Your input on my situation is much appreciated!

[SunEagle]

ok maybe in Hawaii... but I'd pay 55c to live there.. but in ny?? I'm on long island, and I thought we were home to the highest rates in the continental US... I pay 21c... all in...taxes/delivery/dinners/girls for the ceo...

con ed is a tad cheaper... so still not sure how u get your numbers...

bronxnua might have all types of other charges he is paying for based on what rate structure he is signed up for.

Besides my electric usage, fuel cost, meter charge and taxes I also pay $7.48/month for a surge suppression equipment that will either stop any "spikes" getting into the home through the electrical service or my POCO pays for the damages. That fee increases the overall $/kWh calculation by about 3/4 a cent/kWh.

Each POCO has slightly different charge rate and fees so someone could be spending a lot more a month when you total it all up which calculates to a much higher $/kWh then their neighbors.

[prhamilton]

You have a nice purchase price. If the pre-paid and purchase are roughly equivalent I would purchase. For the record I purchased a system on my house 5 years ago. I moved recently and installed a pre-paid lease system on the new house so I've done both. The first time I wanted to purchase, I didn't like the idea of all the paperwork with a prepaid lease. The second time I did more reading about the pre-paid lease and was more open to the idea. I got about a 10% discount below a straight purchase with the prepaid so it made sense for me. If you can't get between 5-10% discount over the purchase price I would be inclined to do a straight purchase, limit the risk and limit the number of parties you are dealing with.

The biggest risk with working with these leasing companies(like Sunrun and Sungevity) is that installer is 'hidden' from you. They have a network of installers they subcontract out to. Going into the process I didn't realize that, I was very happy with the installer selected for me but it feels a little bit like a crapshoot and you lose some control. During the install there was some weirdness with the leasing company doing the design and permits. It eventually worked itself out but it took a couple of days and several phone calls. When you purchase a system the guy designing it is the guy that comes out to your house, he sees everything with his own eyes, a preferable arrangement.

I don't put much/any stock in to the warranty/maintenance benefit of a prepaid lease. I did have an ARC fault breaker fail on my inverter and the leasing company called the inverter manufacturer and handled the warranty replacement. I didn't have to do anything, it was a very painless process but I bet it would have been pretty easy with a purchased system too.

You can ready other threads about FMV of the system at the end of lease, there's a lot of debate about it but the answer is $0.

[Ian S]

I don't put much/any stock in to the warranty/maintenance benefit of a prepaid lease. I did have an ARC fault breaker fail on my inverter and the leasing company called the inverter manufacturer and handled the warranty replacement. I didn't have to do anything, it was a very painless process but I bet it would have been pretty easy with a purchased system too.

The warranty/maintenance benefit of the lease I would argue is more in the out years after manufacturers' warranties run out. Which brings up an interesting point. If you sell your home say at year 12, at or after the time when most warranties - with the exception of the panels - have run out, do you think the buyer would prefer the purchased system where he can expect to pay for an inverter replacement in the near future or the prepaid lease system where such failures are covered for the next 8 years?

[solarbogle]

Thanks for all the input and discussion on this. You are guys are awesome, great site.