I signed an Incorrect Solar Lease- Can I get out of it?

[J.P.M.]

The only Solar City PPA I read had a 5 year option to purchase that was based on a market value appraisal. That may not apply in your case or be relevant if your objective is to have the system removed. However it may give you some negotiating leverage.
If your long term goal is to have a properly sized system and get some Investment Tax Credit benefit then that leverage might be useful in your negotiations with Sunrun.

SunRun had a 5 yr. option on all their PPA's I've seen - but I've only seen 4 and none for the last 2-3 yrs. or so. I've seen a lot more SolarCity leases but no SolarCity PPA's so I can't speak with any accuracy of SolarCity's PPA arrangements. The SolarCity leases I've seen have the 5 yr. buyout based on market appraisal but who does that appraisal is vague or not clear in the contracts I saw which were all pretty std. boiler plate.

An aside and off topic, I've seen no Tesla (solar) leases in my HOA at this time, but PV activity has slowed down with lease/PPA activity dropping almost to zero for the last year or so.

[Ampster]

@J.P.M. do the Sunrun PPAs that you have seen have market value appraisals as part of the 5 year option?

Market value may be less than the sum of the remaining estimated payments. It may also depend on who is doing the appraisal. It is something for the OP to look at just to understand if there is any negotiating leverage. Some of it may depend on how Sunrun financed the PPA on their balance sheet and the cost of that financing

[Paul Land]

Hello,

I was forced to take over a 20 year SunRun solar lease to purchase my home. I had to docusign the lease agreement (all 19 pages). I've been in the house for 5 months, barely run the AC and I have already generated a $500 SDG&E bill. After several calls between solar and SDG&E I found out that the agreement I signed was not the correct agreement. There was a change order prior to install that lowered the KW. I contacted SDG&E to find that the 4 years the house has had solar, they have not generated any credits. I am under paneled for my home size. Can I get out of this lease due to the fact that I signed an agreement that wasn't correct and had the wrong generation breakdown and more panels then what was actually installed in my house? I need to let this go as I'm saving no money and the lease increases as the years go up. I most definitely was miss-lead and robbed of any savings.

3 Biz days to cancel then you are stuck. Lawyer might find an out for $$$$

[Ampster]

3 Biz days to cancel then you are stuck. Lawyer might find an out for $$$$

How is that relevant since he already posted that he signed it 5 months ago.

[SunEagle]

How is that relevant since he already posted that he signed it 5 months ago.

I think Paul thinks the OP is SOL.

[J.P.M.]

@J.P.M. do the Sunrun PPAs that you have seen have market value appraisals as part of the 5 year option?

Market value may be less than the sum of the remaining estimated payments. It may also depend on who is doing the appraisal. It is something for the OP to look at just to understand if there is any negotiating leverage. Some of it may depend on how Sunrun financed the PPA on their balance sheet and the cost of that financing

Answer to your question: The ones I've seen do, but I'll qualify that and state I've not seen a SunRun PPA in ~ 2-3 yrs. or so. They also didn't have a buyout price, but rather, to paraphrase "call us for details if you want a buyout".

We had some discussions around here some years ago about who made the appraisal(s) if the buyout of a lease (not a PPA) was desired. Seems to me the common boiler plate on leases and PPAs as it applies to buyouts that most (but not all) outfits use is similar to Sunpower's lease language for buyout price: whichever is greater, the remaining payments, or "Fair Market value" as determined by an appraiser of the lessor's choosing.

Anecdotally, I also had some experience helping a homeowner in 2011 going into 2012 who was being told by Sunrun that he had to prepay all the monthly charges for a buyout ( whatever that was supposed to mean). Turns out the rep. didn't know the difference between a PPA and a lease, how they were different, or that the homeowner had a PPA.

A timely piece in the Wall Street Journal dated 05/22/17 that may be loosely related to SunRun and cancellations: "Solar Company Sunrun Was Manipulating Sales Data". Employees were told to hold off reporting cancellations around the time of the company's IPO. Take it/read it FWIW.

[Ampster]

I think Paul thinks the OP is SOL.

Yes, I gathered that he had reached that conclusion.

The relevant discussion has been about whether the ambiguity in the PPA with regard to system capacity would give the OP some leverage to negotiate a buy back of the system at a favorable price or removal of the system. At least that is what I see as the important issue.
I agree that legal assistance might be helpful but could be expensive. My experience with lawyers is to use their knowledge to frame the legal issue. They also have negotiating skills but I prefer to do most of the negotiating if possible once I understand the legal framework. Obviously that doesn't work if the other party also lawyers up.

[Esherman27]

I wish I could give you all an update but I have 5 calls, VM's and emails in to SUNRUN and no response yet

[J.P.M.]

I wish I could give you all an update but I have 5 calls, VM's and emails in to SUNRUN and no response yet

Quote of the day: "To endure is greater than to dare; to tire out hostile fortune; to be daunted by no difficulty; to keep heart when all have lost it - who can say this is not greatness."

William Makepeace Thackeray.

Or, "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence"

Calvin Coolidge.

Or, " The squeaky wheel gets the grease".

American proverb probably from Josh Billings.

Or, "stay on'em like smell on a steamin' turd".

J.P.M.