Although the Florida Public Service Commission opened the door for significantly more residential rooftop solar in Florida last month, make sure you do your homework before walking through it. While I am a big fan of solar power, I am a bigger fan of people protecting their pocketbooks.
One of the main reasons that solar became successful with homeowners in several states in the United States is that companies found ways to get panels to rooftops via leases without any requirements of down payments from homeowners. Rather than shelling out thousands of dollars up front, homeowners could spread payments over 20 or more years in a lease. Until last month, that option was not generally available in Florida due to some arcane state rules.
This change sounds like a big boon for residential solar installers and consumers. In a way, that is right. In another way, it is wrong. The way it is right is that you will likely be able to get solar on your roof without putting any money down via a lease. The way it is wrong is that solar leases are generally not as good for your wallet as paying cash and/or getting a loan. Simply put, you will almost always save more money by avoiding the lease.
Not all solar installers will offer no money down leases; however, these leases can provide Floridians an easy, clean way to power their homes without dealing with upfront costs. Also, the lessor will maintain the system, offering households a hassle-free option for going solar.
If this plays out like the solar gold rush has in other states, expect to get bombarded with solar offers. Competition is a great thing, so it should be good for Florida overall. Also, residential solar installation companies are great at creating local jobs.
However, be sure to scrutinize the assumptions that the sales person is using to show your expected savings. Changing a couple of assumptions just a little bit will lead to very different results. Also, I recommend that you ask for the economics if you buy the system outright versus leasing it. Also, if you are going to lease the equipment, you should ensure that you understand what happens if you move.
We live in the sunshine state, so if there is a path for residential rooftop solar, it should be here. However, we are also fortunate to live in a state with relatively inexpensive electricity from our local utilities. That makes it more challenging to find savings when you compare rooftop solar versus utility costs.
Before you lock into that long-term lease, make sure your solar installer shows you the economics of what a purchase would look like. If you don’t have the money to pay for the system and are looking for a loan, ask the installer about Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans. They tend to have much better overall economics than leases as well.
I certainly hope we have more rooftop solar in Florida as it is a shame to see states with little sunshine well ahead of us in solar adoption. That said, I hope we see it in a way that is best for Floridians.