Lately I've seen several members looking into solar leases. I looked into it myself and soon realized that it's pretty much full of crap. I ask anyone who's contemplating a solar lease to please do your research and do not make your decision based on the info of the solar leasing company.
http://solarleasedisadvantages.com/
A Solar Lease May Sound Great On The Surface, But Take The Time To Do The Math And You'll Probably Change Your Mind In A Hurry.
1. When you purchase instead of lease a solar system, it dramatically raises your home's value as soon as you install it. But if you lease a solar system, you've created a debt liability that a potential home buyer will probably not want to assume. What potential home buyer would want to assume a lease on a used solar system that will only save him or her 6 to 15% on their electric bill. And if the potential home buyer wants nothing to do with your legally binding debt or can't qualify for the lease assumption, then you'll have to pay a hefty penalty to break your lease agreement
2. A properly installed solar system requires almost no maintenance other than a good rinsing with a garden hose occasionally to remove accumulated dust from the solar modules. Solar modules are covered under a 25 year factory warranty and inverters are covered by a 10 to 25 year factory warranty.
3. A solar systems will not only pay itself off in as little as 4 to 5 years, but will continue to make you money over its 30 to 40 year expected lifetime. This is one of the primary reasons why residential solar lease companies want you to let them use your roof.
4. Huge cash rebates are available from many states and utilities. Some as high as $2,000.00 per kilowatt. With a solar lease you won't receive a rebate because you are not buying the system. The leasing company will get the rebate because they will own the system that you'll be making payments on for the next 20 years. This is another reason why residential solar lease companies want you to let them use your roof.
5. The Federal government is currently offering a 30% tax credit that's currently available for the installation of a solar electric system on your home or business. With a solar lease you won't receive the 30% federal tax credit either because you are not buying the system. The leasing company will get the tax credit because they will own the system that you'll be making payments on for the next 20 years. This is another reason why residential solar lease companies want you to let them use your roof.
6. A solar electric system can earn RECs (renewable energy credits) that can be sold to entities that to offset carbon production. With a solar lease you won't earn any renewable energy credits either because you won't own the system. The leasing company will get the renewable energy credits because they will own the system that you'll be making payments on for the next 20 years. This is another reason why residential solar lease companies want you to let them use your roof.
Here's How The Typical Solar Lease Or PPA Scheme Unfolds:
Step 1. The solar leasing/PPA companies typically purchases low cost, standard quality components for use in their systems.
Take a close look at the typical solar lease or PPA quote and you will rarely find any mention of solar panel brand or performance specifications, the inverter brand or performance specifications, or the brand or materials used in the manufacture of the system's mounting racks.
Step 2. When providing a solar system purchase quote, the solar leasing/PPA companies will typically mark their system pricing up to nearly double what you can purchase a system for on the open market. The solar lease/PPA salesman will quote you this much higher pricing in an effort to convince you that solar is too expensive to buy and that you would be better served by a lease or PPA.
When it comes to pricing, the bottom line is this: You should never be paying more than $3.00 per watt for a standard tile or composition rooftop installation before incentives. To determine the cost per watt for any system, simply take the quoted price for the system before incentives and divide that price by the DC wattage of the system Example: Price of system before incentives $15,000 divided by the size of the system 5,000 watts (or 5kW) equals $3.00 per watt. The leasing and PPA companies typically quote their systems at about $5.00 to $6.00 per watt. Which is much too high in today's market.
Step 3. The Solar Lease/PPA salesman will then offer their "preferred financing option" a $0 down lease or PPA as an option to their "high" system purchase price.
With exception to retirees or people who otherwise do not pay federal income tax or have a $0 income tax liability, there is simply no such thing as a $0 down solar lease or PPA.
The reason for this is the you are required to forfeit the 30% federal tax credit and any cash rebate that you would have eared if you had purchased your system, to the solar lease or PPA company. This money would have gone into your pocket had you purchased your system instead.*
The 30% federal tax credit and cash rebate is typically no small amount of money either, and can easily exceed $10,000.00 on a moderate sized system.
Step 4. The solar lease/PPA salesman will then attempt to convince you to sign their solar lease or PPA contract because they will argue that it makes far more economic sense when compared to their (high) quoted purchase price.
In reality though, when you sign a lease or PPA agreement, when you consider the forfeiture of the 30% federal tax credit and the forfeiture of any available cash rebate and the 20 years worth of lease/PPA payments, and any annual payment escalator, you'll find that you'll end up paying up to three times what you would have paid if you purchased your system instead.
Step 5. If the solar lease/PPA salesman's tactics are unsuccessful at this point they will try to convince you to sign by using their imaginary "ace in the hole" added bonus of free maintenance and repairs, free monitoring, and free insurance.
We use the term "imaginary" here because, unfortunately, there is nothing free about any of these bonuses. Remember, add up the 30% federal tax credit, any cash rebate and the 20 years worth of lease payments including any annual payment escalator and you'll find that you're paying so much more (up to triple the cost) for the rental of their solar system, when compared to buying, that it is actually you who will be paying for any monitoring, maintenance/repairs and insurance, not the leasing company.
Step 6. Just like visiting your local car dealer, once the car salesman get you in their office their primary goal is to not let you leave without buying a car.
Solar lease/PPA salesmen are aggressively trained not to leave your home until they get your signature on their airtight contract. The leasing/PPA company's pricing is so high that the leasing/PPA salesman knows full well that if you shop their pricing they will lose their sale. Solar lease/PPA salesmen are taught to get your signature on the very first visit to your home.
http://solarleasedisadvantages.com/
A Solar Lease May Sound Great On The Surface, But Take The Time To Do The Math And You'll Probably Change Your Mind In A Hurry.
1. When you purchase instead of lease a solar system, it dramatically raises your home's value as soon as you install it. But if you lease a solar system, you've created a debt liability that a potential home buyer will probably not want to assume. What potential home buyer would want to assume a lease on a used solar system that will only save him or her 6 to 15% on their electric bill. And if the potential home buyer wants nothing to do with your legally binding debt or can't qualify for the lease assumption, then you'll have to pay a hefty penalty to break your lease agreement
2. A properly installed solar system requires almost no maintenance other than a good rinsing with a garden hose occasionally to remove accumulated dust from the solar modules. Solar modules are covered under a 25 year factory warranty and inverters are covered by a 10 to 25 year factory warranty.
3. A solar systems will not only pay itself off in as little as 4 to 5 years, but will continue to make you money over its 30 to 40 year expected lifetime. This is one of the primary reasons why residential solar lease companies want you to let them use your roof.
4. Huge cash rebates are available from many states and utilities. Some as high as $2,000.00 per kilowatt. With a solar lease you won't receive a rebate because you are not buying the system. The leasing company will get the rebate because they will own the system that you'll be making payments on for the next 20 years. This is another reason why residential solar lease companies want you to let them use your roof.
5. The Federal government is currently offering a 30% tax credit that's currently available for the installation of a solar electric system on your home or business. With a solar lease you won't receive the 30% federal tax credit either because you are not buying the system. The leasing company will get the tax credit because they will own the system that you'll be making payments on for the next 20 years. This is another reason why residential solar lease companies want you to let them use your roof.
6. A solar electric system can earn RECs (renewable energy credits) that can be sold to entities that to offset carbon production. With a solar lease you won't earn any renewable energy credits either because you won't own the system. The leasing company will get the renewable energy credits because they will own the system that you'll be making payments on for the next 20 years. This is another reason why residential solar lease companies want you to let them use your roof.
Here's How The Typical Solar Lease Or PPA Scheme Unfolds:
Step 1. The solar leasing/PPA companies typically purchases low cost, standard quality components for use in their systems.
Take a close look at the typical solar lease or PPA quote and you will rarely find any mention of solar panel brand or performance specifications, the inverter brand or performance specifications, or the brand or materials used in the manufacture of the system's mounting racks.
Step 2. When providing a solar system purchase quote, the solar leasing/PPA companies will typically mark their system pricing up to nearly double what you can purchase a system for on the open market. The solar lease/PPA salesman will quote you this much higher pricing in an effort to convince you that solar is too expensive to buy and that you would be better served by a lease or PPA.
When it comes to pricing, the bottom line is this: You should never be paying more than $3.00 per watt for a standard tile or composition rooftop installation before incentives. To determine the cost per watt for any system, simply take the quoted price for the system before incentives and divide that price by the DC wattage of the system Example: Price of system before incentives $15,000 divided by the size of the system 5,000 watts (or 5kW) equals $3.00 per watt. The leasing and PPA companies typically quote their systems at about $5.00 to $6.00 per watt. Which is much too high in today's market.
Step 3. The Solar Lease/PPA salesman will then offer their "preferred financing option" a $0 down lease or PPA as an option to their "high" system purchase price.
With exception to retirees or people who otherwise do not pay federal income tax or have a $0 income tax liability, there is simply no such thing as a $0 down solar lease or PPA.
The reason for this is the you are required to forfeit the 30% federal tax credit and any cash rebate that you would have eared if you had purchased your system, to the solar lease or PPA company. This money would have gone into your pocket had you purchased your system instead.*
The 30% federal tax credit and cash rebate is typically no small amount of money either, and can easily exceed $10,000.00 on a moderate sized system.
Step 4. The solar lease/PPA salesman will then attempt to convince you to sign their solar lease or PPA contract because they will argue that it makes far more economic sense when compared to their (high) quoted purchase price.
In reality though, when you sign a lease or PPA agreement, when you consider the forfeiture of the 30% federal tax credit and the forfeiture of any available cash rebate and the 20 years worth of lease/PPA payments, and any annual payment escalator, you'll find that you'll end up paying up to three times what you would have paid if you purchased your system instead.
Step 5. If the solar lease/PPA salesman's tactics are unsuccessful at this point they will try to convince you to sign by using their imaginary "ace in the hole" added bonus of free maintenance and repairs, free monitoring, and free insurance.
We use the term "imaginary" here because, unfortunately, there is nothing free about any of these bonuses. Remember, add up the 30% federal tax credit, any cash rebate and the 20 years worth of lease payments including any annual payment escalator and you'll find that you're paying so much more (up to triple the cost) for the rental of their solar system, when compared to buying, that it is actually you who will be paying for any monitoring, maintenance/repairs and insurance, not the leasing company.
Step 6. Just like visiting your local car dealer, once the car salesman get you in their office their primary goal is to not let you leave without buying a car.
Solar lease/PPA salesmen are aggressively trained not to leave your home until they get your signature on their airtight contract. The leasing/PPA company's pricing is so high that the leasing/PPA salesman knows full well that if you shop their pricing they will lose their sale. Solar lease/PPA salesmen are taught to get your signature on the very first visit to your home.
