Getting solar at the house

[rbeau30]

Has anyone on the board done a grid-tied system that was a straight purchase? That's the direction I'm currently leaning based on my situation. Solar City was not exactly supportive of this option, seems like they went out of their way to show me how it was a bad idea using "creative" financial projections. I'm planning to reach out and talk to some of the other local installers not quite as famous for the lease option to see what it looks like. I think I'll start with Namaste as they seem to be a pretty well-regarded local company. Looking for other suggestions though.

I purchased (financed) my system through Solar city. I'm not leasing. Did they give you their schpiel on the "Mypower" option?

[Brian]

I purchased (financed) my system through Solar city. I'm not leasing. Did they give you their schpiel on the "Mypower" option?

When I talked to them last, they didn't offer that option. I'm planning on giving them another shot after I talk to some other installers, but I was not impressed by the "comparison" options they gave me. They had artificially tweaked the numbers to make a purchase option look like it wouldn't provide me any financial benefit for 15 years, vs. their lease which of course paid for itself in 6years. A good portion of that involved taking the entire system cost before any rebates/incentives and dividing it into a kWh price and comparing that to the PPA price that I would pay under contract (not taking into account the initial payments involved). It could have been that I had a bad sales guy, but the numbers were definitely cooked in a way I didn't feel comfortable with.