Top Tier — Florida Battery Sales Reference

OUC (Orlando Utilities Commission) · Orlando & St. Cloud

Sales reference for reps working OUC territory. This is the deep reference — how to sell it up top, full utility detail below. OUC is a municipal utility serving Orlando and St. Cloud — and it is a genuinely TWO-COHORT market. Customers who applied to interconnect by June 30, 2025 are grandfathered on TruNet full retail exports (10.7¢) for twenty years — through June 30, 2045 — one of the best protected positions anywhere we sell. Customers after that date get roughly 5.5 cents for exports, stepping down to about 4.8 cents in 2030, while buying at ~11.5 cents. Two cohorts, two pitches, one hard rule: OUC's $2,000 battery rebate FORFEITS the full-retail export rate — so for a grandfathered customer, taking the rebate can destroy a twenty-year retail lock worth far more than $2,000. The rebate decision is a math problem we run in the tool, never a reflex. The battery is a maximizer for the grandfathered and a spread-capture cure for everyone after.

What kind of market this is

OUC is a two-cohort market — grandfathered customers protected through 2045, post-2025 customers on exposed exports — with a battery rebate that carries a forfeiture trap. The battery is a maximizer for one cohort, a spread-capture cure for the other, a hurricane backup, and a takeover. Five defining facts:

1. Two cohorts, set by one date: June 30, 2025. OUC's Board adopted the PeakSHIFT sunset in December 2024: interconnection applications in by June 30, 2025 keep TruNet full retail exports (10.7¢) for 20 years — through June 30, 2045 (then the fuel rate). Applications after July 1, 2025 get the Community Solar Energy Rate — about 5.5¢ — until June 30, 2030, then the levelized fuel charge, about 4.8¢. The cutoff has passed; there is nothing to lock in anymore — confirm the customer's cohort in the tool before a word of pitch.
2. The grandfathered cohort is one of the best-protected positions we serve anywhere. Full retail exports locked to 2045, adopted by board action, not clawed back. The pitch there is reassurance + maximize: the battery raises the value of a great position and hedges everything the position doesn't cover (outages, rates, the post-2045 step).
3. The post-2025 cohort is on the spread. ~11.5¢ retail vs ~5.5¢ exports today — and the export rate steps DOWN to ~4.8¢ in 2030. A battery that shifts export to self-consumption captures the gap, and the gap is scheduled to widen. Honest arithmetic with a dated step.
4. THE FORFEITURE TRAP — OUC's hard rule. OUC's battery rebate ($150/kWh up to $2,000) carries this condition, verbatim: "By accepting this rebate, customers forfeit eligibility to receive the TruNet Full Retail Rate… for any energy exported." For a grandfathered customer, $2,000 today can cost a 20-year retail export lock worth far more. The rule: never take the rebate for a grandfathered customer without running the forfeiture math in the tool — the default is KEEP TruNet. For post-2025 customers, who never had full-retail eligibility, the rebate likely costs nothing extra — confirm with OUC at close.
5. Orlando hurricanes are real. Milton (2024) knocked out ~89,000 OUC customers at peak (full restoration ~72 hours — credit the speed, then make the case). Grid-tied solar shuts off with the grid.

Your lead depends entirely on the cohort — confirm it first. Grandfathered: reassurance + maximize — "your 2045 lock is real and excellent; the battery raises its value and covers what it doesn't — and we will NOT trade it for a $2,000 rebate without doing the math." Post-2025: the spread — "you're paid about 5.5 cents for exports and charged 11.5 to buy, and the export rate steps down again in 2030; a battery closes the gap before it widens."

Default configuration: backup-capable is the strong default — hurricane country — and in this market self-consumption is the economic engine regardless of config.

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

Confirm pricing, configuration, and cohort in the tool before quoting — the cohort changes everything here.

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. COHORT beats swap by grandfathered vs post-2023 status.

The Problem

You're paid about half retail for exports — and the rate steps down again in 2030. (POST-2025 COHORT) OUC credits your exported solar at the community-solar rate — about five and a half cents — while every kilowatt-hour you buy costs around eleven and a half. And it's scheduled: in July 2030, the export credit steps down to the fuel rate, about four point eight cents. The gap is your money, and the gap is set to widen.

Rep layer: The exposed-cohort opener — the spread with a dated step: retail ~11.55¢ energy (non-fuel 6.783¢ <1,000 / 9.283¢ above + fuel 4.767¢; customer charge $18.50/mo; ~$134 at 1,000 kWh) vs exports ~5.47¢ (Community Solar Energy Rate — tariff-derived: levelized fuel 4.767¢ + 0.7¢; the "4.6¢" figure floating in news coverage doesn't reconcile to OUC's tariff — use ~5.47¢) until June 30, 2030, then ~4.77¢ (levelized fuel). Honest framing: adopted board policy, working as written. Objection — "My solar still lowers my bill." It does — and it would lower it roughly twice as much per surplus kilowatt-hour if that power stayed on your side of the meter.

Your position is excellent — and worth protecting correctly. (GRANDFATHERED COHORT) You applied before the July 2025 cutoff, so you have TruNet full retail exports — 10.7 cents — locked for twenty years, through June 2045. That's one of the best solar positions in the country right now. Two things still sit outside it: outages, when your solar shuts off with the grid — and the fine print on OUC's battery rebate, which quietly forfeits that retail rate if you take it.

Rep layer: The grandfathered opener — REASSURANCE first, honestly: the 2045 lock is real, board-adopted, and not under threat; never manufacture worry about it. Then the two honest gaps: (1) resilience (full retail exports are worth zero in an outage); (2) THE FORFEITURE TRAP — OUC's rebate condition, verbatim: accepting the $2,000 rebate "forfeit[s] eligibility to receive the TruNet Full Retail Rate… for any energy exported." Position us as the installer who protects the lock: we run the forfeiture math in the tool, and the default is KEEP TruNet. Objection — "Another installer said I should grab the $2,000 rebate." That installer is trading your 20-year retail lock for a one-time check — we'll show you the math before anyone signs anything.

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.

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.

(BACKUP ONLY) When the hurricane comes, your solar shuts off with the grid. Anti-islanding is a safety cutoff: in an outage, your panels produce nothing — even under a clear post-storm sky. Milton put eighty-nine thousand OUC customers in the dark at its peak. A battery keeps your critical systems running, and with sun, it recharges through a multi-day restoration.

Rep layer: Renders ONLY for backup config. OUC anchors: Milton 2024 ~89,000 out at peak, full restoration ~72 hours (credit OUC's speed — then note three days is three days, and for a grandfathered customer, 10.7¢ exports are worth nothing while the grid is down). Ian's OUC-specific count is unpublished — don't invent one; say "Ian hit Orlando hard" without a number.

The Solution

A battery does the right job for your cohort — automatically. (POST-2025) Instead of selling your midday surplus at five and a half cents and buying it back at eleven and a half, the battery stores it and serves your own home at night — capturing the gap on every stored kilowatt-hour, before the 2030 step widens it. (GRANDFATHERED) Your exports already earn full retail — so the battery's job is everything the lock doesn't cover: your home through outages, your evening usage as rates move, and your position after 2045.

• Self-consumption: "For the post-2025 cohort, the surplus stops selling at half price; for the grandfathered, the lock stays intact and the battery adds what it can't."
• Backup: "Either way — and it keeps your home running when the grid goes down."

Monthly Cost Chart and Net Bill Breakdown render here.

Rep layer: THE core cure beat — cohort-split: POST-2025 = a true spread play (~11.55¢ retail vs ~5.47¢ exports ≈ ~6¢ captured per stored kWh, widening to ~6.8¢ at the 2030 step). GRANDFATHERED = NOT a spread play (exports earn full retail — storing instead of exporting gains nothing on the bill); the battery's honest value there is resilience + rate hedge on purchased evening power + post-2045 positioning — never oversell bill savings to a grandfathered customer, their export position is already optimal. The two-path model in the tool routes this — confirm cohort first, always.

(BACKUP ONLY) It keeps your home running when the grid goes down. Powers your essentials — refrigerator, A/C circulation, 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; set A/C expectations honestly in Florida heat).

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 whatever the tariff does next, your stored power is yours. (COHORT-NEUTRAL CLOSE BEAT) OUC sets its own solar rules and has already changed them once — the 2024 board vote created today's two cohorts. Power you store and use yourself doesn't depend on any export credit — TruNet, community-solar rate, or whatever comes after 2045.

Rate Justification + Own vs Rent render here.

Rep layer: The independence beat — lands for both cohorts. OUC's 2024 sunset vote is itself the proof that muni tariffs change; self-consumption is the value no board vote touches. THE REBATE lives in this beat's shadow: mention it ONLY through the forfeiture rule (Section 5). 25-yr scenarios: conservative 4%, moderate 6%, aggressive 8%.

Urgency

The clocks here are real and tariff-dated — press them precisely.

The 2030 step. (POST-2025) Your export credit steps down from about 5.5 to about 4.8 cents on July 1, 2030 — adopted, dated, on OUC's own tariff sheets. Every stored kilowatt-hour is worth the gap today and a wider gap after the step. There's no lock-in deadline anymore — the cutoff passed in 2025 — so the honest clock is the spread running daily and widening on schedule.

Rep layer: The real post-2025 urgency — the step is tariff-dated (Community Solar Energy Rate until June 30, 2030, then levelized fuel). NEVER pitch a lock-in deadline: the June 30, 2025 application cutoff has PASSED; there is nothing left to lock in, and implying otherwise is the old-guide error this split fixes.

The forfeiture guard. (GRANDFATHERED) Your urgency isn't a threat to your lock — it's the market around it: other installers are actively pitching OUC's $2,000 rebate to grandfathered customers without mentioning that accepting it forfeits the retail rate. Getting the right advice before signing anything IS the clock.

Rep layer: Honest grandfathered urgency — competitive and protective, not manufactured: the rebate's forfeiture condition is verbatim on OUC's own page, and an uninformed "free $2,000" pitch from a competitor is a live risk to the customer's 2045 position. We're the installer who runs the math first.

The hurricane clock. Season runs June through November, every year. A battery installed before the next storm is protection; one ordered after landfall is a backorder.

Rep layer: Standard FL storm urgency — factual, preparedness-framed.

The Close

1. Verify credit + confirm cohort and configuration. Run the credit check; confirm grandfathered (applied by 6/30/2025) vs post-2025 status in the tool — it changes the entire pitch — and the backup/self-consumption configuration.
2. Run the rebate math per cohort. Grandfathered: forfeiture math in the tool, default KEEP TruNet. Post-2025: confirm with OUC that accepting the rebate forfeits nothing they actually hold, then take it if confirmed.
3. Customer reads and signs the service agreement. Walk through the disclosures honestly — the cohort's actual export terms, the rebate forfeiture condition where relevant, and that there's no federal credit.
4. 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: Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) — a municipal utility. Munis set their own solar rules; the Florida PSC's net-metering rule does not bind OUC.
• Territory: Orlando and St. Cloud (confirm the customer's address is OUC — the metro is split among OUC, Duke, and KUA).
• Market type: TWO-COHORT — grandfathered (applied by 6/30/2025): TruNet full retail 10.7¢ through 6/30/2045 (protected; maximize + forfeiture guard); post-2025: ~5.47¢ exports stepping to ~4.77¢ on 7/1/2030 (exposed; spread capture). Battery rebate ACTIVE but forfeits full retail — math-gated.
• Default config: backup-capable ($18,500 / $23,942 / ~$228); self-consumption ($17,000 / $22,068 / ~$210).

2. How the OUC Bill Works

1. Energy: non-fuel 6.783¢ first 1,000 kWh / 9.283¢ above, plus fuel 4.767¢ — roughly 11.55¢/kWh energy all-in. Customer charge $18.50/mo — a typical 1,000-kWh bill runs about $134.
2. Solar exports (grandfathered — applied by June 30, 2025): TruNet Full Retail Rate — 10.7¢/kWh — through June 30, 2045, then the fuel charge. Board-adopted (December 2024), not clawed back.
3. Solar exports (post-July 1, 2025): the Community Solar Energy Rate — ~5.47¢/kWh (tariff-derived: levelized fuel 4.767¢ + 0.7¢; the "4.6¢" in news coverage doesn't reconcile to OUC's tariff — use ~5.47¢) until June 30, 2030, then the levelized fuel charge (~4.77¢).
4. The rebate condition: OUC's $150/kWh battery rebate (up to $2,000) forfeits TruNet full-retail eligibility — verbatim on OUC's own page. Cohort math before any rebate decision.

Why this matters for the pitch: the cohort IS the pitch. Post-2025, the ~6¢ spread (widening to ~6.8¢ at the 2030 step) is the battery's paycheck. Grandfathered, the export position is already optimal — the battery sells on resilience, evening-rate hedging, and post-2045 positioning, and the rep's most valuable act is protecting the lock from a careless rebate.

3. Solar Exports at OUC — Two Cohorts, One Forfeiture Trap

OUC's December 2024 board vote split this market in two at June 30, 2025. Both cohorts' terms are tariff-verbatim — and so is the rebate condition that can wreck the good one.

• The sunset (adopted December 11, 2024): interconnection applications by June 30, 2025 → TruNet Full Retail (10.7¢) for 20 years, through June 30, 2045, then the fuel charge. Applications after → Community Solar Energy Rate (~5.47¢) until June 30, 2030, then the levelized fuel charge (~4.77¢) — verbatim: "until June 30, 2030, the credit rate per kWh shall equal the Community Solar Energy Rate… Beginning on July 1, 2030, the credit rate per kWh shall equal the levelized Fuel Charge."
• The cutoff has passed. There is nothing to lock in — never pitch a lock-in deadline. Confirm the cohort in the tool before pitching anything.
• THE FORFEITURE TRAP (verbatim, OUC's own page): "By accepting this rebate, customers forfeit eligibility to receive the TruNet Full Retail Rate (currently 10.7¢ per kWh for residential customers) for any energy exported to OUC's grid." For a grandfathered customer, $2,000 today against the retail-vs-fuel spread on two decades of exports is usually a terrible trade — but a battery changes the math (less export = less forfeiture cost), so it's a per-customer calculation, run in the tool, default KEEP.
• The rep move, per cohort: Grandfathered — "Your 2045 lock is real and excellent. Our job is to raise its value and protect it — including from a $2,000 rebate that quietly forfeits it. We run that math before anyone signs." Post-2025 — "You're paid about half retail for exports, stepping down again in 2030. The battery closes the gap — and since you never had the full-retail rate, the rebate likely costs you nothing; we confirm that with OUC and take it."
• See the "Net Metering & Grandfathering Status" section for the cited detail; the flag for OUC is THREAT-DOCUMENTED (two-path: grandfathered-protected through 2045 / post-2025 exposed).

4. Rate Reality + The Spread

What drives the OUC pitch (named, honest):

1. The cohort split. Grandfathered = maximize + protect the 2045 lock; post-2025 = capture the ~6¢ spread before the 2030 step widens it.
2. The forfeiture guard. The rebate's verbatim condition makes us the installer who does the math competitors skip.
3. The precedent. OUC changed its solar rules by one board vote in 2024 — self-consumption is the value no vote touches.

Documented vs. speculation (say this right):

• ✅ "Your TruNet rate is locked through June 2045 — board-adopted, and nobody is clawing it back" (documented reassurance)
• ✅ "Post-2025 exports earn about 5.5 cents, stepping to about 4.8 in July 2030 — that's OUC's own tariff" (documented)
• ✅ "OUC's rebate forfeits the full-retail rate — their words, not ours — so we run the math before anyone takes it" (verbatim condition)
• ❌ "Lock in before the deadline" (the June 30, 2025 cutoff has PASSED — nothing to lock in)
• ❌ "Grab the free $2,000" to a grandfathered customer (the forfeiture can cost multiples of it)
• ❌ Overselling bill savings to a grandfathered customer (their export position is already optimal — the honest value is resilience + hedge + post-2045)
• ❌ Quoting "4.6¢" for post-2025 exports (news figure; OUC's tariff derives ~5.47¢)

5. Incentives & Programs

• OUC battery rebate — ACTIVE, and MATH-GATED: $150/kWh up to $2,000 — but accepting it forfeits TruNet full-retail export eligibility (verbatim on OUC's page). The rule: grandfathered customers — run the forfeiture math in the tool, default KEEP TruNet ($2,000 once vs the 10.7¢-to-fuel spread on every exported kWh through 2045; a battery shrinks exports and shrinks the forfeiture cost, so the answer is per-customer — but the default is keep). Post-2025 customers never held full-retail eligibility, so the rebate likely forfeits nothing they have — confirm that reading with OUC at close, then take it.
• Federal ITC: expired 12/31/2025. Never quote 30%.
• Florida tax treatment: solar property-tax exclusion and sales-tax exemption are state law; battery-specific treatment — confirm at close, don't promise.

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 — Hurricane Resilience in OUC Territory

Why outages happen here. Central Florida takes the crossing storms:

• Milton (October 2024): ~89,000 OUC customers out at peak — full restoration in ~72 hours. Credit the speed; three days is three days, and the next storm draws its own map.
• Ian (2022) hit Orlando hard — OUC-specific peak counts weren't published, so say it without a number.
• Central Florida's inland position softens surge but not wind and rain — and every season is a new draw.
• The grandfathered angle: a 10.7¢ export rate is worth exactly zero while the grid is down — resilience is the one thing the best solar position in Florida doesn't include.

What a battery does — and the honest mechanism. Grid-tied solar shuts off automatically in an outage (anti-islanding). A battery with backup keeps essential loads running and recharges from solar through restoration.

How to pitch it honestly: "OUC restores fast — Milton was fully back in about three days — and a battery covers the days you're dark anyway. For everyone after 2025, it's also earning the spread every ordinary day in between."

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

• What you rent: (post-2025) retail at ~11.5¢ while your surplus sells at ~5.5¢, stepping down in 2030 — the spread, donated daily; (grandfathered) nothing on exports — your position is excellent — but nothing when the grid fails, and a rebate trap in the market.
• What you own (with the battery): (post-2025) your surplus at retail value on your side of the meter, before and after the 2030 step; (grandfathered) the intact 2045 lock — protected from careless rebate advice — plus backup and the evening-rate hedge.
• Hidden costs avoided: the $11K takeover bundle + (post-2025) the donated spread + (grandfathered) the forfeiture a careless rebate would cost + every restoration's costs.

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).

• OUC takeaway: post-2025, self-consumption is the engine — size to soak the surplus. Grandfathered, size for resilience + evening load (their exports already earn retail — don't oversize to "capture" a spread that isn't there). Confirm cohort and config in the tool.

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

10. Objection Handling

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

"Another company told me to grab OUC's $2,000 battery rebate — should I?" (OUC-specific — the forfeiture-guard answer; THE differentiator)

"Ask them one question: did they mention that accepting it forfeits your TruNet full-retail rate? It's on OUC's own page, word for word. You have 10.7 cents on every exported kilowatt-hour locked through 2045 — trading that for a one-time $2,000 is usually a terrible deal, though a battery changes the math because you'd export less. So here's what we do: we run your actual numbers in the tool before anyone signs anything, and the default answer is keep your rate. An installer who leads with 'free $2,000' either doesn't know the condition or is hoping you don't."

"I'm grandfathered until 2045 — why would I need a battery at all?" (OUC-specific — the honest grandfathered answer)

"Your export position is genuinely excellent, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise — I'd rather tell you what the lock doesn't cover. It's worth zero the moment the grid goes down — Milton put eighty-nine thousand OUC homes in the dark. It doesn't hedge what you pay for evening power as rates move. And it ends in 2045, while your panels keep producing past it. The battery covers all three — and it protects nothing less than it adds, because we configure around your rate, never against it."

"Why is my export credit half of retail? I missed the cutoff by months!" (OUC-specific — the post-2025 answer, channeling frustration honestly)

"You've read it right — applications after June 2025 get about five and a half cents while power costs eleven and a half, and it steps down again in 2030. The cutoff is closed and I won't pretend it's reopening. What I can do is make the export rate mostly irrelevant: a battery keeps your surplus on your side of the meter at full retail value. The tariff only touches power that leaves your house — so we stop it leaving. And in your cohort, OUC's $2,000 battery rebate likely costs you nothing to take, because the rate it forfeits is one you never had — we confirm that with OUC and use it."

"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. The federal credit expired; OUC's $2,000 rebate exists but comes with the export-rate forfeiture — so whether it applies is the cohort math we run first, never a discount we assume."

11. DO SAY / NEVER SAY

12. Required Disclosures

1. ☐ Savings are estimates; OUC rates and export credits are set by OUC's board and can change — verify against current tariff figures in the tool.
2. ☐ OUC is a municipal utility not bound by the Florida PSC's net-metering rule. Grandfathered customers (interconnection application by June 30, 2025) hold the TruNet Full Retail export rate through June 30, 2045, then the fuel charge; post-2025 customers receive the Community Solar Energy Rate (~5.47¢) until June 30, 2030, then the levelized fuel charge.
3. ☐ Accepting OUC's battery rebate forfeits TruNet Full Retail export eligibility (per OUC's published condition). For grandfathered customers the forfeiture analysis is presented in the tool before any rebate decision; no rebate is applied for a grandfathered customer without their informed election.
4. ☐ The June 30, 2025 grandfathering cutoff has passed; no lock-in opportunity is represented.
5. ☐ No federal ITC after 12/31/2025; rebate treatment for post-2025 customers is confirmed with OUC before being included.
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)

• Grandfathered (applied by 6/30/2025): TruNet Full Retail 10.7¢ through June 30, 2045, then fuel | Post-2025: ~5.47¢ until 6/30/2030, then ~4.77¢ (never "4.6¢")
• Retail: ~11.55¢ energy (6.783/9.283 non-fuel + 4.767 fuel); customer charge $18.50/mo; ~$134 at 1,000 kWh
• Rebate: $150/kWh ≤ $2,000 — FORFEITS TruNet full retail (verbatim); grandfathered = math-gated, default KEEP; post-2025 = likely free, confirm with OUC
• The cutoff: June 30, 2025 — PASSED; never pitch a lock-in
• Federal ITC: expired 12/31/2025
• Inverter replacement out-of-pocket: $3,500–5,000 | Takeover bundle: ~$11,800
• Default config: backup $18,500 / self-consumption $17,000
• Storm anchor: Milton 2024 — ~89,000 OUC out at peak, full restore ~72 hrs (Ian: no published OUC count — no number)

14. Sell Hard, Sell Honest — the standing rules

• Confirm the cohort before a word of pitch — the two OUC stories are near-opposites, and running the wrong one is instant credibility loss.
• The forfeiture guard is the differentiator — we're the installer who runs the rebate math competitors skip. Grandfathered default: KEEP TruNet.
• Never manufacture a threat to the 2045 lock, and never pitch a lock-in — the lock is real and safe; the cutoff has passed.
• Never oversell bill savings to a grandfathered customer — their exports already earn retail; the honest value is resilience + evening hedge + post-2045.
• The post-2025 spread is arithmetic with a dated step — ~5.47¢ now, ~4.77¢ from July 2030, from OUC's own sheets.
• Never quote the federal ITC (expired).