Question - You have to lease for 20 years, but what if the whole dynamic of the utility company industry has a mix up and technology truly changes the way they work. What happens to that 'rate' you were getting? Or would you still be paying Solar City and they would deal with any changes?
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
SolarCity solar installation
- Thread starter napabill
- Start date
-
- Tags
- Energy Environment Policy Solarcity
What kind of mix up?
If we run out of oil/gas/coal and electricity prices soar, you still have the lease, and SolarCity needs to honor it.
If we invent super-inexpensive cold fusion and electricity prices plummet, you still have the lease, and you need to honor it.
If SolarCity goes out of business, things get more complicated, but I think it's likely that your lease would just get transferred to a buyer of SolarCity. The thing is the panels are on your house making power, and it's easier to just keep using them than for someone to try to reposess them and install them on someone else's house.
lorih, I assume you are referring to the product shown here?
Home Energy Storage & Battery Backup System - SolarCity
I am close to signing up for a Solar City install and am very interested in the TESLA-designed battery backup system. There are occasional power outages in my neighborhood and I love the idea of still having power when my local grid is down. Plus, I live on, as in "a mile from", the San Andreas fault. I plan to be on my home for the next 25 years at least. I want reliable emergency power.
SolarCity told me that battery system will be available for purchase and install sometime next year. They aren't selling it right now. It is in final beta testing at 400 locations in California. They assured me that it is a real, working system.
I just mean the way the electricity will be distributed. 20 years is a long time and today there are utility companies having problems with all this solar expansion. If they have to merge or some go out of business, will the rate you are using from them still be accepted?
Last edited:
JPP
Active Member
FWIW, my deal with SC is a Power Purchase Agreement at a set starting price with 4% annual increases. No $$ down, no lease. I sincerely doubt that I will lose the bet given how PG&E raises rates in CA. If the technology changes, not my problem. SC owns the system, maintains it, guarantees the output, fixes what's broken (like burned out inverters), etc.
For this (and other reasons), I pre-paid the 20 year lease. No additional payments or "escalator" clauses to deal with. Closest thing to owning the panels, but at a very large discount.
@ggies07: you raise an important point. If you're getting solar panels, you need to understand what the financial risks are and, more importantly, who carries that risk. One reason to go through a company like Solar City is because they'll carry the risk that solar power isn't worth much in the future. Of course, they also keep the upside if solar power turns out to be worth much more, but you are insulated from any risk, up or down. If you simply buy your own panels, relying on current net metering provisions, feed-in tariffs, or the like, you could find that these provisions change, and with it the return on your investment in PV panels.
It doesn't take a utility bankruptcy to change the ground-rules. Utilities file new tariffs regularly, and (in the US) there's no durability of the solar payment arrangements unless you have a signed contract with the utility. By contrast, Germany and the UK lock in feed-in tariff rates based on when you installed your gear.
It doesn't take a utility bankruptcy to change the ground-rules. Utilities file new tariffs regularly, and (in the US) there's no durability of the solar payment arrangements unless you have a signed contract with the utility. By contrast, Germany and the UK lock in feed-in tariff rates based on when you installed your gear.
simplesolar
Member
Avg cost of owning solar equates to $0.05-$0.08 per kWh over 20 years. Not sure how much cost of electricity is in Texas, it is around $.20-28 avg in So cal. Unless something drastically happens I doubt energy prices will ever drop below that. Even if did, the avg payback time for owning your own solar is so quick that even with new technology coming out you are immune to the fluctuation in energy prices because it is already paid off. Going with solar city leasing definitely will not prevent that. It is simply shifting to another power provider except that you will be locked in for 20 years with very high penalty to get out of their contract. If you have the means of owning your own solar system rather than lease, then I would recommend doing so. If not consider financing rather than leasing.
darthvdr
Member
I have Solar City install the unit in and it's saving us over 50% per month. So far so good. They took care of everything. All we had to do was be there for the day of the site visit and the rest was done by them.
I realize this is an old thread....electricity is currently cheap in TX, I'm paying 6.5c currently for 80% wind, but it's time to shop around again as my contract is about to expire.
A question: I'm building a new house, and called SC to quote me, and provide advice on anything I can do as part of the build to make the install easier. To my surprise, that said they will not even be able to talk to me until I'm in, and have 1 or 2 utility bills. This seems wrong to me, but I've spoken to them a few times, and it's the same answer every time. The new house is about 3 mins walk from my current house, so I know who the provider is, and what my bills will be, within a few bucks. Still, with this in mind, and the fact that my build budget only allows for leasing of panels, is there anything I should bear in mind with the build to make the install easier if/when they'll agree to come take a look? The house will have a large, flat roof, so no problems there, although I assume the penetration for whatever cable(s) are needed should be accounted for to avoid leaks.
Here's what I'd do:
Give SC the new address (they use Google Earth to find an arial view of the house to do preliminary planning). Hopefully the latest picture shows a roof! Then send the utility bills from your existing place (they won't notice the wrong address). That way they can do the "analysis" they must do before sending a quote.
Alternately, find a local installer who is willing to answer your questions. I would assume they'd prefer getting involved before the walls go up, makes things easier. Many also do leasing if that's what you require.
Good luck!
Whatever you do, have an electrician run a 3/4 or 1" conduit to your roof. It will cost less before the wallboard goes up.
Thanks...no roof yet, right now it's just a field, we break ground in the next couple of weeks, hopefully...will look for local installers, I did meet some on the DFW Solar Tour thing last year, but of course I've no idea where I 'filed' that info.
Get another installer!
Solar city is getting in trouble for some of their contracts here! Some of my friends had signed contracts to complete a system. The local building department increased their wind loading requirement, and Solar City just bailed and said sorry we no longer want to do the project. My friends are considering suit for specific performance failure.
Also IMO you are better off owning your system. Solar city does not like to sell those systems!!
Solar city is getting in trouble for some of their contracts here! Some of my friends had signed contracts to complete a system. The local building department increased their wind loading requirement, and Solar City just bailed and said sorry we no longer want to do the project. My friends are considering suit for specific performance failure.
Also IMO you are better off owning your system. Solar city does not like to sell those systems!!
(We'll prob get moved to a solar thread, since we've gotten off-topic ... but hey! even I'm subject to mod rules.)
Kevin, I don't pay anything for anyone to run my system. It's set up, I monitor system and panel output online, my power supplier (PG&E) tied it into their grid and factor the power received into my bill (which results in money to me). If I have a problem, it's under warranty and I'll contact Coldwell to fix a panel or a microinverter, as necessary.
-------
Here's my online dashboard:
View attachment 27337
i stumbled on this thread as i'm beginning researching solar panels and stuff for my new home i'm building. I thought hey thats a cool interface. then I wondered how long it would take me to find a match on google maps...
it only took me about 30 seconds to match it up. am I good or what? i'm only posting this because I want to creep bonnie out hahaha nice pool btw
I also talked to SolarCity while I was in construction. They would only start the install after I had Certificate of Occupancy and they would not tell me exactly how it would be installed. Since it would be installed after construction was complete, I am certain it would have involved exterior conduits and other unsightly things. So, I went with an installer that would work with me during construction. They put the roof standoffs and roof penetration electrical boxes on after tar paper, but before the composition roof was installed, so it's really clean. They also ran the wire from the main electrical panel into the attic while the walls were open. On the whole, I got a very clean install by avoiding SolarCity. I also didn't like how their PPA was structured. I went with a purchased system.
Yea I'm doing my research now too and purchasing up front (not from solar city) is definitely the way to go. I'm not a fan of solarcity's prices. If you're clueless then solarcity may be good but if you know what you are doing and researching you can definitely get a lot more and a lot better elsewhere.
Yet they are the largest installer of solar. Some of you might not like how they get solar on roofs, but they are moving the world to sustainable energy the fastest way. What does it matter HOW you get your panels? What matters is that we all start using renewable energy.
