I mean cmon think about it - regardless of the lien. if they can do this make money AND give you a tax break you can do it yourself higher contractors even if you have to and make more of a profit.
Right. And a lot of those sales pitches (at least the ones I've seen) seem to involve some rather creative estimations of power rates increasing, which I find somewhat unlikely, as utilities are building out large solar/wind farms of their own. Maybe it'll pay off. Maybe it won't. And you're locked into a seriously long term contract with them, and since There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch, you're not getting the better end of the deal, typically.
Remember, this is a forum where people tend to be pretty good with money and savings - so if it makes sense to do so, prepaying 20 years of power at a nice discount isn't that difficult. It's, what, $20k-$30k for a typical house? That's locking in power pricing regardless of what markets do, regardless of what power prices do. Is it a good deal or not? Well, state your assumptions and do the math.
For me, I plan to build a system that will never pay off in terms of power cost, simply because I value being able to run grid down for long periods of time. It's not that likely to get used in that mode, but I've got a pure electric house and, importantly, a fairly deep well (~250' to water). I'd like to be able to ride through problems with the grid at a minimum level of functionality, and that involves a system that's not quite as cheap as the microinverter based stuff. But, flip side, I can run my whole house without grid power (and I plan to do as much of the dirty install work myself as I can - that depends on the electrician I find to supervise the work). Probably AGM in the crawlspace unless I find someone willing to work with me on lithium iron.
Yes but then you pay for the solar panels. Also, we can give the solar panels back at any time.
I'm just saying I have had zero issues so far. Maybe I will have a different response in 5 years, maybe not.
I don't doubt you've had zero issues so far, but I question the cost effectiveness based on actual numbers instead of sales guy pitch numbers, and I question your assertion that they'll be responsive if you decide to change something or sell the house or something breaks or (etc, etc, etc).
Also, what are the terms of the lien/claim on your house? What's considered an asset of the company, were they to go bankrupt in the next 15-20 years and have creditors looking for whatever they can get? Just the panels? Your roof? The house? Would the removal leave you needing a new roof because someone literally came and ripped it out of the roof with crowbars? There's a lot of uncertainty in solar, and solar companies are
quite reliably going out of business. I wouldn't bet on something that requires them to be around long term.
Fundamentally, this is the type of thing that I imagine sounds like a great deal to a typical family - in debt, minimal savings, big power bill, but wants to "feel green" or be able to get the conspicuous conservation credit of being able to say they have solar panels on their house. I question that it's actually a good deal compared to the alternatives, given the general nature of the people on this forum.