Is it better to lease or buy solar panels for home?

Buying solar panels will give you the maximum electric bill savings over the life of the system. Plus, buying solar panels for home allows you to benefit from the federal solar tax credit and other local solar incentives. However, we understand that the upfront costs of installing solar can be intimidating.

For this reason, some people opt to enter a solar lease. While solar leases allow you to avoid the upfront costs of installing solar, they provide you with much lower savings over the lifetime of the system. Also, because you don’t own the system when you have a solar lease, you might not be eligible for solar incentives like the federal tax credit.

A better option when you don’t have the cash to purchase a system right away is to take out a zero-down solar loan. There are many low interest rate solar loan options. Financing a system this way allows you to get more savings over the lifetime of a system than you would with a solar lease. Plus, you can still take advantage of the tax credit and other incentives.