Comments on: SolarCity provides SF power below grid price

With new city solar incentives, households in San Francisco can get solar power for less than the cost of electricity from the grid, leasing panels from installation start-up SolarCity.

[Seaspray0]

I love the idea! I wish them luck. Nice story.

[side241]

Its a stupid idea. Solar City and most of the other leases for solar simply redirects the consumers dollars from the utility to the solar company. If you do a side by side comparrison of leasing vs purchase, buying solar will be cheaper, with less down payment, less monthly cost for electricity, and eventually the loan is paid off and your electricity is free! With Solar City, after a 15 yr lease, you can renew the lease, guaranteeing a payment forever. A lease is dumb. OWN your electricity, don't RENT it!

[rodtod]

Where'd you get that idea? SolarCity's lease is CHEAPER in the long run than buying upfront, because with the lease they apply the commercial grade 30% rebate, instead of merely a $2000 rebate that you'd get buying upfront. And after 15 years, the panels are yours. Your payments are over, and the panels are yours to keep. Do some research side241.

[rdbarahona]

SolarCity's leasing is truly innovative and has done much to change the landscape for solar. We're trying to do the same with our community-based solar purchasing initiative called 1 Block Off the Grid ( http://www.1bog.org ). By pooling hundreds of residents together we can leverage the power of the community to drive cost down further.

[rodtod]

You're in charge of 1bog.org!? My congratulations to you and your fine effort. Keep it up!

[ronwinton]

Rodtop you need to do your research. First of all there is no such thing as a 30% commercial grade rebate, it's a tax credit. Second becuause the system is being installed on a residence, the tax credit has a cap of $2,000.00 (as of the date of your post) which goes into Solar City's pocket not the homeowners, because of their higher system prices. Third after 15 years of making all those lease payments the system is not "yours" because you still have to pay the fair market value for the system in order to own it at the end of the lease. That's the whole idea behind a lease, you don't own the system, the leasing company does. It's just like leasing a car. Fourth there are dealers all over the Internet that offer top of the line, brand name systems at prices that are far lower for single system purchases than Solar City's multiple block off the grid prices. Shop around instead of falling for solar city's hype. I bet none of you can even tell me what brand of products solar city sells ? I wonder why ?