How the money actually works

The same system, two prices

Both cover identical equipment and labour. The financed price carries a dealer fee, usually inside the price rather than shown as a line. Asking to see both numbers is normal and reasonable.

Where the value goes

You own it

Cash, or a solar loan

The export credits and certificates are yours.
You carry maintenance, insurance and the inverter after its warranty runs.
Lowest lifetime cost if you have the capital and the patience.
The federal homeowner credit is gone — it ended for expenditures made after 31 December 2025.

Someone else owns it

A lease or a PPA

No capital outlay, and maintenance is theirs.
The credits, certificates and export value are theirs too.
You are buying a price for power, not an asset.
The commercial credit is what makes no-money-down possible — but you claim nothing.

The number that decides it

Whatever you are quoted, the escalator is what turns a comfortable year-one payment into an uncomfortable year-25 one. Put your figures in.

Your year-one monthly payment

$180

Annual escalator

Year 25 payment

$365

103% more than year one

Paid over 25 years

$78,649

before any utility savings

Year 1Year 25

Nothing you type here is sent anywhere or recorded. Use it on someone else’s proposal.