Does anyone here lease their solar panels? (Phoenix: to buy, maintenance)

[MalteseJane]

Our system is 8.25 KW. Purchase price would have been 39,400$. I wonder where you got your cost from. We had 3 quotes and all where approx. in the same price range. We opted for the lease and paid 15,500$ up front. So we don't have monthly payments. We have 33 high efficiency 250W panels and 2 inverters. It is based on a consumption of 13,000 KWH/Year. Wow, if you need a 14.3 KW system you have a big house.

[HX_Guy]

Actually we have a pretty small house...1884 sq ft. We use a lot of energy though working from home I guess, plus the house has the worst exposure...but that exposure will actually be beneficial to solar. The room we work out of faces east, where the sun rises and is 5º hotter than the other side of the house...we have to set the thermostat at 75º during the day just so the front room is at 80º and that's still hot in my opinion. It sucks.

For your system, you paid $15,500 up front and no other payments for the next 20 years? That comes out to $64/month over 20 years. Does it cover your complete electricity bill or do you still pay APS as well, and if so, how much?

[jimj]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Assuming a 4% interest rate, interest is $1040 on $26K. So if they charge you $120 a month ($1440 a year) and cover all expenses, that is a pretty good deal. I assume they are making their money on the install and mark-up which could be 50 points of margin.

This is an interesting approach..

Plus they keep all fed,state and local incentives and rebates.

[Juram]

Originally Posted by MalteseJane

Our system is 8.25 KW. Purchase price would have been 39,400$. I wonder where you got your cost from. We had 3 quotes and all where approx. in the same price range. We opted for the lease and paid 15,500$ up front. So we don't have monthly payments. We have 33 high efficiency 250W panels and 2 inverters. It is based on a consumption of 13,000 KWH/Year. Wow, if you need a 14.3 KW system you have a big house.

I won't even bring up what my prepaid cost would have been.

[Juram]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Assuming a 4% interest rate, interest is $1040 on $26K. So if they charge you $120 a month ($1440 a year) and cover all expenses, that is a pretty good deal. I assume they are making their money on the install and mark-up which could be 50 points of margin.

This is an interesting approach..

Depreciation is what was stressed to me. That's another factor that led me to leasing vs buying, if I lease, the leasing company can depreciate the system, I can't do that if I buy, hence they can offer me a better overall price.


I've heard in parts of the Midwest they've even got some programs to lease wind turbines but that all sounds like a bunch of hot air.

[HX_Guy]

Originally Posted by Juram

I won't even bring up what my prepaid cost would have been.

Can you tell us anyway?

The upfront thing really intrigues me though I am a little worried about the company still being around in 10-15-20 years and if you already paid in full, you'd sort of be out of luck I'm guessing.

If you lease on a monthly basis, then someone has to take care of you all those years.

[Juram]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

Can you tell us anyway?

The upfront thing really intrigues me though I am a little worried about the company still being around in 10-15-20 years and if you already paid in full, you'd sort of be out of luck I'm guessing.

If you lease on a monthly basis, then someone has to take care of you all those years.

I don't know that's its all that important considering people bought at different times and different programs available, I got in on a good deal, the company I bought from isn't big or flashy but their pricing was the best I saw, about twenty percent better than anyone else. It pays to shop around as I saw quote numbers that were all over the place.

[jimj]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

Can you tell us anyway?

The upfront thing really intrigues me though I am a little worried about the company still being around in 10-15-20 years and if you already paid in full, you'd sort of be out of luck I'm guessing.

If you lease on a monthly basis, then someone has to take care of you all those years.

That's not something I'd worry too much about. Worst case if the company isn't around would most likely be one of two things. 1.Their "assets" would be bought by another company. 2. You'd get a system for just the upfront payment. Either way it works out ok.

[HX_Guy]

Good point on just getting the system for the upfront payment, that would be nice.

Back to the exposure thing, like I was saying, it really sucks because of how hot the house gets now, but it should be really beneficial for solar.

This is the house, the front faces east, the back west and that whole big piece of roof faces south...it's a good 1000 sq ft that could all be filled with solar panels!

[MalteseJane]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

Actually we have a pretty small house...1884 sq ft. We use a lot of energy though working from home I guess, plus the house has the worst exposure...but that exposure will actually be beneficial to solar. The room we work out of faces east, where the sun rises and is 5º hotter than the other side of the house...we have to set the thermostat at 75º during the day just so the front room is at 80º and that's still hot in my opinion. It sucks.

For your system, you paid $15,500 up front and no other payments for the next 20 years? That comes out to $64/month over 20 years. Does it cover your complete electricity bill or do you still pay APS as well, and if so, how much?

For the last 2 months our bill was zero. Our system was installed in November, but APS messed up by forgetting to install the solar meter. We should have checked in to it earlier than we did. We have a credit now from last year's production. That has covered the basic service and taxes that you will always have to pay and amount to approx. 20$ a month. We will really see how it works out now during the summer months. It's supposed to produce 13,000 KWH a year. Since November we have produced 8,752 KWH. We have a performance garanty from the leasing company. Forgot to add. Our house is 1960 sq feet.