Most of us would love to power our homes via have solar panels but forking over tens of thousands of dollars to make it happen just isn’t doable. Enter the lease. Leasing solar panels allows homeowners to pay a relatively small amount of money each month, at around the cost of their current utility bill. So in other words, you could more or less exchange the cost of your electricity bill each month for the cost of a solar panel lease. So why doesn’t everyone do it?
Well for one, you have to own a home in order to qualify. Many but not all states offer a leasing program. And just like a leased car, when the lease is up you don’t own the panels.
But…solar leasing companies will maintain and repair the panels, and will even remove the panels at the end of the lease if you decide it’s not for you.
If you own a home but do not have a lot of extra capital, or maybe plan on moving in the near future, this could be for you. Sungevity, Solarcity, and many other companies have online calculators that can tell you what size system you will need, and solar leasing is planned to be offered in double the amount of states by the end of this year.
Now that’s practical.
(via MSNBC/AP)