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Hello, looking for some insight from those with solar systems on their homes. My wife and I are looking at purchasing a house with a solar panel system (Vivint Solar). It has 15 years left of the contract and I have read the terms. However, it says you must pay Vivint $.15 for every kw produced and that price will increase 2.9% every year thereafter. The sellers are currently on their 5th year of the contract.
My questions are, how do those with solar leases like them? Are you actually saving money or paying the price of their marketing strategies?
We've negotiated the price of the house down to a very comfortable level, but I have absolutely no experience with solar systems. From my research oniline so far, it's a very mixed review.
Hopefully I'm reading the contract wrong as it's only a scanned copy, but say at $.015 (if I put the decimal at the wrong location) it would be too good to be true? I can't fathom a company could make money on that basis
Search older threads. Short answer: having solar = good. LEASING solar = bad (most of the time). Generally, DO NOT LEASE solar, ever, unless you can get real immediate energy savings and cannot get rebates or tax credits for various reasons yourself. 1. Vivint in effect owns the roof since they own the panels that sit upon it. They could effectively put a lien on the property (although they claim they never do). 2. Despite the big savings claims, one of the bigger scams of leasing (which is ONLY related to leasing) is the escalation clause (ie the +2.9%) in the contract. The good news is PSEG can potentially haver a bigger rate hike than that (but not usually), the bad news is if you own the system, you avoid those rate increases altogether.
My suggestion is make the seller take them with them. Get rid of the whole deal and when you are ready, crunch the #'s and if savings are apparent, buy a system, get the tax breaks and even 1/3 cost of a new roof to go with them (tax credit for site improvements).
Or maybe try to buy out the lease (I'm guessing here). You get the equity they put in and still keep the system. But gotta get Vivint out of the picture and I bet that won't be easy once the contract is yours. Let the previous owner deal with it or factor some cost for you to resolve it.
As for owning solar. Everyone who doesn't have it has a story on why it's so bad. Everyone who has it, loves it. 99.999% of the horror stories are related to leasing and the blitzkrieg by companies like Vivint and Solar City who carpet bombed neighborhoods with promotions and promises and signed up a ton of business. The fallout is all you hear about and most still like their LEASED system if they at least did a little math in advance. Some were just suckers. It's all about due diligence and math. If the numbers work, it's a steal. PSEG will raise rates AT LEAST 2% a year. Leasing raises rates at LEAST 2.9% per year. Only owning is a true hedge. My system makes 95% of my needs. I pay $192/mo for the system (orig 12yrs at 2% financing) and bet $12-80/mo. I used to avg over $300/mo consistently (pets and inlaws) so it was an immediate savings for me even in the worst month, savings that will grow as rates rise and will be fully paid off in 8 years, with 15 yrs still left on the life of the panels. Good luck.
Last edited by monstermagnet; 01-05-2020 at 03:43 AM..
OP if the purchase of this home requires you to take over responsibility of an existing lease for Solar Equipment I would have your lawyer spell out the terms that you will be agreeing to for the next 10 years. If the terms are unacceptable have the lawyer advise you on what your options are.
I assumed a solar lease when buying my home last year. It's an ok deal, which I knew going in. The house met every other criteria that we had for a home. Pre-contract, I got a copy of the lease agreement and negotiated a $10k reduction in price. Solar leases put the buyer in a position of power when negotiating b/c you have to agree to assume the seller's liability (relatively speaking). However, google selling a home with a solar lease. Let your agent/lawyer discuss with their agent/lawyer b/c it's a major hurdle that both parties need to agree to.
In regards to $$$, PSEG/LIPA charge $.40/day to connect to the system. You'll pay that whether your solar is in a surplus or deficit. In regards to how much energy the panels will produce, the seller should have an annual summary they can provide. I'd request it along with the contract. That gives you an idea of how much the system is really producing. Then it comes down to your power use.
For me, I'm at $160/month on average all in with the lease payment and electric costs. Without, I'd likely be around $200+/month. Savings, yes. However, I'll have to sell my house and deal with a solar lease. Is that worth $500/year in savings? I may need to pay them off or take a haircut on my asking price to sell. Tomorrow's problems.
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