City of Port St. Joe

A city address is usually permitted by the city, not the county — but not always, and some authorities keep building and hand electrical to someone else. Getting this wrong costs the whole submittal, because every requirement below belongs to whoever actually holds jurisdiction. Check the overlays in the same pass: an HOA, a historic district, a windstorm certification or a system-size cap can reshape the design, and all of them are cheaper to find now than after the array is laid out.

• Is this authority the AHJ for residential solar at this address? YES for both. The City of Port St. Joe is the AHJ inside its city limits and issues the building permit and the separate electrical permit. It has NO county involvement: Gulf County's Building Department is a different desk (and happens to sit a few streets away at 1000 Cecil G. Costin Sr. Blvd, Room 400, in Port St. Joe, because Port St. Joe is the county seat). *** THE CORRECTION THAT MATTERS: the City's Building Department is not city staff - it is EPCI Code Administration Services under contract, operating in the City's own name from the City's own building at 1002 10th Street. Every building form the City publishes is headed 'EPCI / PORT ST JOE BUILDING DEPARTMENT', the Permit Requirements sheet gives 'EPCI, 1002 10th Street, Port St Joe, Fl 32456', and the City's fee schedule is titled 'EPCI Fee Schedule'. The named Building Official, Scooter Hodges, is EPCI's co-founder: EPCI's own About Us page says 'Michael "Scooter" Hodges ... In 2001, Scooter Hodges began providing municipalities with a full-service building department at no cost to the municipality as EPCI.' So the Building Official of Port St. Joe is the owner of the firm that is the building department. 92% · authority's own department page
• What does this authority permit itself, and what does it delegate? The City itself (not EPCI) holds: the Development Order / land-use approval under LDR Art. II, administered by the 'building inspector' with appeal to the Planning and Development Review Board (PDRB); the Planning Board and City Commission approvals where a Development Order needs them; the local Business License / occupational tax receipt (a precondition to permitting); sign permits; driveway/culvert permits; water, sewer and solid-waste service and impact fees; floodplain administration under LDR Art. IV; and Code Enforcement. The City does NOT sell electricity and has no electric utility. 88% · authority's own department page + codified code
• Is a permit required for a residential rooftop PV system? Two City permits, and possibly a third approval in front of them. (1) A BUILDING PERMIT on the 'EPCI / PORT ST JOE BUILDING DEPARTMENT Application for Building Permit'. (2) A SEPARATE ELECTRICAL PERMIT - the building application states in terms: 'I understand that a separate permit must be secured for electrical work, plumbing, signs, roofing, pools, furnaces, boilers, heaters, tanks, and air conditioners, etc.' The electrical permit is taken on EPCI's combined MEP (Mechanical / ELECTRICAL / Plumbing) Permit Application. (3) A DEVELOPMENT ORDER, which the City's own building page makes 'Step 1 ... (If needed)' ahead of 'Step 2 - Building Permit Application', and which EPCI's Port St. Joe page lists among 'the following forms are required to complete the Building Application Packet'. There is NO solar-specific or photovoltaic permit type anywhere: 'solar' and 'photovoltaic' return ZERO hits across the entire codified Code of Ordinances, Charter and Land Development Regulation Code, and EPCI's own 24-item 'Building Permit Requirements' list has no solar or PV entry (it does list 'Electrical', 'Generator' and 'Roof'). *** AND A LOCAL 'SOLAR' DECOY WORTH KNOWING BEFORE ANYONE GREPS FOR IT: across 186 OCR'd City Commission and Planning Board agendas and minutes (2024-2026) 'solar' returns ten hits and NOT ONE of them is photovoltaic permitting. They are (a) the City's own wastewater treatment plant, whose operator reports that 'all solar and diesel equipment is running', and (b) a public-art project called the 'SOLAR SYSTEM WALK' - nine signs depicting planets along Highway 71, which generated its own permit discussion. The City operates PV on its own plant and publishes no PV permitting rule at all. 80% · authority's own permit application
• Is there a separate electrical permit, or is it combined? SEPARATE. The building permit and the electrical permit are different applications with different fee lines. The building application carries the express notice that 'a separate permit must be secured for electrical work'; the electrical permit is the EPCI MEP Permit Application with a MECHANICAL___ ELECTRICAL___ PLUMBING___ tick box at the head. The fee schedule prices them separately: residential remodel/addition at $6.00 per thousand of valuation ($40 minimum) under A.2, and electrical as a 'Miscellaneous & Sub Permit' at $.70 per thousand ($40 minimum) under D.3. 90% · authority's own permit application
• Is a HOA or architectural approval required first? NO city-wide architectural or design-review gate reaches a single-family house. The only design standards in the Land Development Regulation Code are Sec. 5.11 'Site development standards for NON RESIDENTIAL uses along U.S. 98 and SR 71' and Sec. 5.12 'LARGE-SCALE, COMMERCIAL-RETAIL design standards' - both scoped away from a house. There is no architectural review board, no design review board and no certificate of appropriateness anywhere in the code (the terms return zero hits). Private deed restrictions are a separate matter and the City disclaims them on the face of the permit application: 'NOTICE: EPCI: The Port St. Joe Building Department does not have the authority to enforce DEED RESTRICTIONS or COVENANTS on properties.' Every absence in this file is bounded by the same staleness: the codified Code of Ordinances is Supplement 2, 'Codified through Ordinance No. 577, adopted September 29, 2020' (api.municode.com/Jobs/latest/15146, jobId 375221, productId 15146, clientID 3936), while the City's own ordinance index runs to No. 626 - roughly forty ordinances since Sept 2020 are uncodified, including No. 583 (the floodplain amendment) and No. 606 (PUD/LDR revision). Separately the LDR PDF the City itself links from its Land Development Regulations page (LDR-FINAL.pdf) carries a SUPERSEDED floodplain article (old Secs. 4.17-4.22) and is not the codified text. 80% · codified land development regulations
• Is there a historic-district review? YES, and it is an AGE trigger that fires at the building inspector's desk, not a district overlay. LDR Sec. 4.05 'Historic resource protection - Determination of significance': (a) 'The building inspector shall maintain a listing and a map of all historic structures and/or archaeological sites currently identified on the state master site file within the city.' (b) 'The building inspector shall notify the applicant if their structure is included on the master site file OR IS OVER 50 YEARS IN AGE thus qualifying as a possible historic structure. Alteration, renovations and/or maintenance work on structures listed on the master site file shall be completed such that the features of historic significance are not compromised.' (d) 'If a historical/archeological site is identified or uncovered, development work must stop until significance is determined and mitigation measures are identified and implemented.' There is no historic district, no board, no certificate of appropriateness and no published fee - the duty is a notification duty on the inspector and a 'do not compromise the features' standard on the work. In a 1930s paper-mill town a large share of the housing stock is over 50 years old, so expect the notification. 85% · codified land development regulations
• Is a wind or windstorm certification required? No separate windstorm certificate. What is required is a stated METHOD of compliance with a 140 MPH wind load, by architect's or engineer's design (Permit Requirements item 2(d)), plus wall sections with 'Connection tables including hurricane clips, strapes, fasteners, nail or screw patterns, hold-downs' (item 2(e)). Florida Product Approval is not mentioned on any Port St. Joe form. The 140 mph figure is not codified by the City (see Q13). 75% · authority's own permit requirements sheet
• Is a Specific Use Permit or Council approval ever required? A DEVELOPMENT ORDER, and it is the longest clock in the whole sequence. The codified rule is absolute: LDR Sec. 2.01 'No development activity may be undertaken unless the activity is authorized by a development permit or order or is specifically exempted by other provisions of this Code.' The codified definition, LDR Sec. 1.03, makes a development order a separate and PRIOR instrument: 'Development order: ... A distinction is made between a development order and a building permit. A development order is the city authorization of a proposed development project. SUCH AUTHORIZATION MUST BE GRANTED BY THE CITY PRIOR TO ISSUANCE OF A BUILDING PERMIT ... (The development order authorizes the project, whereas the building permit authorizes specific components of the project, such as building construction, sign installation and the like).' 'Development or development activity' is defined to include '(2) Building, INSTALLING, enlarging, replacing and/or substantially restoring a STRUCTURE, impervious surface and/or water management system'. THE CLOCK, LDR Sec. 2.02 (minor development - a residential project of four or fewer dwelling units): the developer submits a development plan and application fee TO THE BUILDING INSPECTOR; within FIVE WORKING DAYS the building inspector determines completeness or identifies deficiency; within TWENTY WORKING DAYS of a completeness determination the building inspector issues or denies the Development Order; appeal lies to the Planning and Development Review Board, whose decision on a minor development is final. So up to 25 working days - about five weeks - BEFORE the 5-working-day building permit review even starts. THE CITY'S OWN PAGE ADDS THE ESCALATION PATH: 'Step 1 - Development Order application. (If needed) ... If Planning board Approval is required the Board meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. A complete application is required 21 calendar days before the meeting. If Commission approval required, the Commission meets on the following Tuesday.' *** THE HONEST GAP: nothing published says whether a rooftop PV array on an existing house is 'if needed'. Get that answered on 850-229-1093 before quoting a timeline - the difference is five weeks. 78% · codified land development regulations
• Is there a system-size cap on residential generation? No local cap. The City imposes no kW or system-size limit anywhere - 'solar' and 'photovoltaic' are zero-hit terms across the entire codified corpus. The binding caps are Duke's tier boundaries, taken from the filed tariff sheets: TIER 1 is '10kw or less' (Third Revised Sheet No. 7.310), TIER 2 is above 10 kW to 100 kW (Sheet No. 7.320), TIER 3 is '>100kw, <= 2mw' (Sheet No. 7.330). Tier 1 carries no application fee and, under FL PSC Rule 25-6.065(5)(e), the utility 'shall not require liability insurance for Tier 1' - Duke's Tier 1 agreement instead 'recommends' $100,000 general liability. A normal residential rooftop array is Tier 1. 85% · utility's filed tariff sheets

Several authorities require the electrical permit to be pulled by a licensed electrician, or require the contractor to be registered with them BEFORE applying. Registration is not same-day. This is second on the list rather than fourth because it is the step most likely to stop the job before the drawings matter.

• Who is allowed to pull the electrical permit? A state-licensed or state-registered electrical contractor who has (a) registered with the Port St. Joe Building Department and (b) holds a City of Port St. Joe Business License; or the property owner under the FS 489.503(6) owner-builder exemption. EPCI's Port St. Joe page is explicit: 'In order to apply for a building permit all contractors must: Obtain a state license / Registered with the Building Department of Port St. Joe / Obtain a Business Occupational License from the City of Port St. Joe'. Registration requires a Driver's License, the City Business Occupational License, General Liability Insurance or exemption, and Letters of Authorization for each employee who will apply for permits. The City's own Permit Requirements sheet adds that insurance must arrive as 'A rider sent from Insurance Company to the EPCI Building Department'. 90% · operator's city-specific page
• Must the contractor be registered with this authority before applying? YES - and it is a TWO-PART gate, both of which sit in front of the permit. (1) A City of Port St. Joe Business License / local business tax receipt: required 'even for ... out-of-state contractors', routed to several departments, 'This process can take 5-7 business days', and 'Zoning approval of this application is required prior to issuance of the Business License.' Codified fees, Code Sec. 62-81: Contractors - General $50.00; the 'Electrical' subcontractor line $35.00; and 'For out of county contractors and subcontractors, add $15.00 to each of the license fees listed' - so $50 for an out-of-county electrical sub, $65 for an out-of-county general. (2) Contractor registration with the Port St. Joe Building Department, which additionally requires a NOTARISED Hold Harmless Agreement in which the signer indemnifies the City with 'no time limitation in which this document shall expire' and which 'shall remain in force from this day forward even through any situation where a person's license may be suspended revoked or allowed to expire.' 90% · authority's own page + codified fee schedule
• Is a homeowner permitted to self-install and self-permit? YES, on both limbs, and the City publishes the statutory disclosures for both. Construction: FS 489.103(7) - owner may build or improve a one- or two-family residence, 'must provide direct, onsite supervision of the construction yourself'. Electrical: FS 489.503(6) - 'The exemption allows you, as the owner of your property, to act as your own electrical contractor even though you do not have a license. You may install electrical wiring for a farm outbuilding or a single-family or duplex residence.' Both are printed on one notarised 'Disclosure Statements' form headed EPCI / PORT ST JOE BUILDING DEPARTMENT. EPCI's Port St. Joe page restates the practical condition: 'Homeowners are permitted to apply for building permits provided that the owner oversees the work and is on-site during construction.' 90% · authority's own form

Almost everywhere wants a site plan, a one-line or three-line electrical diagram, equipment cut sheets with listings, and a structural attachment detail. Build it against the published checklist rather than the last jurisdiction you worked in — the checklist is what the reviewer marks against.

• What documents make up a complete submittal? Two packages in sequence. STEP 1 - DEVELOPMENT ORDER APPLICATION PACKET (City of Port St. Joe Planning Department), which states on its face '(The Building Department requires separate forms and fees to obtain building permits.)' and 'INCOMPLETE SUBMITTALS WILL NOT BE REVIEWED' and 'THE ADDRESS OF THE PROPERTY MUST BE POSTED PRIOR TO SUBMITTAL': two complete sets of plans to scale including a site plan with living square feet, total square feet, impervious surface and setbacks measured 'from the closest overhang to property line'; a site plan showing protected trees; the Development Order Packet; a New Address application; a City water-meter impact form; a driveway permit application; plus a data block (lot/dwelling/driveway/accessory/pool/patio square footages, all four setbacks, floor area ratio, lot coverage, building height, impervious surface, landscape buffers, elevation). STEP 2 - BUILDING APPLICATION PACKET: per EPCI's Port St. Joe page, '2 Engineered plans; Site plan- showing set backs; Development Order Application; Development Order Packet; Building Application; Notice of Commencement; Owner Affidavit'. The City's own Building Permit Application Checklist adds: Homeowner Hold Harmless Agreement; Homeowners Disclosure Statement Ch.489.10FS; driveway/ditch permit if required; site plan; 2 complete sets of plans (site, foundation, floor, elevations, wall section foundation through roof, all to scale); complete application; energy forms; Notice of Commencement; FLOOD ELEVATION CERTIFICATE; all applicable fees. *** A LIVE CONTRADICTION WORTH KNOWING: the City and EPCI each publish a DIFFERENT version of the same 'Port St. Joe Application for Building Permit'. The City's copy has a 'Permit #' box and a 'COMPETENCY CARD #' field and says a certified Notice of Commencement 'must be provided to this Department before the SECOND or any subsequent inspection'. EPCI's copy replaces 'Permit #' with 'FBC #', drops the competency-card field, adds a water-management-district notice, and says the NOC must be provided 'before the FIRST or any subsequent inspection'. Neither is dated. On a $2,500+ job that one word changes when the NOC has to be recorded. 85% · authority's own application packet
• How many copies, and in what format? PAPER. Hand delivery, mail or fax to the Building Department at 1002 10th Street / fax 850-229-8242, with a dedicated 'Permit Drop-off' form (company name, licence #, phone, contact, a table of ADDRESS and TYPE, date of drop-off, signature). The Notice of Commencement may be filed 'by mail, facsimile or hand delivery'. There is NO electronic submission route for a building or electrical permit: no portal, no e-mail submission address, no fill-in form. *** This is a live gap against FS 553.79(1)(b), which requires that a local enforcement agency 'shall allow applicants to submit completed applications, including payments, attachments, drawings, or other requirements or parts of the permit application, ELECTRONICALLY to the appropriate building department', naming e-mail of PDFs as an accepted method - and which separately requires the agency to 'post and update the status of every received application on its website until the issuance of the building permit.' Port St. Joe posts no permit status at all. 82% · authority's own forms page + FS 553.79(1)(b)
• Is a site plan required, and what must it show? YES, twice over, and the setback measurement rule is unusual. EPCI's Port St. Joe page lists 'Site plan- showing set backs' among the forms required to complete the Building Application Packet; the City's own Building Permit Application Checklist requires a 'SITE PLAN' as item 4 and a site plan again inside the '2 COMPLETE SETS OF PLANS' at item 5(a); the Permit Requirements sheet requires 'A Plot Plan Survey showing elevations of finished floor and adjacent roads'; and the Development Order packet requires 'A site plan with square feet of living, total square feet, impervious surface, and setbacks' with the express rule '** Setbacks are measured from the closest overhang to property line**'. For a ground mount that overhang rule is the operative one. 90% · authority's own checklist
• Is a one-line / three-line diagram required? No one-line diagram is named anywhere. What IS published, and it is a real plan-content requirement, is the Permit Requirements sheet's list of what plans 'shall include at least': item (i) 'Electrical service size and location' and item (j) 'Electrical plan'. That is the whole of the City's published electrical plan-content requirement. The EPCI MEP (electrical) application asks for no drawings at all on its face - it collects owner, contractor, licence, parcel, use, cost of construction, square footage, flood zone, lowest floor elevation, area heated/cooled, stories and units, and nothing electrical. 72% · authority's own permit requirements sheet
• Is a structural PE stamp required, and at what threshold? YES - an engineered or architect-sealed design is required with NO dollar threshold, and it is the wind-load limb that triggers it. The Permit Requirements sheet requires, among the items plans 'shall include at least', item (d): 'Method of complying with 140 MPH windload ewquirements. Options are Architect or Engineer's design.' EPCI's Port St. Joe page independently lists '2 Engineered plans' as the first required item in the Building Application Packet. There is no valuation floor, square-foot floor or scope carve-out on either. *** Note that the 140 mph figure is NOT codified by the City - 'mph', 'wind speed' and 'wind load' return no wind-design provision anywhere in the codified Code, Charter or LDR. It is an administrative form requirement only. It happens to equal Gulf County's codified countywide 140 mph 3-second gust (County Code Sec. 10-3(x)), which is where the number most likely comes from. 80% · authority's own permit requirements sheet
• Is an electrical PE stamp required, and at what threshold? No local electrical PE-seal threshold is published. Neither the City's Permit Requirements sheet, its Building Permit Application Checklist, the building permit application nor EPCI's MEP (electrical) application names any circumstance in which electrical plans must be signed and sealed. The engineering requirement that does exist is the STRUCTURAL/wind-load one at Q13; it is written against 'windload', not against the electrical work. 70% · authority's own permit requirements sheet

Most authorities now take the whole application through a portal, and several states cap or constrain what a residential solar permit may cost. Check whether plan check is billed separately before you quote the job.

• Which permit portal does this authority use? NONE. There is no permit portal, no permit register, and no published permit status of any kind. The only web-based transaction anywhere in the Port St. Joe permitting chain is EPCI's inspection-request form, which is a CAPTCHA-gated contact form (Name, Phone, Email, Permit Number, Address of Permit, City of Inspection, Field Contact, Contractor, 'How did you hear about us?', Message) and returns nothing. 85% · operator's city-specific page
• Can the whole application be completed online? NO. Building and electrical permits cannot be applied for online. The City's Business License is the only thing that can ('Applicants can apply online or in person at City Hall'), and that is a different permit. Everything in the building chain is paper: drop-off, mail or fax. 85% · authority's own page
• What does a residential solar permit cost? Worked example, $25,000 residential rooftop PV, City side only. ELECTRICAL SUB-PERMIT (fee schedule D.3): $.70 per thousand of valuation = $17.50, overridden by the $40.00 minimum, so $40.00. IF the array is also permitted as building work (A.2 Remodel/Additions, $6.00 per thousand): $150.00, plus PLAN REVIEW (A.5) at $.40 per thousand = $10.00, overridden by the $40.00 minimum, so $40.00. Worst case City total $230.00; best case $40.00. PLUS the two mandatory state surcharges, which the EPCI fee schedule does not mention at all: FS 553.721 at 1% and FS 468.631 at 1.5% of permit fees, each with a $2.00 minimum collected on any permit issued - so at least $4.00 and up to about $5.75 on this job. PLUS the business-licence gate: $35.00 for an Electrical subcontractor or $50.00 for a General contractor, +$15.00 if out of county (Code Sec. 62-81). PLUS a Development Order application fee if one is required - and the City's published Development Fees schedule has NO single-family line at all (its cheapest entries are a $300 variance request and a $50 demolition permit; everything else is subdivision, commercial, multifamily, PUD or DRI). 75% · authority's own fee schedule
• How is the fee calculated? VALUATION-BASED, per thousand, with category minimums - not flat and not tiered. The schedule opens: 'Value of construction for permits will be determined by the most recent publishing of the International Code Council, building valuation data, estimates per square foot, including the Regional Modifier, of all areas under roof according to they type of construction and use.' Residential new $4.00/thousand ($40 min); remodel/additions $6.00/thousand ($40 min); accessory structures $6.00/thousand ($40 min); plan review $.40/thousand ($40 min); electrical, plumbing and HVAC sub-permits $.70/thousand ($40 min) each. Fixed-price exceptions that exist: re-roof $40 residential, single service change $30, pool electrical $35, single temp pole $30, burglar alarm $30. 92% · authority's own fee schedule
• Is there a separate plan-check fee? YES - and it is charged unconditionally, which is the problem. Residential Plan Review (A.5) is '$.40 per thousand total valuation, $40.00 minimum'; commercial plan review is 'One half (1/2) the Base Permit Fee'. *** FS 553.791(2)(b), read first-hand today, says: 'The local jurisdiction may not charge fees for plans review or building inspections if the fee owner or the fee owner's contractor hires a private provider to perform such services. The local enforcement agency may not charge punitive administrative fees when a fee owner has chosen to work with a private provider.' The EPCI Fee Schedule contains no private-provider reduction, waiver or carve-out of any kind, and neither the City nor EPCI publishes a private-provider policy for Port St. Joe. Do not assume the reduction will be applied; ask for it in writing at submittal and cite (2)(b). *** And do NOT let anyone offer the 25%/50% reduction instead: FS 553.791(2)(d)'s 25% and 50% reductions are expressly 'for a COMMERCIAL construction project' and do not reach a house. For residential the bar in (2)(b) is absolute. 85% · authority's own fee schedule + FS 553.791(2)(b)

Interconnection is a separate process from the permit and usually the longer pole. Where the utility does not depend on the permit being issued, running both at once is the single biggest saving available on a residential job.

• What is the stated plan-review turnaround? FIVE WORKING DAYS for residential, published by the City in terms: 'Residential Plans are reviewed within 5 working days and if approved Permit is issued. Commercial plans take longer depending on the complexity of the project but not more than 30 days for normal projects. (Usually much less.)' That is the building-permit clock only. The Development Order clock in front of it is separate and much longer - see Q27. 90% · authority's own department page
• How long is an issued permit valid before it expires? Not stated by the City or by EPCI on any form, so the statutory floor governs: FS 553.79(1)(c) - 'A building permit issued by a local government for a single-family dwelling expires 1 year after the issuance of the permit or on the effective date of the next edition of the Florida Building Code, whichever is later.' Neither the building permit application, the MEP application, the roofing application, the checklist nor the Permit Requirements sheet prints any validity period, expiry trigger or inactivity rule. 80% · Florida Statutes s. 553.79(1)(c)
• Which utility handles interconnection here? DUKE ENERGY FLORIDA, LLC - not Gulf Power/FPL, and not the co-op. Three independent lines settle it, one of them the City's own minutes. (1) CITY-SIDE, OPERATIONAL: the Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Board of City Commissioners, 12 February 2024, record a developer offering to pay 'the expense incurred for DUKE ENERGY to relocate the existing light pole' at the City's pickleball courts - a Duke crew working inside the city limits, minuted by the City. (2) CITY-SIDE, PLANNING: the City's own Comprehensive Plan Economic Development Element names Duke twice - Policy 1.1.7 'Work with Duke Energy Business Development Team to market "shovel ready" sites to business prospects' and Policy 1.5.7 'Enhance relationships with Enterprise Florida, Inc. (EFI) project managers, Duke Energy economic development representatives...'. (3) FEDERAL GIS: the HIFLD/EIA 'Electric Retail Service Territories' layer (source EIA-860, EIA-861 and Duke's own outage map) returns DUKE ENERGY FLORIDA, LLC - control area FPC, planning area Progress Energy (Florida Power Corp.) - for 22 of 28 randomly sampled interior points of the city, with no other utility polygon anywhere inside the limits; the six blanks are open water in St. Joseph Bay. *** THE NEGATIVES ARE AS IMPORTANT. The City is NOT a municipal electric: its three enterprise funds are water, sewer/wastewater and solid waste (FY2025 ACFR), Code Ch. 70 'Utilities' contains only water service and sewer service articles, its own utilities page says 'Water, Waste Water, and Garbage services', and it does not appear on FMPA's member list (positive control run in the same fetch: Ocala, Kissimmee, Havana, Blountstown, Quincy and Chattahoochee all present). It is also NOT Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative: GCEC's own current 'Our Cooperative' page names the municipalities it serves - 'Wewahitchka, Ebro, Lynn Haven, White City, Fountain, and Southport' - and Port St. Joe is not among them, in a co-op that says it 'was organized to provide electric service in an area not served by other utilities.' Wewahitchka, the other Gulf County city, IS on that list. *** ONE FOSSIL TO IGNORE: Charter Sec. 160 still grants the City 'exclusive power and authority for the transmission and sale of electric energy in a zone of ten (10) miles wide' around the city. It is a 1951 Laws of Florida provision the City does not exercise and has no electric fund to exercise with. *** FOUR MORE CITY-SIDE MENTIONS FOUND BY OCR'ing 177 City Commission and Planning Board agendas and minutes (2024-2026), which together close this: (a) Minutes, Regular Meeting 4 Nov 2025 - Commissioner Langston 'requested that electrical outlets be added to DUKE ENERGY POLES at each church' (Duke owns the distribution poles in the city); (b) Minutes, Regular Meeting 17 Feb 2026, Code Enforcement report - 'he is working on voluntary requests to demo several homes in North Port St. Joe and WITH DUKE ENERGY FOR THE POWER TO BE DISCONNECTED from the homes' - the demolition-release rung, naming the electric utility the City actually calls; (c) and (d) a 'Duke Energy Grant Presentation - Scott Mixon' item on the Regular Meeting agenda and minutes of 7 July 2026. Controls on the same OCR corpus: 'Commission' 2,103 hits, 'zzqqxvv' 0, and 'Gulf Power' and 'FPL' ZERO hits across all 177 documents. 92% · authority's own minutes + comprehensive plan + HIFLD/EIA
• Where does the utility sit in the sequence? PARALLEL FILING, WITH A HARD UTILITY GATE AT THE END THAT DEPENDS ON THE CITY'S INSPECTION. Duke's own Tier 1 Standard Interconnection Agreement (Third Revised Sheet No. 7.310, DUKE ENERGY FLORIDA, INC., systems 10 kW or less) paragraph 7: 'The Customer agrees to provide Local Building Code Official inspection and certification of installation. The certification shall reflect that the local code official has inspected and certified that the installation was permitted, has been approved, and has met all electrical and mechanical qualifications.' So the City's permit and final inspection are an input to Duke, not the other way round - nothing in the City's or EPCI's process asks for an interconnection approval before issuing a permit. The interconnection clock, from FL PSC Rule 25-6.065(7) read first-hand: the utility must acknowledge or identify deficiencies within 10 business days; must execute the agreement within 30 calendar days of a complete application; the customer must return the executed agreement AT LEAST 30 CALENDAR DAYS BEFORE BEGINNING PARALLEL OPERATIONS and within one year of the utility executing it; and any physical inspection must be completed by the utility within 30 calendar days of receiving the executed agreement. Tier 1 carries no application fee (Tier 1 Agreement para 2). 85% · utility's filed tariff sheet

The NEC edition a jurisdiction enforces is often a cycle behind the newest one published, and local amendments sit on top of it. Rapid shutdown, conductor sizing and labelling all change between editions, so the edition in force is the first thing to establish, not the last.

• Which NEC edition is in force? NEC 2020, by operation of the Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023), which EPCI states on its own homepage: 'Beginning January 1, 2024, projects submitted for permit applications will have to be designed according to the new Florida Building Code. The new codes consist of the 8th Edition (2023) Building, Residential, Existing Building, Accessibility, Energy Conservation, Mechanical, Fuel Gas, and Plumbing Codes, as well as the 2020 National Electrical Code (NEC).' *** BUT THE CITY'S OWN CODIFIED ADOPTION IS A FLOATING ONE AND IT POINTS SOMEWHERE ELSE. LDR Sec. 1.08 'Incorporation by reference' reads: 'THE LATEST EDITION of the following works are hereby incorporated into this Code by reference: Florida Building Code. Standard Plumbing Code. Standard Mechanical Code. NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CODE. National Board of Fire Prevention Code. Sanitary Code of the State of Florida. Council of American Building Officials, One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code.' Read literally that adopts the latest published NEC, not the NEC the FBC references. In practice the FBC governs and the reviewer will apply NEC 2020; but if a local reviewer ever reaches for the codified text, Sec. 1.08 is what it says. *** AND THE SAME SECTION CITES FOUR AUTHORITIES THAT NO LONGER EXIST OR NEVER DID: the 'Standard Plumbing Code' and 'Standard Mechanical Code' were SBCCI model codes, withdrawn when SBCCI was folded into the ICC; the 'Council of American Building Officials, One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code' died with CABO in the 1990s; and there is no such body or document as the 'NATIONAL BOARD OF FIRE PREVENTION CODE'. 80% · operator's homepage + codified land development regulations
• Which building code edition is in force? FLORIDA BUILDING CODE, 8TH EDITION (2023), effective for permit applications from 1 January 2024 - stated by EPCI on its homepage, and independently by Gulf County on its own building page ('Gulf County has adopted the Florida Building 2023 eighth edition'). The City itself adopts nothing: there is NO buildings-and-building-regulations chapter in the Code of Ordinances at all (the chapters run 1, 2, 6, 14, 20, 22, 26, 30, 38, 42, 46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 70 - no building chapter, no electrical chapter, no fire chapter), and the only local adopting instrument is LDR Sec. 1.08's floating reference to 'the latest edition' of the FBC. *** THE THREE-DOCUMENT CODE-YEAR TEST, RUN HERE, AND IT FAILS THE SAME WAY IT FAILS AT PARKER - AND IT FAILS ON THE EXACT DOCUMENT A SOLAR INSTALLER FILLS IN. Document 1, EPCI's homepage: 8th Edition (2023) plus NEC 2020, correct. Document 2, EPCI's MEP (Mechanical / ELECTRICAL / Plumbing) Permit Application - the form an electrical permit is taken on - prints in its header 'Florida Building Code 2020 7th Edition'. So does EPCI's Application for Roofing Permit. Document 3, the City's own Application for Building Permit and its Permit Requirements sheet: NO edition printed at all. The superseded edition is on the electrical form. The worst document really is the one the installer fills in. 88% · operator's permit application (header) vs operator's homepage
• Which fire code edition is in force? The Florida Fire Prevention Code applies by state law (FS 633.202), and THE CITY ADOPTS NOTHING AND HAS NO FIRE CODE CHAPTER. The Code of Ordinances jumps from Chapter 30 (Environment) to Chapter 38 (Land Development Regulations) - there is no Chapter 34. And the code contains a dangling cross-reference to the chapter that is missing: at Chapter 2, Art. III, Div. 5 (Fire Force), the editor's cross reference reads 'Retirement system, s. 2-196; BUREAU OF FIRE PREVENTION, s. 34-36 ET SEQ.' - pointing at a chapter that does not exist in the code. The only other fire reference is LDR Sec. 1.08's incorporation of the 'National Board of Fire Prevention Code', which is not a real instrument. The City does run a Fire Department (Charter Sec. 47; FY2025 Fire expenditure $130,722) but no fire plan-review or fire-permit function for residential work is published anywhere, and nothing routes a residential PV permit to fire. 78% · codified code of ordinances
• Are there local amendments to any of the above? NO local building or electrical amendments exist - the City has no building, electrical or fire chapter to put them in. The only LOCAL technical rules that reach a residential PV job are: (1) THE FLOOD PROVISIONS, LDR Art. IV as rewritten by Ordinance No. 583 (adopted 2021, UNCODIFIED), which bite hard because 46% of the city's land is in the SFHA - see Q34 and Q47; (2) the 140 MPH WINDLOAD compliance-method requirement on the Permit Requirements sheet (Q13/Q26), which is administrative rather than codified; (3) the 50-YEAR HISTORIC NOTIFICATION duty, LDR Sec. 4.05(b) (Q25); (4) the DEVELOPMENT ORDER gate, LDR Sec. 2.01 (Q27). A 'disconnect' sweep of the whole codified corpus was run as the caller asked: one hit, and it is about manufactured homes being 'attached to the site only by quick-disconnect utilities' - there is no local electrical disconnect rule of any kind. 80% · uncodified ordinance + codified land development regulations
• What is the installation judged against? The Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023) and NEC 2020 as adopted by the State, applied by an EPCI plans examiner and inspector on behalf of the City, PLUS the City's own flood provisions (LDR Art. IV as amended by Ord. 583) wherever the parcel is in a flood hazard area, PLUS the 140 mph windload compliance method the Permit Requirements sheet demands. Nothing solar-specific: the authority publishes no PV standard, no PV detail, no PV checklist and no PV fee line. 82% · operator's homepage + codified regulations

Ridge setbacks and roof access pathways are fire-service requirements and they constrain the array layout. They are the most common cause of a redesign after the fire department comments on a plan set.

Nothing recorded for City of Port St. Joe on this step yet — 1 question checked and found unpublished. The guidance above is general.

Which rapid-shutdown rule applies follows directly from the NEC edition in force, and the initiation device has to be at a location the fire service can reach and identify. This is inspected, and it is labelled.

• Is rapid shutdown required, and to which NEC edition? Rapid shutdown is required to NEC 2020 Article 690.12, reaching the job through the state-adopted Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023) rather than through anything local. The City restates nothing: 'rapid shutdown', '690.12' and '690' return zero hits across the codified Code of Ordinances, Charter and Land Development Regulation Code and across every form the City and EPCI publish for Port St. Joe. 76% · operator's homepage (code edition) + proved local absence

The NEC sets a baseline for permanent markings at the service equipment and the disconnecting means. On top of that, an authority may specify its own wording, and the utility may specify more again. Where any of them writes its own text, a generic off-the-shelf label set will not pass — this is the detail most often fixed on a return visit.

• Which placards does this authority require at the service equipment? The AHJ specifies NONE of its own. Labelling on a Port St. Joe PV job is whatever NEC 2020 Articles 690 and 705 require, enforced by the EPCI inspector, PLUS Duke Energy's own label set, which is specified and FITTED BY DUKE rather than by the installer - see Q42. Neither the City nor EPCI publishes a placard, label, sign or marking requirement of any kind for any permit type. 80% · proved absence across the authority's published document set
• Does the authority specify placard wording of its own? NO. Neither the City of Port St. Joe nor EPCI specifies any placard wording, and there is no local sign or marking text for electrical work anywhere. The only 'sign' provisions in the code are advertising signs (LDR Art. VI), which are a different thing entirely and carry their own $25 permit fee. 80% · proved absence across codified code
• Does it specify letter height, colour or material? Nothing from the AHJ. And the one letter-height specification that exists in the utility's book does NOT apply to a house - White Book Section VII is headed 'THREE-PHASE-TO-THREE-PHASE MODULAR METER CENTERS' and its Section VII.B labelling paragraph ('It is the customer's responsibility to properly label the meter centers') is scoped to those installations. Duke's residential PV labels are its own catalogued items with sizes given as 3"x2", 6"x4" and 9"x6" (Q42), with no letter height, colour or material stated because Duke supplies them. 75% · utility's construction standard
• Is a site plan / facility map placard required, and what must it show? No local site-plan or facility-map placard is specified; NEC 2020 705.10 applies unamended through the state-adopted code. Neither the City, EPCI nor Duke restates 705.10 - Duke's White Book label table is about warning and isolation labels at the meter, transformer and disconnect, not about a permanent plaque showing the location of the service and generation disconnects. 70% · utility's construction standard + proved local absence
• Does the UTILITY specify placards beyond the AHJ's? YES - and this is the only placard regime that actually operates here, because the AHJ specifies nothing. Duke Energy White Book (Requirements for Electric Service and Meter Installations, Florida Service Area, revised 1 April 2026), Section VI-E: 'Duke Energy labeling on all distributive generator sites shall be applied by Duke Energy personnel.' Notes: '1. Signs and labels are installed by Duke Energy. 2. INSTALL SIGNS AND LABELS ON ALL KW SIZES OF DISTRIBUTED GENERATION SITES. 3. Clean the surface before installing labels.' The catalogue: 1505316 Label, Electric Generator Warning (3"x2"), Meter Base/Primary Meter, lower left; 1505322 Label, Electric Generator Warning (6"x4"), Pad-Mounted Transformer, above the lock; 1505691 Sign, Electric Generator Warning (9"x6"), Overhead Transformers Pole, 5' to 6' above the ground; 1505328 Label, Generator Isolation Device (3"x2"), Small Disconnect Switch, near the OFF position; 1505332 Label, Generator Isolation Device (6"x4"), Large Disconnect Switch, near the OFF position; 4205529 Sign, Generator Isolation Device (9"x6"), Recloser/Pole Disconnect Switch, 5' to 6' above the ground. 'ALL KW SIZES' means a domestic rooftop array, and DUKE SUPPLIES AND FITS THESE - THE INSTALLER DOES NOT. 90% · utility's construction standard
• Where must the labels be placed? Duke's own table gives the positions, and they are the only placement rules that apply: the 3"x2" Electric Generator Warning label goes on the METER BASE / primary meter at the LOWER LEFT; the 6"x4" version goes on a pad-mounted transformer ABOVE THE LOCK; the 9"x6" sign goes on an overhead transformer pole 5' TO 6' ABOVE THE GROUND; the Generator Isolation Device labels go on the disconnect switch NEAR THE OFF POSITION. All fitted by Duke personnel. The AHJ specifies no placement at all. 88% · utility's construction standard

Where the AC disconnect must sit relative to the meter is usually the utility's rule, not the building department's. Battery storage frequently carries its own permit, its own inspection and its own fire conditions.

• Where must the AC disconnect be, relative to the meter? The switch IS required - by Duke's construction standard - and the rule that appears to exempt Tier 1 only moves who pays. Record it both ways. DUKE'S WHITE BOOK, FIGURE 48A ('NET' GENERATION METERING SINGLE OR THREE-PHASE, SELF-CONTAINED METERED SERVICE, RESIDENTIAL/SMALL COMMERCIAL, revision 3 dated 3/31/24, DEF column ticked), notes verbatim: '1. GENERATION DISCONNECT REQUIRED AT ALL CONNECTION POINTS A, B, C, OR D. 2. GENERATION DISCONNECT REQUIREMENTS: MUST BE LOAD-BREAK RATED, INCORPORATE A LOCKABLE OPEN POSITION, AND PROVIDE A VISIBLE OPEN. 3. GENERATOR DISCONNECT LOCATION: MUST BE WITHIN SITE [sight] OF METERBASE AND READILY ACCESSIBLE. 4. WARNING LABEL REQUIREMENTS - PLEASE REFER TO SECTION 6. 5. CONNECTION AT POINT A: METERBASE MUST BE RATED/DESIGNED FOR DUAL LUG CONNECTORS AND MUST NOT BE MODIFIED TO ACCEPT DUAL LUG CONNECTORS. 7. CABLE TROUGH "D" MUST BE LOCKABLE.' Figure 48B adds: 'CUSTOMER OWNED DEVICES OF ANY KIND ARE NOT ALLOWED BETWEEN THE COMPANY'S METER AND THE METER SOCKET.' FL PSC RULE 25-6.065(6)(a), read first-hand: the utility 'may require customers to install, AT THE CUSTOMER'S EXPENSE, a manual disconnect switch of the visible load break type ... Inverter-based Tier 1 customer-owned renewable generation systems shall be EXEMPT from this requirement, UNLESS the manual disconnect switch is installed AT THE INVESTOR-OWNED UTILITY'S EXPENSE. The manual disconnect switch shall be mounted separate from, but adjacent to, the meter socket and shall be readily accessible to the investor-owned utility and capable of being locked in the open position with a single investor-owned utility padlock.' DUKE'S OWN TIER 1 AGREEMENT para 15 matches the rule: 'In the event the Company elects to install a manual disconnect switch, it shall be at the Company's expense.' => So on a Tier 1 house the switch is Duke's to elect, fit and pay for; it is still going to be there, adjacent to the meter, visible-break and utility-lockable. The AHJ requires nothing. 85% · utility's construction standard + FL PSC Rule 25-6.065(6)(a)
• Must equipment be on a specific approved list? YES, and the requirement is the utility's. Duke Tier 1 Standard Interconnection Agreement para 5: 'Customer-owned renewable generation shall be considered certified for interconnected operation if it has been submitted by a manufacturer to a nationally recognized testing and certification laboratory, and has been tested and listed by the laboratory for continuous interactive operation with an electric distribution system in compliance with the applicable codes and standards of IEEE 1547, IEEE 1547.1 and UL 1741.' Para 6 adds that the system 'shall include a utility-interactive inverter, or other device certified pursuant to item 5 ... that performs the function of automatically isolating the Customer-owned generation equipment from the electric grid in the event the electric grid loses power.' The AHJ states no listing requirement of its own. 90% · utility's filed tariff sheet
• Are batteries permitted, and under what conditions? Permitted, with nothing local governing it. The City has no ESS, battery or energy-storage provision anywhere and EPCI's 24-item 'Building Permit Requirements' list has no battery or storage entry (it does list 'Electrical' and 'Generator'). The relevant live rule is statutory rather than local: FS 553.791(1)(r), read first-hand today, now defines 'single-trade inspection' or 'single-trade plans review' to include 'SOLAR ENERGY AND ENERGY STORAGE INSTALLATIONS OR ALTERATIONS' and 'alteration or installation of wiring, lighting, and service panels' - so both the array and the battery are single-trade work a private provider may review and inspect. 62% · Florida Statutes s. 553.791(1)(r) + proved local absence
• Is a ground mount treated as a structure? Treated as an ACCESSORY STRUCTURE, permitted in residential districts by an OPEN list rather than gated by a closed one. LDR Sec. 3.01(4): 'Accessory buildings and uses incidental to each single-family dwelling, where not used or operated commercially, INCLUDING private garages ... sheds for the housing of pets, children's playhouses, greenhouses, tool sheds, workshops, and servant's quarters SHALL BE PERMITTED in residential districts. Side lot set back lines which apply to the primary residential structure on any lot shall apply to such accessory buildings. Rear set back lines shall be five feet where an alley is adjacent to the property and ten feet where there is no alley.' 'Including' makes the list illustrative, so a ground-mounted array is not excluded. Height limit in the residential districts is 35 feet, and note that LDR Sec. 3.18(2) grants an express height exception to 'Radio, television and receiving antennas' with NO equivalent for solar. TWO THINGS THAT BITE A GROUND MOUNT HERE: (1) in the SFHA, accessory structures must have 'flood damage-resistant materials used below the base flood elevation plus one (1) foot' and 'mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems, including plumbing fixtures, elevated to or above the base flood elevation plus one (1) foot' (Ord. 583, Sec. 4.25(b)(5)-(6)), and in a V/VE zone an accessory structure may not exceed 100 sq ft and may not sit below an elevated building; (2) LDR Sec. 5.02 impervious surface coverage and the Development Order data block both ask for impervious surface, and the DO packet measures setbacks 'from the closest overhang to property line'. *** A DECOY TO IGNORE: LDR Sec. 3.21 prohibits, within 2,000 feet of U.S. Highway 98, 'Any imitation or natural or manmade features including, but not limited to, mountains, volcanoes, gorges, animals, dinosaurs, WINDMILLS, oil derrick, airplanes, or any other artificial depiction.' That is an anti-kitsch rule about decorative depictions, sitting in a list with dinosaurs and volcanoes. It is not a renewable-energy prohibition and it does not reach solar - but it is the only renewable-adjacent word in the code and a careless grep will misread it. 78% · codified land development regulations
• Is there a local rule on service upgrades or busbar sizing? No service-upgrade, busbar or 120%-rule provision exists locally - there is no electrical chapter. The ONE local rule that reaches service equipment is a FLOOD rule, and in Port St. Joe it reaches nearly half the city. LDR Art. IV Sec. 4.31 'Other development' as adopted by Ordinance No. 583: '(a)(5) Have mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems above the design flood elevation or meet the requirements of ASCE 24, except that minimum electric service required to address life safety and electric code requirements is permitted below the design flood elevation provided it conforms to the provisions of the electrical part of building code for wet locations.' For detached accessory structures the bar is higher still - Sec. 4.25(b)(6): 'Have mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems, including plumbing fixtures, elevated to or above the BASE FLOOD ELEVATION PLUS ONE (1) FOOT.' So relocating or upsizing a service, or mounting an inverter, combiner or AC disconnect low on a wall, is a flood question here before it is an electrical one. 72% · uncodified ordinance (OCR'd)
• Is a specific mounting system or attachment spacing required? Nothing PV-specific. The only published attachment requirement is generic and structural: plans must show a 'Method of complying with 140 MPH windload ewquirements. Options are Architect or Engineer's design' and 'Wall sections for each different type of wall from foundation through roof including assembly and materials. Connection tables including hurricane clips, strapes, fasteners, nail or screw patterns, hold-downs.' No rail spacing, no standoff spacing, no attachment schedule, no uplift table, no pull-test requirement is published. 65% · authority's own permit requirements sheet

Booking is a portal, a phone call or an email depending on the authority, and the notice required is rarely zero. Book before the work is finished rather than after — the lead time, not the work, is usually what sets the date.

• How is an inspection booked? The permit holder, to EPCI. Two routes, both first-party: EPCI's web inspection-request form ('Need an inspection? Submit An Inspection request'), which collects Name, Phone, Email, PERMIT NUMBER, ADDRESS OF PERMIT, CITY OF INSPECTION, FIELD CONTACT, CONTRACTOR and a Message and is CAPTCHA-gated; or by telephone to the Building Department on 850-229-1093. The fee schedule makes it the permit holder's duty: 'Failure to call for Inspection $50.00'. 78% · operator's city-specific page + authority's fee schedule

Some authorities inspect their own solar work; some delegate it, and a few do not inspect the PV equipment itself at all. Who is coming determines what they will look at.

• Does this AHJ perform its own final solar inspection? EPCI, on behalf of the City of Port St. Joe - and there is no county involvement. The named personnel on the City's own page are Bo Creel, Building Inspector (850-819-5191) and Scooter Hodges, Building Official (850-832-8021). *** THE EXPENDITURE TEST, RUN ON BOTH INSTRUMENTS, AND IT IS THE CLEANEST RESULT THIS SURVEY HAS: the City's FY2025 audited General Fund shows NINE departmental expenditure lines - City commission, Administration, Police, Fire, Streets and highways, Parks and cemeteries, Human services, Maintenance shop, Nondepartmental - and NO building, inspection or protective-inspections line at all, on total expenditures of $8,668,999. The FY2025-26 adopted budget summary (Ordinance No. 623) shows nineteen appropriation lines and again NO building department. The City spends nothing on building regulation. That matches EPCI's own About Us page, which says Scooter Hodges 'began providing municipalities with a full-service building department AT NO COST TO THE MUNICIPALITY as EPCI' - the operator is paid out of the fees it collects, and 'Licenses and permits' revenue was $67,826 against a $73,641 budget in FY2025. 88% · authority's audited financial statements + operator's own page
• If delegated, to whom? City of Port St. Joe Building Department (operated as the 'EPCI / Port St Joe Building Department'), 1002 10th Street, Port St. Joe, FL 32456. Phone 850-229-1093. Fax 850-229-8242. Bo Creel, Building Inspector, 850-819-5191. Scooter Hodges, Building Official, 850-832-8021. Inspection requests also via EPCI's web form. Note that 1002 10th Street is also the City's Public Works building. (For contrast, the county desk that does NOT have jurisdiction here: Gulf County Building Department, 1000 Cecil G. Costin Sr. Blvd, Room 400, Port St. Joe, 850-229-8944 ext 1, Doug Crane Building Official.) A third Building Department name surfaces only in minutes, not on any web page: 'Sabrin Garrote, Port St. Joe Building Department' reports to the Planning, Development and Review Board on Special Exception Requests (PDRB minutes, 2 June 2026) - so the same desk that issues the building permit also staffs the PDRB's land-use items. 92% · authority's own department page

A rough-in or mid-roof inspection, where one is required, has to happen before the work it covers is closed up. Missing a stage means opening something back up, and it is the most expensive kind of correction.

Nothing recorded for City of Port St. Joe on this step yet — 2 questions checked and found unpublished. The guidance above is general.

The approved plan set, the permit, and the equipment listings should be on site and reachable. Inspectors routinely verify that installed equipment matches what was approved, and that the labels are the ones the plan set promised.

• What must be on site at inspection? YES, and it is stated as an absolute. Permit Requirements item 8: 'Approval set of plans must be on site with permit placard at all times.' Item 4 additionally requires the Notice of Commencement, and the permit application warns that for work of $2,500 or more 'A certified copy of the Notice of Commencement must be provided to this Department before the second [EPCI's copy: FIRST] or any subsequent inspection can be performed' - so on a $2,500+ PV job the recorded NOC gates inspections as well as the documents on site. 88% · authority's own permit requirements sheet

Passing gives you a final or an equivalent sign-off. That is not the same as permission to operate: PTO comes from the utility, and who tells the utility the inspection passed varies. A system left switched off for weeks is usually waiting on this handover.

• Who notifies the utility for PTO? THE CUSTOMER / INSTALLER, not the AHJ. Duke's Tier 1 Standard Interconnection Agreement para 7: 'The Customer agrees to provide Local Building Code Official inspection and certification of installation. The certification shall reflect that the local code official has inspected and certified that the installation was permitted, has been approved, and has met all electrical and mechanical qualifications.' Nothing in the City's or EPCI's published process sends anything to the utility. Under FL PSC Rule 25-6.065(7)(d) the customer must return the executed agreement to the utility at least 30 calendar days before beginning parallel operation. 88% · utility's filed tariff sheet
• Is there a re-inspection fee? $50.00. EPCI Fee Schedule D.7: 'Re-inspection Fee $50.00 (If a re-inspection occurs multiple times for the same Violation - See Florida Building Code for fee.)' and D.8: 'Failure to call for Inspection $50.00'. Separately, E: 'Special Inspection and all other Inspections where no permit fee is generated hourly rate $50.00 Minimum 1 hour', and an after-hours emergency power call-out at $75.00 for the first hour and $50.00 for each hour thereafter, 'the responsibility of the contractor and owner. Payment will be made upon arrival of the inspector or to the Building Department immediately following the service.' 88% · authority's own fee schedule