PACE Loan in Orange County: How It Shows Up on Your Orlando Tax Bill (and How to Get Out)

PACE Loan Orange County: How It Shows Up on Your Tax Bill

A PACE loan does not bill you like a car loan or a credit card. In Orange County, it shows up as a "non-ad valorem assessment" on your annual property tax bill. That is the section below your regular property taxes. It sits next to items like solid waste and stormwater fees.

The line usually shows the program or provider name, such as Ygrene. It will not say "solar loan." Many Orlando homeowners never spot it until the bill jumps.

Here is a common mix-up: your electric bill has nothing to do with it. OUC in Orlando, Duke Energy in Sanford, Apopka, Clermont, and Winter Park, and KUA in Kissimmee bill you for power. The PACE payment comes only through the Orange County Tax Collector — or the Osceola or Seminole county tax collector if you live there.

How to Find Your PACE Assessment

• Pull your latest property tax bill from the Orange County Tax Collector's website. Osceola and Seminole have the same kind of lookup.
• Scroll to the non-ad valorem assessments section, below your regular taxes.
• Look for a line naming a PACE program or provider, like Ygrene.
• Note the yearly amount. Multiply it by the years left on the agreement to see the rough total still owed.

If your mortgage company escrows your taxes, it pays this line for you. Then it raises your monthly payment to cover it. That is why so many homeowners in Pine Hills, Azalea Park, and MetroWest first hear about their PACE loan from their mortgage servicer — not from the solar company.

Ygrene in Orlando: Why the Payment Feels So Big

PACE loans collect once a year through the tax bill. So instead of small monthly payments, a full year's payment lands at once. For many Orlando homeowners, that is thousands of dollars added to a single bill.

And here is the hard part. Many of these systems came from companies that no longer exist. Titan Solar filed Chapter 7 in June 2024. ADT shut down its solar division in 2024. SunPower filed Chapter 11 in 2024, and its new owner did not take on the older warranties. Freedom Forever filed Chapter 11 in April 2026. The tax bill keeps coming even if the panels never worked.

• My Solar Installer Went Bankrupt in Florida — Now What? →
• Solar Installed but Never Turned On (No PTO) in Florida →
• Free Florida Solar Company Bankruptcy Tracker →

Selling or Refinancing With a PACE Loan in Orange County

A PACE loan in Orange County attaches to the property, not to you. Under Florida law, the assessment survives a sale. If nothing is done, the next owner inherits the payments on their tax bill.

In real life, that rarely happens. Most buyers and their lenders want the PACE balance gone before closing. So the payoff usually comes out of your sale money at the closing table. Refinancing often works the same way — many lenders ask for the assessment to be handled first.

The PACE program in Orange County, Florida works the same way in Osceola and Seminole: the debt rides on the county tax bill until it is paid off. So if you are selling in Conway, College Park, or anywhere in Central Florida, request a payoff statement early. A surprise at closing is the worst kind.

How to Pay Off a PACE Loan in Orange County

• Ask your PACE provider — Ygrene, for example — for a written payoff statement.
• Check the date on your financing agreement.
• Signed on or after July 1, 2024? Florida's SB 770 (s.163.081) says you can prepay with no penalty.
• Signed before that? Your contract controls, though the major providers state they do not charge residential prepayment penalties.
• Pay through your title company at closing, or directly to the provider if you are keeping the home.

Once it is paid, the assessment comes off future tax bills. Keep the release paperwork. If your escrow was covering it, ask your servicer to re-run the escrow analysis so your monthly payment drops.

One warning: never skip your property tax bill to protest a PACE charge. In Florida, unpaid property taxes can lead to a tax certificate sale — and, in time, losing the home over a fight you might otherwise have won.

When a Court Can Void a PACE Deal

Some PACE deals in Central Florida were signed at a kitchen table under pressure. Florida law gives homeowners real tools here — but they run through the courts, so this is where an attorney comes in.

• Section 163.086 lets a court void a PACE agreement for forgery, fraud, or violations of the 3-day cancellation rules.
• Florida's home-solicitation law gives you a 3-business-day right to cancel a door-to-door sale.
• FDUTPA, the state's deceptive-practices law, covers misleading door-to-door solar pitches.
• The FTC Holder Rule may let you raise the installer's misconduct against the lender on dealer-arranged loans.

We are not a law firm, and none of this is legal advice. Whether any tool fits depends on your contract and your facts. What we do is build the paper trail — the signed agreement, the tax bill lines, permits, and photos — then connect you with a licensed Florida attorney. The referral costs you nothing.

We come to you in Central Florida. Our rep is based in the Orlando area and does in-person Phase 1 documentation visits — Orlando, Kissimmee, Sanford, Apopka, Clermont, Winter Park, and nearby. We photograph the system, gather the contract and tax records, and check whether the system ever received Permission to Operate (PTO), the utility sign-off it needs before it can legally produce power.

Your Next Step in Orlando

Every exit starts the same way: know exactly what you owe, what was promised, and what was delivered. That is Phase 1 — a $497 documentation package, credited back if you move forward. If the panels need to come off, a qualified, licensed local roofing contractor handles licensed removal and roof repair.

• PACE & Ygrene Loans in Florida — the Full Guide →
• The PACE Exit Playbook →
• Get Out of a Ygrene PACE Loan in Florida →
• Solar Help in Orlando →