Solar lease vs buy — the honest 2026 math
The end of the residential federal credit reshuffled this comparison. Here's how it actually breaks down now.
Buying
- You own the system, the production, and the home-value bump.
- 2026 reality: no federal credit for new homeowner installs (Section 25D ended Dec 31, 2025). State and utility incentives still apply where they exist.
- Best when: you have the cash or cheap financing, high electricity rates, and plan to stay 10+ years.
Leasing / PPA
- $0 down, fixed (escalating) monthly payment; the leasing company owns, maintains, and monitors the system.
- 2026 twist: leasing companies can still claim commercial clean-electricity credits on the systems they own — value that can flow into lower lease pricing. This is the main reason leases got relatively more competitive.
- Watch for: annual escalators (often ~3%/yr — a $150 payment is ~$270 by year 20), 20–25 year terms, and transfer hassles when selling the house.
The questions that reveal a bad deal
- What is the total 25-year cost of the lease vs the purchase quote?
- What is the escalator, and what happens if I sell the house?
- Who handles warranty claims, and who pays if the roof needs work?
- For a purchase: what is the $/watt, and how does it compare to the $3.36/W national average?
Get one purchase quote and one lease/PPA quote for the same system size, then run both through the payback calculator. The comparison takes ten minutes and it's the highest-value homework in this whole process.