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Free solar system installed on your house

poweRob

poweRob

USMC 1988-1996
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I talked about this briefly in another thread but I didn't know who did it. Now I know.

Basically, the company is called Solar City. It is yet another venture by Elon Musk. He is the guy who invented paypal, sold it and used that money to start Space X rockets and Tesla Motors. Dude is amazing. Anyhow... here's how you get a free solar system installed on your house.

Free Installation

SolarCity will install your solar system for free!

Save on Monthly Electric Bills

With SolarCity's SolarLease® you simply pay for your solar power by the month—just like your utility bill—only lower.

Instead of buying the equipment, you simply lease it. SolarLease is the most popular solar financing option in the country!

Savings Grow Every Year

Your savings can grow over time as utility rates continue to increase. Historically, utility rates have increased over 5% every year. With a SolarLease, you can lock in lower electricity rates for the term of your contract.

Premium Service Package

With our SolarLease, we install your system for free and we maintain the equipment on your home, so you do not have to worry about ongoing maintenance costs. A SolarLease includes:

System Monitoring

We constantly monitor your system's performance with our proprietary SolarGuard®. If problems do arise, our service crews will be notified and dispatched to get your solar system back online.

Repair Service

SolarCity owns the equipment and is responsible for repairs, such as inverter replacement.

Insurance Coverage Our all-inclusive system coverage protects against damage or theft.​


Good idea. The guy has the Midas touch for sure.
 
Urgh. I really don't like this plan at all. Sure it SOUNDS good, but the price you pay is only marginally less then what you would normally pay. Furthermore, and this is my biggest dig against the lease agreements, is that there is nothing stopping the solar firm from securitizing your solar package and then slice and dicing it in the market identical to how mortgages are done. If the company goes under, you have a nightmare trying to figure out who owns your solar panels and who to contact for repairs and maintenance.

You really are better off simply buying the panels and owning them yourself. The warranties are pretty good, the tax credits bring down the price considerably (my parents' house went from $20k to $8k after tax credits) and you get cheap solar energy far past the life of a lease agreement. Honestly, you're better off taking out a cheap home equity loan and buying the system rather then leasing it.
 
obvious Child said:
Urgh. I really don't like this plan at all. Sure it SOUNDS good, but the price you pay is only marginally less then what you would normally pay. Furthermore, and this is my biggest dig against the lease agreements, is that there is nothing stopping the solar firm from securitizing your solar package and then slice and dicing it in the market identical to how mortgages are done. If the company goes under, you have a nightmare trying to figure out who owns your solar panels and who to contact for repairs and maintenance.

You really are better off simply buying the panels and owning them yourself. The warranties are pretty good, the tax credits bring down the price considerably (my parents' house went from $20k to $8k after tax credits) and you get cheap solar energy far past the life of a lease agreement. Honestly, you're better off taking out a cheap home equity loan and buying the system rather then leasing it.
Click to expand...

Nonesense! I looked heavily at Solar last year for my properties and no matter how I sliced it, it made no financial sense to do it, however, if I were to lease it, now there's a thought I hadn't considered. I like this idea and will investigae and report back.. Stay tuned.

Tim-
 
Does the free solar system include a Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto?
 
Hicup said:
Nonesense! I looked heavily at Solar last year for my properties and no matter how I sliced it, it made no financial sense to do it, however, if I were to lease it, now there's a thought I hadn't considered. I like this idea and will investigae and report back.. Stay tuned.

Tim-
Click to expand...

I also looked into solar last year. For me, note the fact that I live in Florida and not New York, it actually is fairly close to neutral.
My personal issue is I do not have the capital required for the start up cost. If all of the tax incentives were to go away, there would be no way would even be close to being a good investment.
 
Hicup said:
Nonesense! I looked heavily at Solar last year for my properties and no matter how I sliced it, it made no financial sense to do it, however, if I were to lease it, now there's a thought I hadn't considered. I like this idea and will investigae and report back.. Stay tuned.

Tim-
Click to expand...

I'm much more for owning out-right but I like the idea that this can get it in people's hands who otherwise couldn't afford buying outright... like myself. Let me know how it goes if you pursue.
 
I'd much rather have my own system, but it's nice to see a few alternatives making some gains in the market.
 
poweRob said:
I talked about this briefly in another thread but I didn't know who did it. Now I know.

Basically, the company is called Solar City. It is yet another venture by Elon Musk. He is the guy who invented paypal, sold it and used that money to start Space X rockets and Tesla Motors. Dude is amazing. Anyhow... here's how you get a free solar system installed on your house.
Free Installation

SolarCity will install your solar system for free!

Save on Monthly Electric Bills

With SolarCity's SolarLease® you simply pay for your solar power by the month—just like your utility bill—only lower.

Instead of buying the equipment, you simply lease it. SolarLease is the most popular solar financing option in the country!

Savings Grow Every Year

Your savings can grow over time as utility rates continue to increase. Historically, utility rates have increased over 5% every year. With a SolarLease, you can lock in lower electricity rates for the term of your contract.

Premium Service Package

With our SolarLease, we install your system for free and we maintain the equipment on your home, so you do not have to worry about ongoing maintenance costs. A SolarLease includes:

System Monitoring

We constantly monitor your system's performance with our proprietary SolarGuard®. If problems do arise, our service crews will be notified and dispatched to get your solar system back online.

Repair Service

SolarCity owns the equipment and is responsible for repairs, such as inverter replacement.

Insurance Coverage Our all-inclusive system coverage protects against damage or theft.​


Good idea. The guy has the Midas touch for sure.
Click to expand...

I would love to see some numbers as new-home buyers are always looking for ways to save money over time.

As a first impression, I don't see how this is a good idea. I'm not knocking it, but without actual numbers it's hard to see why anyone should buy this. You rent a system, you pay for the electricity your rented system produces (thus defeating the purpose), and there's a privacy concern since they monitor.

And the key question everyone asks: how does the company make their money. Folks don't begrudge a company turning a profit, they just want to understand how the money is flowing.

These are the concerns my clients will have, that I'll need to be able to answer. Any help would be appreciated.
 
Jerry said:
I would love to see some numbers as new-home buyers are always looking for ways to save money over time.

As a first impression, I don't see how this is a good idea. I'm not knocking it, but without actual numbers it's hard to see why anyone should buy this. You rent a system, you pay for the electricity your rented system produces (thus defeating the purpose), and there's a privacy concern since they monitor.

And the key question everyone asks: how does the company make their money. Folks don't begrudge a company turning a profit, they just want to understand how the money is flowing.

These are the concerns my clients will have, that I'll need to be able to answer. Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I'd check out the Solar City website and see if there is any feedback or number crunching there. I think their plan on making the money is leasing you into buying electricity from them. You pay for the electricity you use to them which made by the solar system on your roof. They claim the rate is lower than that you'd pay to your electric company. So they make the money back that way.

I'm wondering after if they make their money back with profit from the system on your roof, do they then turn it over to you or sell it to you? dunno. I haven't researched it enough.

Personally I'd prefer to have my own system but I do like how the onus is on them to keep it running efficiently and repair it.

The lease apparently is just one of many options. They sell equipment as well.
 
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Hicup said:
Nonesense! I looked heavily at Solar last year for my properties and no matter how I sliced it, it made no financial sense to do it, however, if I were to lease it, now there's a thought I hadn't considered. I like this idea and will investigae and report back.. Stay tuned.

Tim-
Click to expand...

How big of a system were you looking at?

Unless you're really tight for money, there's no real good reason to go with leasing over buying. Especially with the potential nightmare of securitization.
 
Solar does well in Fla...theres a builder locally who only builds houses that run totally on solar...heat, air conditioning, hot water etc...
I would have at least solar hot water put here...but im waiting for the market to change a bit and im going to move to another area in fla
 
I'm sorry, but...


My house isn't that big.
 
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