Anybody gone solar? (e.g. SolarCity)

[sunvalleylaw]

Too many "gotchas" in the leases from these solar companies. No landlord termination rights of any kind, no negotiable lease terms at all in fact.

That's how it normally is with any larger company. Free market folks think we can just negotiate better terms, but unless working with a small business, such as a contractor, when was the last time you negotiated different terms in a contract? Most folks just click the box and don't even read the terms. Free market with rational invisible hand guiding it my ass.

I still want to look into getting solar though.

 

[GomezAddams]

One thing to consider:

The electric company still has to maintain enough infrastructure required to power every house that moves to solar. This costs them real money, and when you are on solar, they aren't recouping that money from you.

The council of a town close to me just tried to impose a $50/month fee on people who implement solar that would go to the utility company to help offset their costs. Wisely, the mayor killed the proposal since it would have made for huge bad press, but as more and more people go solar, these fees will have to come into play.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

One thing to consider:

The electric company still has to maintain enough infrastructure required to power every house that moves to solar. This costs them real money, and when you are on solar, they aren't recouping that money from you.

The council of a town close to me just tried to impose a $50/month fee on people who implement solar that would go to the utility company to help offset their costs. Wisely, the mayor killed the proposal since it would have made for huge bad press, but as more and more people go solar, these fees will have to come into play.

Hmm, so maybe they should get on board and start making (and figuring out a way to store) sun and wind energy and stop building coal and natural gas plants. Given that electrical utilities are a monopoly, the only choice a consumer has is to choose not to purchase. I would bet at least in Idaho, they would not put that rule into play. Lots of people of many different political persuasions want to be off the grid (and ready to kill zombies). I bet you could be ordered to pay a fee to stay hooked up just in case though.

 

[mongooz]

The council of a town close to me just tried to impose a $50/month fee on people who implement solar that would go to the utility company to help offset their costs. .

the only feasible way they could pull that off would be to roll it into your property tax assessment. but i would think there would need to be a 'proposition' vote on it.
or the residents could force it to a vote through petition. and then it would likely get quashed at election time. and then there would be lawsuits against the city council for favoring utility companies for some properties and not others.
maybe i'm wrong, but there seems to be a lot of ways to stop that kind of favoritism.

 

[335clone]

Wait, power companies maintain their infrastructure?

Someone needs to inform PG&E of this revolutionary practice. All they do is hire Davey Tree to cut back branches 3' from the wires. Like this...

 

[Modern Saint]

I want to do it, but it seems the only programs around here are the "we'll pay you to allow us to put our stuff on your roof"
The electricity utility that you have now is still your utility.
The idea is that the money you make on "renting" out your rooftop offsets your electricity bill to some degree.

The only problem that I have with that is that there is no control over what the utility will charge. We've had two substantial rate hikes in the last few years. One because we conserved too much energy and the utility didn't make enough money...

I want to be pumping back to the grid as much as possible, or be off grid all together.
That's possible here, but it is expensive.

This!!!

 

[Psychotronic]

That's how it normally is with any larger company. Free market folks think we can just negotiate better terms, but unless working with a small business, such as a contractor, when was the last time you negotiated different terms in a contract? Most folks just click the box and don't even read the terms. Free market with rational invisible hand guiding it my ass.

I still want to look into getting solar though.

When was the last time? How about every time? I've negotiated hundreds of long-term cell tower leases all over the country over the last 16 years. Every single one had negotiated terms from a Landlord point of view, and rightfully so. There's no standard contract that is honestly amenable to all parties, it's just not in the nature of business-people to operate like that on a large scale. The boilerplate lease was always well in favor of the cell carriers.

This isn't licensing a piece of software, it's adding infrastructure to my property -- you're damn right you're giving me a say as to what you do with it. There were other lease terms that, when I brought up potential issues that they agreed were possible, they had no plan or explanation as to how they'd remedy them. It's a bad deal, and one that I would never sign.

 

[shoeless]

Too many "gotchas" in the leases from these solar companies. No landlord termination rights of any kind, no negotiable lease terms at all in fact.

This isn't licensing a piece of software, it's adding infrastructure to my property -- you're damn right you're giving me a say as to what you do with it. There were other lease terms that, when I brought up potential issues that they agreed were possible, they had no plan or explanation as to how they'd remedy them. It's a bad deal, and one that I would never sign.

What types of things exactly? One of my concerns was roof access to the house, like if I were replacing the siding, or a window or something and had to walk on the roof. What happens then...or if a panel gets damaged as a result?

They seem to imply that they cover natural disasters, but I'm always wary of sweeping claims like that. The 20 yr term is a bit intimidating as well.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

When was the last time? How about every time? I've negotiated hundreds of long-term cell tower leases all over the country over the last 16 years. Every single one had negotiated terms from a Landlord point of view, and rightfully so. There's no standard contract that is honestly amenable to all parties, it's just not in the nature of business-people to operate like that on a large scale. The boilerplate lease was always well in favor of the cell carriers.

This isn't licensing a piece of software, it's adding infrastructure to my property -- you're damn right you're giving me a say as to what you do with it. There were other lease terms that, when I brought up potential issues that they agreed were possible, they had no plan or explanation as to how they'd remedy them. It's a bad deal, and one that I would never sign.

Awesome. I was speaking more as the ordinary home consumer trying to get a deal with any sort of utility, and I was presuming, solar group. Maybe I am wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.