If you’ve ever looked into buying solar panels or photovoltaics for your house you know how much it cost. It can be anywhere from twenty to thirty thousand dollars for a typical home. What if you could instead lease a solar system for little or no money down? That’s what some companies are doing now and it seems to be catching on. Two I’ve discovered lately that do this are Citizenre and SolarCity. Basically it’s like renting a car, but with much longer leases, you pay very little down to get the system, and you pay them a monthly rent. You are protected from utility price hikes because the cost of the solar doesn’t change and you save money over what you’d be paying without solar panels. You also don’t have to worry about maintenance if anything goes wrong, these companies cover that for you.
One thing I noticed is that neither company seems to mention the generous incentives homeowners get if they buy their own system. According to American Solar Electric’s site a 22,478 dollar system only costs 9,878 dollars after APS/SRP rebates, and Federal and State tax incentives. Depending on the financing you can get this might be the better solution. Of course if anything goes wrong with the system or a much better cheaper form of energy comes out you are stuck with those solar panels and out a lot of money. If like me you live in a location that isn’t served by SRP or APS leasing sounds like it might be a great option to save money and the environment.
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James Towner | Posted in 
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:06 am
This is a great concept. It is such a huge investment to get the panels in the first place but then with technology hopefully getting better and better within several years you may need to start all over. Hmmm… where do I sign?
May 14th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
[...] a lot up front if you buy them outright, but after a few years they’ll pay themselves off. Leasing panels is another option. Your electric bill will be much lower for the life of the panels which is up to 30 years or [...]
May 18th, 2009 at 7:48 am
DON’T BE FOOLED read the lease and warranty documents before signing up. I was going to sign up w/ Solar City and I received all their paperwork. After reading the lease and the warranty I noticed that the lease said that I had to pay the monthly payments regardless of whether or not the panels work. The lease and the warranty are completely separate documents and therefore all of the guarantees the salesperson gave me about maintaining the equipment during the life of the lease are useless. Basically if Solar City goes out of business during the 15 year lease period and can’t or won’t maintain the equipment the bank they sell the lease to is still going to insist on being paid. You will have no recourse but to pay them. Imagine if your roof leaks after the installation, and Solar City isn’t around to fix it, how expensive it would be to pull the panels off and fix the roof and put the panels back. The bank who owns the lease has no obligation to fix your roof but you will still be obliged to pay the monthly rent. I chose not to do business with Solar City because they wouldn’t put in writing that whoever I have to pay the monthly rent to must also be obligated to maintain the solar system. What if Solar City isn’t around to remove the panels at the end of the lease? You will still have to pay the bank until you return the panels. This just isn’t a good deal with a company that has only been around for two years and has no track record. I really wanted to do this deal but I wasn’t going to let emotion override my realization that this is a bad and unfair deal for the homeowner. I am now looking for a company that would be willing to write any warranty obligation into the lease so that I am obliged to pay them and they are obliged to maintain the system. If anyone knows of such a company please let me know.
Thanks
May 31st, 2009 at 8:09 am
Now is the time for a social democracy to take hold and give regulation and tax breaks for a fair and reasonable profit by the capitalists who will indeed drive the solar power movement to a productive fruition. A quite apparent opening for legitimate capitalist gains, since the average home owner can’t afford an elaborate installation, and the capitalist does not have the location! This sharing of assets for a profit makes good sense, but in light of the damages that unregulated vulture capitalism, living by the “buyer beware” credo have done to the American people, a good dose of government regulation is going to be required to make this a fair exchange.
June 15th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Please also note that all of the bill has not been offset with Solar City’s lease. These monies will continue to escalate with inflation. Removal for reroofing is important because removing and replacing solar is Very Expensive. Be sure to check out Solar City’s yearly lease increase. Also check out their buyout at the end of the lease.
Gary
May 22nd, 2010 at 12:01 am
This is a useful article though… And you know, John Rogers, professor of science and materials engineering at the University of Illinois and his team have created a new method to produce flexible solar cells, transparent and extremely thin.
September 12th, 2011 at 9:37 pm
@Scott – I just read the SolarCity lease and the warranty looks good to me. It is now included in the lease and SolarCity is defined as including successors and assigns, meaning if another company or bank assumes the lessor position, the warranty carries over. They must have improved it since 2009.