Solar & battery
Solar Lease vs Buy Calculator
Compare buying solar outright, financing it, and taking a lease or power purchase agreement.
Result
Incentives change, expire and differ by state, utility and tax position. Nothing here is tax advice: whether you can use a credit at all depends on your own liability, and a credit is not a rebate. Confirm what applies to you with a tax professional before it affects a purchase decision. A lease or PPA transfers the tax credit to the provider, which is why it is available to people who cannot use a credit themselves. The escalator is the term to read most carefully: a rate that rises 2.9% a year doubles over 25 years, and if utility prices rise more slowly the agreement can end up costing more than the grid.
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About this calculator
Why would anyone take a PPA?
No up-front cost, no maintenance responsibility, and it works for people with no tax liability to offset. Those are real advantages, paid for with the long-term upside.
What happens when I sell the house?
The agreement has to be assigned to the buyer, who must qualify and agree. This is the most common practical problem with leases and PPAs, and it can delay or complicate a sale.
What does the escalator actually do?
It raises what you pay per kWh every year regardless of what the utility does. If the escalator outruns utility inflation, the agreement quietly stops saving you money partway through the term.
The formula
ownership saving = avoided electricity - net cost; PPA saving = avoided electricity - PPA payments
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