Disagree, at least in CA.
In CA they are almost always legit. Have a friend in the business and we had one done on a few properties.
Was always worth it and saved us some money each time on ways to save that we generally didn’t think about.
I guess my experience with a HERS test was the exact opposite of yours. They didn’t do anything substantive. This was actually after I had a complete HVAC overhaul and they were supposed to identify issues.
The guy put his weird sensor and contraption over my return register near the air handler and he said there seemed to be a big leak somewhere in the return plenum since the static pressure at the supply registers didn’t seem to align up with what was going into the return register.
I was like… so what now? And he said nothing… I’ll just document it’s not very good and sign off. You’ll need to figure out yourself why the contractor won’t fix this. Like… wtf why is the contractor having this HERS if the contractor DGAF? I don’t understand. I still don’t get the while purpose of a HERS.
My neighbors that sought “help” to manage their costs also said it was a complete and utter waste of time. They all got flagged by PG&E for dipping into the “bad” territory for energy use since they were running their AC’s to keep the home cool. Both times PG&E just installed boxes on their homes that could remotely de-activate the condensing units. Useless.
I was able to help them design a new system with a heat pump. And told him where to try and seal the plenum.
Also, you live in Florida. It is going to be expensive to cool a big house when it is 90 degrees plus for weeks on end.
But in the winter your utility bills are low. So they average out to a reasonable number per month.
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I rarely pay over $50/mo, usually $35-$40/mo (SCE) in a 700 sq foot apartment, ocean is 7 miles away and temps this year have been a lot cooler…place is facing NORTH with total of two sliding windows in each, Bedroom/Living room. “Winters” if you can call them that in SoCal, have never in 10 years turned on a heater function on AC unit 
NEST is set to AUTO and hasn’t kicked in unless I manually do it. My bill says most usage was on LIGHTS (The kitchen still has a fluorescent lighting) and that’s the main light being used…but maybe a couple hours or so a day max.
Water Heater was swapped for Electric a couple years ago by the Apartments Company
EDIT: I do have that CPA and SCE combo signed up for-don’t know if actually is saving $$ if any haha and get a discount on my rates too (CARE-low income stated)
Hmm I need this in a bad way. @cyak put a 11kw solar system on my house a couple years ago and it offsets maybe half of my total usage but I’m still averaging ~$165/mo with SCE despite minimal usage during peak hours (we don’t run anything from 4-9pm). Brand new windows were installed in 2020 so I have no idea where all the cool air is going. Probably have to just replace my aging HVAC but could use an expert opinion. Your buddy in SoCal?
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No, NorCal but I can get some referrals. I think the $150 off on the audit remains as a tax credit for 2025 as well so that helps.
Upgrade to a higher SEER HVAC unit (heat pump/AC combo) or mini-splits will make a huge difference. How big is your house? 2 story or one?
DM me if you want some names and I will try and get some to you!
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SW FL ~5,000sqft - 3 Condensers 2909kwh $410
NJ Shore ~1800sqft heat pump 365kwh $106