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Ask a Floridian how the economy is doing, and you probably won’t hear about the Dow. You’ll hear about the power bill.
A new statewide survey of 1,000 Florida voters shows rising electricity costs are becoming a kitchen-table problem across the state, with 57% of voters saying their electric bill has added financial stress to their household over the past year.
Among voters under 45, that figure climbs to 64%.
The poll, conducted March 18-22, also points to something rare in Florida politics: broad bipartisan agreement on a pocketbook issue. Floridians may not agree on much, but they appear to agree on this: If there is a cheaper way to keep the lights on, utilities should be using more of it.
And one of those solutions could be more solar energy.
“Florida voters want relief from rising electricity costs and are looking for solutions that deliver real savings and electricity affordability,” said Dawn Shirreffs, Florida state director at EDF Action.
Overall, 77% of Florida voters said they would support utilities adopting more of an energy source that is up to 30% cheaper to produce than natural gas if it would help stabilize or lower electric bills. That includes 87% of Democrats, 79% of independent voters and 68% of Republicans.
Just 2% of voters said they would oppose the idea.
The poll also shows voters understand at least part of how their bills work. Seventy-nine percent said they are at least somewhat aware that fuel costs, including natural gas, directly affect their electric bill. But there is still a major information gap: Many Floridians do not know that natural gas fuels roughly 75% of the state’s electricity generation, leaving customers heavily exposed to one volatile commodity.
That gap may explain why voters are broadly open to cheaper alternatives, but not always convinced of the details of solar energy’s benefits.
Half of voters said they believe solar energy for private homes is less expensive than natural gas. Another 24% said it costs about the same, while 27% said they believe solar is more expensive.
Those perceptions split sharply by party. Sixty-six percent of Democrats said solar is less expensive than natural gas, compared with 43% of independents and 38% of Republicans. Meanwhile, 35% of Republicans said they believe solar is more expensive.
That makes Republican skepticism appear less like opposition and more like uncertainty. When asked whether utilities should adopt more of an energy source that is up to 30% cheaper than natural gas, only 2% of Republicans opposed the idea. But 30% said they were not sure.
In other words, the challenge is not persuading voters that lower bills are good. It is persuading them that the savings are real.
The poll’s findings underscore how energy costs are landing with voters not as an abstract policy debate, but as part of a broader affordability squeeze. Nearly eight in 10 Florida voters said broader economic changes have affected their household finances. And when asked what they consider the most important indicator of economic health, 56% pointed to their own household finances, not national economic statistics.
That makes electricity a leading edge of the affordability conversation.
Younger and working-age households appear to be feeling the strain most acutely. While 50% of voters 45 and older said their electric bill has caused financial stress, that number jumps to nearly two-thirds among voters under 45 — households already juggling housing, groceries, insurance, healthcare, childcare and other rising costs.
Energy policy is frequently framed as a partisan fight: natural gas versus solar, reliability versus transition, climate policy versus consumer costs. But the survey suggests voters are asking a simpler question: Will this lower my bill or raise it?
For utilities, that may be a signal to make affordability and price stability the center of any discussion about diversifying energy sources. For policymakers, it is evidence that the most persuasive energy message may not be ideological at all. It may be the one voters already understand when they open the monthly bill.
“With energy demand increasing and fuel markets remaining volatile, diversifying Florida’s energy mix with more cost-stable resources like solar will help protect Florida families from future price spikes and improve electricity affordability,” Shirreffs said.
The survey of 1,000 Florida voters was conducted March 18-22 via a random sample of the Florida voter file. The aggregate margin of error is 3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Results are representative by age, race, gender, political affiliation and region.
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