People who lease their solar systems save far less than those who buy them outright or with a loan. They also miss out on federal tax benefits which can be worth 10’s of thousands of dollars. Many leases contain an escalator clause that can further reduce savings by increasing payments 3 percent per year. This means on a standard 30-year lease, the payment at the end will be over 2 ½ times what it started at.
When you own your system, not only does the payment never go up, but it goes away often a decade or more before the lease comes up for renewal. Since your warranties come from the panel manufacturers and the installation company, there are no benefits to indefinitely leasing a solar system.
Our goal at NY State Solar is to make it easier for anyone looking to go solar and get them the maximum value from their system. It is for this reason that NY State solar will only promote ownership of solar modules. Our primary focus is the NY Sun on-bill recovery program which allows homeowners to own their system with 0 money out of pocket and use their regular electric bills as a path to solar ownership.