Buying a house with leased solar system, need advice

[acesneights1]

we are buying a house that has a system installed and leased from Solar City. Its about 4 yrs into a 20 yr lease . The current lease payment is 112$/ mo but apparently that can change . It was confusing. If we take over the lease and decide we don’t want it, it’s over 20k to pay it off. We run approx 150$/ mo during non ac season for electric and 250$/ mo during. I spoke with Eversource and they said the system is pretty big and produces alot of aurplus that gets held on account towards times when its not producing. It seems they have only paid the lease and basic eversource connection fees the last few years but the house was also vacant for last year or so. We lost our shirt onnthe house we hust sold and are buying this place as a major fixer upper so we cant get burned again. What should I know and is this worth it ?

 

[georgepds]

we are buying a house that has a system installed and leased from Solar City. Its about 4 yrs into a 20 yr lease . The current lease payment is 112$/ mo but apparently that can change . It was confusing. If we take over the lease and decide we don’t want it, it’s over 20k to pay it off. We run approx 150$/ mo during non ac season for electric and 250$/ mo during. I spoke with Eversource and they said the system is pretty big and produces a ot of surplus that gets held on account towards times when its not producing. It seems they have only paid the lease and basic eversource connection fees the last few years but the house was also vacant for last year or so. We lost our shirt onnthe house we hust sold and are buying this place as a major fixer upper so we cant get burned again. What should I know and is this worth it ?

A couple of things come to mind

First find out how big the system is (this is measured in kW) . Parts price for solar panels are $1/w, and installed ~ $2-$4 per w

My guess is it is not worth buying the panels. The largest size you see residentially is ~ 10 kW, with a more typical size ~ 5 kW. Using your $20k buyout this comes to $2/w to $4 /w

It might help to know what state you are in, because you can get a credit just for producing solar electric (called an srec). When you lease, these credits are normally not seen by the homeowner. If you pulled the present system and installed a new one you could get the credits. In the original MA. Program, these credits come to $300 - $400 per year per kw installed (They are auctioned, which accounts for most of the variance, sunlight accounts of the rest). This money is in addition to the net meter credit.

Could be solar city would assign the srecs to you if you bought the system. If so, ask to see the history of payments

 

[peakbagger]

If you have already bought the house, its too late to ask. Ideally you refuse to accept them and let them take them off the roof. Otherwise negotiate with the seller to drop the price. In most cases you are far better off with no solar on the roof than leased solar. Unless its new roof, at some point you will need to pay to have the system pulled to replace the roof.

They paid hefty commissions to their sales folks and loaded it into the price so they could get a high federal rebate. The price they are charging to buy the system is based on these artificially high costs.

Many reports out there that a leased system is negative to most buyers and if you plan to resell soon you most likely will need to drop the price or buy the lease out. it depends on the market. If it's a hot market then someone may decide it's worth the hassle.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Me personally. I would not buy a home with a leased system. Solar city has a terrible reputation from what i hear. I would have the system removed. I had my own system installed and purchased it out right. I recive all the benefits and incentives of an owned system. I would try to eather have them remove the system or see if i could purchas it at discount. I would make sure i get the srec to help pay for the system
Solar is great. Im am enjoying no electric bill and will have my system paid off in 5 years. 6 years tops.. there is no real benefit to a leased system other than you keep paying a bill every month

 

[acesneights1]

Ok thanks for the replies. We did not buy the house yet but we are living in it. They had the roof replaced just before adding the solar panels so the roof is about 4 yrs old. Tesla says the ppa lease covers all maintenance and repairs including storm damage. The thing I did not underatand was the lease payment can fluctuate apparently based on something. Right now the lease payment combined with basic eversource charge is cheaper than my eletric bills would be. I know its a big system according to Eversource but I will contact them again and get answers to the advice you guys gave me. We are getting the house cheap so not sure we can get the sellers any lower and we were supposed to take the lease as part of the deal

 

[acesneights1]

Also as far as removal of the panels for work to be done innthe house, that is covered in the lease and there is no charge to temporarily remove them.

 

[Where2]

To gauge the size of the array in kW, stand out in the yard and count panels. Multiply by 0.25, and there's your back of the napkin approximation of the kW rating of the PV array. My 220W panels were made in 2011, not long after that, 250W panels (0.25kW) were the norm, then 280W, now the norm is above 300W per panel... If anything, my approximation value will come in low, but it will also tell you if the leasing company is blowing smoke claiming they have a much larger array to sell you than it really is. The town/City office should also have permits telling you precisely what size the array is.

As for having the array removed, what typically happens with the roof mounts when you do this? The OP is in CT, which is snow country, last time I checked the map. I'm not sure I'd take to kindly to buying a house with two dozen pegs sticking up from the roof, making it difficult to rake the roof if snow fall is particularly bad one winter.

If you're "getting this house cheap", you should be able to roll the $20K pay off into the new note for an even lower payment than the electric bill would be. If the array is large enough, your monthly electric bill will be minimal, and when you flip this house, get the appraisal to include the PV array so you don't lose your shirt on this one...

Me, I'd keep the PV array, and ditch the leasing company middle man...

 

[georgepds]

Re "Tesla says the ppa lease covers all maintenance and repairs including storm damage. "

In my experience, pv panels are more durable than driveway asphalt... the driveway can crack the panels won't

I've had a system for about 18 years., 11 for the first, 7 for the second. The first one was running fine without maintenance. The only reason I changed it was to get in on srecs, which required new panels.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Re "Tesla says the ppa lease covers all maintenance and repairs including storm damage. "

In my experience, pv panels are more durable than driveway asphalt... the driveway can crack the panels won't

I've had a system for about 18 years., 11 for the first, 7 for the second. The first one was running fine without maintenance. The only reason I changed it was to get in on srecs, which required new panels.

I agree with you on this.. i think one of the big sales pitch that they use for a lease is no maintenance. Theres not a lot of maintenance required. There is a manufacturer warrenty on my panels for defects and degradation. Also in the equation is the ammount of money saved with the reduced or no electric bill.

To the OP.. If they werent making MONEY OFF YOU THEY WOULDN'T BE INTRESTED IN KEEPING THE LEASE.. Take back that money your paying them every
Month. Its pretty easy to figure out the pay off on the system. Sit down and do the math. Just an FYI after my system pays for itself.. im over 100k ahead ..im happy with that.. dont let them scare you or talk you i to keeping the lease.. remember.. there doing that for a reason.. so they can make money off you...

 

[CaptSpiff]

Ok thanks for the replies. We did not buy the house yet but we are living in it. They had the roof replaced just before adding the solar panels so the roof is about 4 yrs old. Tesla says the ppa lease covers all maintenance and repairs including storm damage. The thing I did not underatand was the lease payment can fluctuate apparently based on something. Right now the lease payment combined with basic eversource charge is cheaper than my eletric bills would be. I know its a big system according to Eversource but I will contact them again and get answers to the advice you guys gave me. We are getting the house cheap so not sure we can get the sellers any lower and we were supposed to take the lease as part of the deal

Is the OP still around??

Just got to reading this. I thought the "lease" was really a lean on the property, and the leasing company had to approve the transfer, or the lean was due on sale?!? Hence your last sentence that "we were supposed to take the lease as part of the deal".