Can someone elaborate a bit more on the SCTY scheme. As I understand it they do everything for you by installing the panels on the roof, taking care of the connection to grid and doing all the accounting for it. What precisely are the deals that they offer to the customers (a sample would be excellent from someone who got an offer). Do they have packages for various levels of participation and what kind of exit terms there are (i.e. if you wanted the panels for your own cutting them out then when can you do it and what % of cost etc).
I'm trying to understand their profit model in a bit deeper scheme, but they don't provide much information on their web besides getting a quote which I cannot do as I don't live in the US
Sorry for my long post, but following was my interaction with Solarcity..
I have had SolarCity System on my roof since Oct 2012. I signed up for it in March 2012 and installation was completed in Oct 2012.
At that time, I got quotes from Real Goods Solar and one Other Local contractor and Solarcity.
At that time, Real Goods Solar and Local Contractor gave quotes to own the system. And My 4.320 kW system would have cost me about $15,000 to $17,000 out of my pocket.
I would have kept the SREC and i would have been eligible for the 30% Government Tax credit.
Solarcity gave me 3 choices, Owning was almost same cost as others (Don't remember exact numbers).
Second choice was $0 down and pay fixed 6 cents/kwh for the energy used (Again don't remember exact number, but probably lower then $.06/kWh.. They increased the price after I signed up, because of some Chinese manufactured anti dumping duty.. More on it later)
Third choice was Prepay the lease @4.2 Cents/kWh.. They estimated that the 4.320kW system will produce approx. 5400kwh/year and @$0.042 cents/kwh * 5400 kwh/year * 20 years ~ $4500 and I would not have to pay anything to Solarcity later, even if my panels produced more. They also guaranteed that if it doesn't produce minimum 5400 kwh/year, they will send me the check for the under production.
There was promotion going on for 500$s refund for signing up and then 400$s / referral for first 4 referrals and $1000/referral after that during same month. I signed up for the 3rd options, as It was the least headache (No need to wait for Tax credit and selling SRECs and no maintenance compared to option 1, Most warranty etc. ) And no need to pay monthly to SolarCity.
Later on, I referred my friends/neighbors and total 13 families signed up from our development of 101 houses. Since, I had given all the referrals, I would have received all the referral cash. But I didn't want to take all the referral money for me, so When every one was deciding whether they were going to sign up or not, I offered to split referral money equally between all the signers. Unfortunately only 6 of these 13 signed within the promotion period and other signed in trickle over next 6 months, so we didn't get Full benefit off 400*4 + 9*1000 = $10600 but we got somewhere around $4500 back from Solar city and we split them between us.
And since, those other neighbors signed up after March/April 2012.. They got worse price and After that (I think when around SCTY IPOed) The price had increased to between 8-10 Cents/Kwh and after that It was not as a great deal since we are already getting 12 cents/KwH from JCPL.. So more people in my community didn't sign up after that.
Anyway, after Initial sign up discount off $500 and Referral bonus for me off around 800, I paid total $3200 from my own pocket as a full Pre Payment PPA. And My yearly Electricity bill was around $900 before this.
During whole 2013, I came out ahead every month, in the sense that Panels generated more then what we consumed, so I paid $2.20 /month (Interconnection fee by JCPL) whole last year.
At this rate, My Prepayment will be completely paid off in 2016 and after that I think, I am personally free and clear.