How does lease on solar panel work?

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talkirvinejon

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if the contract says you'll be paying 0.15/kWatt. And what you pay is (Solar KWatt produced-the kWatt you used)*$0.15/kWatt ?

I saw a PDF for the cost of solarcity online and it says you pay $68.83 each month for the first year and total of $21,967 for 20 years. Does this mean you can't use over the limit of kWatt the solar panel produces?

I don't get it.  :o
 
SolarCity gives you an allocation of energy per month.  Any overage gets billed to you by SCE using the normal power grid.  So essentially, you'll be getting 2 electrical bills every month.  One from SolarCity for the agreed upon lease allocation ($68.83/mth), and one from SCE on anything you use over the SolarCity allocation.

Solar leases in general are not a good deal.  SolarCity keeps all the tax incentives and rebates since they technically own all the equipment, and they also get to keep credits for any extra energy generated by the panels, and fed back into the grid.

Now, if you are able to manage a solar lease program, and sneak in some Tesla Powerwalls...now you're talking some serious upside.  But, I'm pretty sure solar leases will not allow the use of any off-grid storage solutions.

I'm waiting for pricing to dip a bit on panels, then couple it with a couple of Powerwalls, and send my proverbial F-U to SCE.
 
Elon Musk is the chairman of solar city and CEO of tesla. They will probably work something out.

I'm looking into houses with solar systems and wondering how it's beneficial.

How much to buy the system itself without any rebates?
 
Depends on the number of panels.  Anywhere from $15K-$30K.  You should check your monthly consumption charts on SCE, then calculate the number of panels you would need to service the peak usage.

Sure, Elon Musk is chairman, but he doesn't set the rules for the lease programs.  Let's be honest...Solar City is nothing like Tesla.  Tesla is innovative and bleeding edge.  Solar City has a reputation akin to "used car sales".

Keep in mind that houses with solar systems included (or available as options) generally fall short of the consumption needs of the homeowners.  They are a partial solution, one designed to work in conjunction with the grid.  I'm personally more interested in a full off-grid solution, even with the premium that would bring.
 
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