dependent, confirm the customer's actual plan.
• ❌ 85+ confirmation call required. Customer confirms own finances, no POA, sound mind.
• ❌ Financing ends before age 91. 75 → 15-year max. 80 → 10-year max.
• ❌ Honest cancellation window. Overselling = free customer exit + $1K–$1.5K clawback.
• ❌ Certified before selling.

Go get the sale. A battery is a strong product — clean energy, independence, backup, long-term savings, and in Texas real VPP income. A customer who wants one for any honest reason is a good sale. We never walk away over price or low savings — that's the customer's call. Do right by the customer, protect the company, be honest.

PART B — The Deep Reference

1. Orientation

• Utility: Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) — a member-owned co-op. Co-ops set their own solar rules; the Florida PSC's net-metering rule does not bind LCEC.
• Territory: ~235,000 members — Cape Coral, North Fort Myers, Sanibel, Pine Island, Marco Island, Immokalee, Everglades City. The FPL interleave is a daily hazard: Fort Myers city proper is largely FPL; Cape Coral and Sanibel are LCEC — verify by the bill header, never by 'Fort Myers.'
• Market type: EXPOSED-MILD — monthly kWh netting + rolling bank, December residual at avoided cost (¢ unpublished); separate flat NEM rate (8.21¢ + $2.22/mo); sale gotcha (new owner re-signs + re-pays fees). No sunset, no cliff, no programs. Resilience-first market: Ian took >90% of the system.
• Default config: backup-capable ($18,500 / $23,942 / ~$228); self-consumption ($17,000 / $22,068 / ~$210).

2. How the LCEC Bill Works

1. Standard residential: tiered energy — 11.29¢ / 12.06¢ / 12.82¢ by block, plus the PCA (1.035¢) — roughly 14.7¢/kWh all-in at 1,000 kWh by LCEC's own example (~$147). Customer charge $20.00/mo.
2. The solar NEM rate: interconnecting moves the member to a flat 8.21¢/kWh (+$2.22/mo), trading away the inverted blocks. For most solar homes it's a fine trade; the tool models the customer's actual structure and shows both.
3. Netting: monthly kWh-for-kWh with a rolling kWh bank; only the December residual cashes out, at avoided cost (¢ unpublished — confirm in tool).
4. Member economics: member-owned; more than $350 million in capital credits returned.

Why this matters for the pitch: the netting is genuinely reasonable — the battery's bill case is a hedge plus December-residual capture, honest and modest. The sale carries on resilience. And the NEM-rate switch is shown, never hidden: a rep who explains the flat-rate trade before the customer's neighbor does owns the relationship.

3. Netting at LCEC — Mild, Honest, With Two Footnotes and a Gotcha

LCEC nets monthly with a rolling bank — no sunset, no cliff, no grandfather drama. The honesty here runs the other direction: we tell customers how reasonable it is, then tell them the fine print.

• The structure: monthly kWh netting; excess rolls forward as a kWh bank; the December residual is cashed at avoided cost (¢ unpublished — tool placeholder). Exposure = annual over-generation only. This is NOT a spread market — no spread pitch, ever.
• The NEM rate (footnote one): solar members take a flat 8.21¢ (+$2.22/mo) in place of the tiered 11.29/12.06/12.82¢+PCA standard rate. Both structures live in the tool; the rep shows the trade plainly.
• The December residual (footnote two): chronic over-generation cashes out low once a year — the one place storage adds bill value beyond the hedge; size honestly, never oversize "for the bank."
• THE SALE GOTCHA: when the home sells, the new owner must re-sign the interconnection agreement and re-pay the fees (application tiers ~$35 / $1,000 / $1,000). The netting continues — this is a paperwork-and-dollars surprise, not a terms cliff — and the seller who knows it first looks like the pro. (Contrast worth knowing: this is not Clay Electric's any-change trigger, and not JEA's free ride — LCEC's netting survives the sale; only the paperwork and fees reset.)
• No filing, no sunset: nothing pending changes any of this. Manufacturing a cliff here is the PA mistake in co-op clothing.
• See the "Net Metering & Grandfathering Status" section for the cited detail; the flag for LCEC is EXPOSED-MILD (annual-residual exposure only).

4. Rate Reality + What Actually Drives This Market

What drives the LCEC pitch (named, honest):

1. Ian. 214,208 meters — >90% of the system — weeks on the islands. The strongest documented resilience case in our entire book.
2. The hedge. ~14.7¢-class power (structure-dependent) with co-op costs climbing like everyone's — real, supporting, never the lead.
3. The honesty itself. Telling a mild-exposure customer the truth ("your netting is actually reasonable — here's the fine print") is what earns the Ian conversation.

Documented vs. speculation (say this right):

• ✅ "Ian took out over ninety percent of this system — 214,208 meters — and every grid-tied solar roof sat dead through it" (documented)
• ✅ "Your netting is monthly with a bank — genuinely reasonable; the fine print is the flat NEM rate and the December residual" (honest-mild framing)
• ✅ "If you sell, the buyer re-signs and re-pays the interconnection fees — the netting itself carries on" (the gotcha, told first)
• ❌ Running a spread pitch (monthly netting + bank = no spread; manufacturing one is the PA mistake)
• ❌ Quoting the December avoided-cost ¢ from memory (unpublished — confirm in tool)
• ❌ Inventing a sunset, cliff, or pending change (none exists)
• ❌ Assuming "Fort Myers" means LCEC (city proper is largely FPL — bill header decides)

5. Incentives & Programs

• LCEC battery/solar programs: none. No rebate, no VPP. No program income to promise.
• Capital credits (>$350M returned) are a co-op membership fact, not a solar incentive — honest context only.
• Federal ITC: expired 12/31/2025. Never quote 30%.
• Florida tax treatment: solar property-tax exclusion and sales-tax exemption are long-standing Florida law for residential solar; the battery rides in as part of the system where installed with solar — confirm current treatment at close rather than promising battery-specific exemptions.
• No state credit, no state rebate in LCEC territory. The value is resilience + the hedge + the takeover — not program income.

6. System Rescue Value — The System Takeover

This applies to any customer with existing solar — and it's identical across every Top Tier market. These are takeover facts, not TX-specific.

The Orphaned Solar Customer Problem. Many Texas solar customers installed during the 2019–2024 growth years and now face:

• An original installer that's gone out of business, been acquired, or stopped servicing residential (especially common after the federal tax credit expired Dec 2025)
• A 10-year workmanship warranty that's unenforceable (installer is gone)
• An inverter approaching or past typical failure windows
• No service relationship, and most companies refuse to service systems they didn't install

The Inverter Failure Reality. Inverters are the weakest link. Panels last 25–30 years; the inverter fails much sooner.

• SolarEdge string inverters: 8–15 years (12-yr standard warranty)
• Enphase microinverters: 10–20 years (25-yr warranty)
• Industry-wide: 70–90% of systems experience inverter failure within the panel lifespan
• When it fails on an orphaned system: production stops, bills jump to full retail, most providers won't quote it, out-of-pocket replacement is $3,500–5,000, and the customer is down 4–8 weeks.

What Top Tier's takeover provides (formalized through a Service Warranty Agreement with a brand-new 10-year Limited Workmanship and Roof Penetration Warranty):

• A new 10-year Top Tier workmanship warranty (regardless of system age)
• Manufacturer warranty claim handling (Top Tier chases the claim + labor, not the customer)
• Inverter replacement coverage when it fails within manufacturer warranty (customer pays nothing for the work)
• Single point of contact; monitoring setup help; performance verification at inspection

The $11K System Takeover Bundle (the exact 5-tile bundle on the proposal):

How to use it: "On top of the bill math, you're picking up over $11K of bundled services that aren't sold separately. If your inverter fails in year 12, the warranty handling alone is worth a few hundred; the replacement coordination saves $3–5K; the Align contract is $1,500 you'd otherwise pay. It adds up."

Align Solar Protection — the terms (get these right):

• 5-year term, $0 deductible, insurance-backed by American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida, non-transferable to subsequent owners.
• Covers: mechanical breakdown of existing PV (panels, inverters/optimizers, racking) — parts, labor, service calls.
• Does NOT cover: the new battery (own warranty), wear-and-tear, weather/hail, pre-existing conditions, roof issues.
• Age limits: panels/microinverters under 15 years; string/central inverters under 7 years. Not every system fully qualifies — disclose at inspection.
• It's ONE of three layers: (1) equipment manufacturer warranties, (2) Top Tier's 10-yr workmanship, (3) the 5-yr Align contract. Never call it "full coverage."
• NEVER say: "Everything's covered" / "never worry again" / "Align is your full coverage" / "you can extend beyond 5 years" / "Align transfers when you sell."

Quantifying the rescue value:

This is independent of bill savings — the rescue alone can be worth $4,000–7,500.

7. Outage Reality — Ian, and the Territory That Took the Direct Hit

This section is the LCEC pitch. The record, all documented:

• Ian (September 28, 2022) — direct landfall on this territory: 214,208 LCEC meters out — more than 90% of the entire system. Cape Coral: ~94,000. North Fort Myers: ~55,000. The Sanibel causeway was destroyed; barrier-island restoration ran weeks, not days.
• Irma (September 2017): ~170,000 out — about 70% of the system. Two system-wide events in five years.
• The honest core image: through the entire Ian restoration, every grid-tied solar roof in Cape Coral produced nothing — anti-islanding shut them off with the grid, in full post-storm sun.

What a battery does — and the honest mechanism. A battery with backup keeps essential loads running — refrigerator, medical devices, well pumps, connectivity — and recharges from solar daily through even a weeks-long restoration. Size expectations honestly: essentials, managed A/C expectations, indefinite runtime only with sun.

How to pitch it honestly: understatement. "You were here for Ian — I don't need to tell you what weeks without power looks like. What most people don't realize is that every solar roof in Cape Coral was off that whole time. A battery is the part of the system that would have been on."

8. Hidden Costs Avoided / What You Own vs What You Rent

• What you rent: grid power at the co-op's climbing rate — and, twice in five years now, nothing at all for days or weeks when the storm takes the system down.
• What you own (with the battery): your production, stored and used against the co-op's rate every night; backup for the next Ian; and honest netting that works with the battery, not against it.
• Hidden costs avoided: the $11K takeover bundle + the unhedged rate + the cost of every restoration — and this territory knows those costs in weeks, not days (spoiled freezers, generator fuel, hotel nights, lost work).

9. Battery Products

• Backup config (default — hurricane country): Tesla Powerwall 3 (13.5 kWh; Redline: $20,500), FranklinWH aPower 2 (15 kWh; Redline: $20,500). Not compatible with HDM.

• Self-consumption config: Enphase IQ 5P (10 kWh; Redline: $15,500 SC / $17,600 BU), SolarEdge Home Battery (9.7 kWh usable; Redline: $14,500 SC / $16,000 BU), SolarEdge Nexis (self-consumption only pending crew backup training; Redline: $15,500 SC).

• LCEC takeaway: backup is not just the default — it's the point. This is the one territory where a self-consumption-only sale deserves a second look before it closes. Confirm config in the tool.

• Financing terms vary by lender — price deals through the proposal tool.

10. Objection Handling

Universal objections (swap in LCEC figures) + LCEC-specific objections.

"Didn't Florida already try to kill net metering?" (FL-specific — the history answer)

"The legislature tried in 2022 and the governor vetoed it — and either way, that fight was about the investor-owned utilities. LCEC is your co-op; it sets its own rules, and honestly, its netting is one of the more reasonable setups we work with in Florida: monthly netting, a rolling bank, no sunset, no cliff. The fine print is a flat solar rate and a small December true-up — and I put both in your numbers instead of hoping you don't ask."

"I survived Ian without a battery. We managed." (LCEC-specific — the lived-experience objection, handled with respect)

"Then you know exactly what I'm talking about, and I won't dramatize it to someone who lived it. Here's the one thing most people who managed through Ian never realized: every grid-tied solar roof in Cape Coral was dead the entire time — the safety cutoff shuts panels down with the grid, even in full sun. Managing meant generators, gas lines, and spoiled freezers. A battery with solar recharges itself every day the sun comes up — for weeks if it has to. You managed once; this is what managing better looks like."

"What happens with my solar if I sell the house?" (LCEC-specific — the gotcha, told first)

"Your netting itself carries on to the buyer — LCEC doesn't kill terms at sale the way some utilities do. The catch is paperwork and money: the new owner has to re-sign the interconnection agreement and re-pay the fees. It's not ruinous, but it's a surprise if nobody tells them — so we tell you now, and your listing agent looks smart later. A solar-plus-battery home with the paperwork explained up front is a stronger listing, not a weaker one."

"Why is my solar rate flat when everyone else has tiers?" (LCEC-specific — the NEM-rate honesty)

"Because interconnecting moved you to LCEC's solar rate — a flat 8.21 cents plus a couple dollars a month, instead of the tiered blocks. For most solar homes it's a fine trade, sometimes a good one — but it IS a trade, and you deserve to see both structures side by side, which is exactly what our numbers show. If anyone quoted you savings without mentioning the rate switch, they skipped a step we don't skip."

"Why is the loan more than the system price?"

"The cash price is $17,000–18,500 depending on config. Service Finance adds dealer fees bringing the financed amount to about $22,068–23,942. Cash or a HELOC is cheaper if that's an option. There's no LCEC rebate and the federal credit expired — the value is what it was during Ian: the only power on the street, plus the hedge and the takeover."

11. DO SAY / NEVER SAY

12. Required Disclosures

1. ☐ Savings are estimates; LCEC rates, the NEM rate, and the December avoided-cost residual are set by the cooperative and change — verify current figures in the tool.
2. ☐ LCEC is a member-owned cooperative not bound by the Florida PSC's net-metering rule; netting is monthly kWh with a rolling bank, and the December residual is credited at avoided cost, not retail.
3. ☐ Interconnected solar members are served on LCEC's NEM rate (flat energy rate plus monthly charge) in place of the standard tiered rate; both structures are disclosed and modeled.
4. ☐ Upon sale of the property, the new owner must execute a new interconnection agreement and pay applicable fees per LCEC's current requirements; netting terms otherwise continue.
5. ☐ LCEC offers no battery or solar rebate or VPP; no federal ITC after 12/31/2025; no program income is quoted. Insurance requirements per LCEC's current interconnection standards are confirmed at close.
6. ☐ Align Solar Protection is non-transferable; workmanship warranty transfer requires written consent; manufacturer warranties transfer per OEM terms. Align coverage is contingent on inspection + age limits (panels <15 yr, inverters <7 yr).
7. ☐ Backup duration depends on system sizing and load; whole-home air conditioning through a multi-day outage is not implied.
8. ☐ Pricing confirmed in the tool before commitment.

13. Quick-Reference Numbers (dated — confirm before quoting)

• Netting: monthly kWh + rolling bank; December residual at avoided cost — ¢ UNPUBLISHED, confirm in tool | No sunset, no cliff, nothing pending
• NEM rate (solar members): flat 8.21¢ + $2.22/mo (vs standard tiered 11.29/12.06/12.82 + PCA 1.035; ~14.7¢ @1,000 kWh) | Customer charge: $20.00/mo
• Sale rule: buyer re-signs + re-pays fees ($35/$1,000/$1,000 tiers) — netting carries on (not Clay's trigger, not JEA's free ride)
• Programs: none | Capital credits: >$350M | Federal ITC: expired 12/31/2025
• Territory: ~235K members; Fort Myers city ≈ FPL / Cape Coral + Sanibel = LCEC — bill header decides
• Inverter replacement out-of-pocket: $3,500–5,000 | Takeover bundle: ~$11,800
• Default config: backup $18,500 / self-consumption $17,000 — backup is the point here
• Storm anchors: IAN 2022 — 214,208 out (>90% of system; Cape Coral ~94K; N. Ft Myers ~55K; islands = weeks); Irma 2017 — ~170K (~70%)

14. Sell Hard, Sell Honest — the standing rules

• Ian leads. Everything else supports. Two system-wide outages in five years is the whole case — understated, because every customer's memory outruns any pitch.
• No spread pitch, ever — monthly netting with a bank means the exposure is mild, and saying so is the credibility that earns the Ian conversation.
• Volunteer the fine print — the NEM-rate trade, the December residual, and the sale gotcha, before the customer finds them.
• The sale rule is a gotcha, not a cliff — buyer re-signs and re-pays; the netting carries on. Don't import Clay's trigger or JEA's free ride.
• Verify LCEC vs FPL by bill header — "Fort Myers" alone answers nothing.
• Respect the co-op — $350M+ returned and honestly reasonable netting; the pitch never needs a villain here.
• Never quote the federal ITC (expired).