Sunpower lease sounds too good to be true?

[Ian S]

The Sun power lease seems to very legitimate, I would check pricing carefully as the pricing between one dealer and another seems to vary widely. But yes, the lease is actually legit, my neighbor has it installed, seems to be pretty happy with it, out of all the leases out there, time and time again I hear that it is the most price-effective by far, additionally you're getting pretty much the top quality solar panels on the market, the only downside seems to be frequent equipment delays, which could be due to shortages due to high demand or maybe some installers are just having a hard time getting organized.

Just curious which wattage of panels your neighbor has. I wonder if the delay I and presumably others have experienced is because we were spec'd with the older 230 watt panels which may be in the process of being phased out. I see the OP's lease quote is for a higher wattage presumably newer panel.

[Ian S]

6.590 is the standard payout if you have credits left over.

Essentially when you get solar you have a choice of 2 rate plans, one is an EPR-6 and the other is an EPR-2(12-7 TOU) the EPR-6 is a true net metering plan with true-up at the end of the year, the EPR-2 is basically an average-rate compensation plan that pays the same rate for on and off peak production.

Not quite true. The EPR-6 is essentially an overlay on whatever rate plan you have in effect. So you can still opt for a time of use, a standard or a time/demand combined plan. You can even remain with a frozen plan if you are already on it. EPR-6 defines how the net metering is implemented, how and when accounts are settled and at what price excess production will be purchased by APS.

[pfp]

The Sun power lease seems to very legitimate, I would check pricing carefully as the pricing between one dealer and another seems to vary widely. But yes, the lease is actually legit, my neighbor has it installed, seems to be pretty happy with it, out of all the leases out there, time and time again I hear that it is the most price-effective by far, additionally you're getting pretty much the top quality solar panels on the market, the only downside seems to be frequent equipment delays, which could be due to shortages due to high demand or maybe some installers are just having a hard time getting organized.

This quote for my folks is roughly $13k prepaid (instead of monthly payments). This works out to about $1.30 per watt. I believe I read in another thread (can't find it now) that some were claiming $1 per watt was possible on this type of lease in phoenix. This was back on October though and I believe some things changed on 2012. Would this be considered a good rate today?

They are getting additional quotes from other SunPower dealers.

[Ian S]

This quote for my folks is roughly $13k prepaid (instead of monthly payments). This works out to about $1.30 per watt. I believe I read in another thread (can't find it now) that some were claiming $1 per watt was possible on this type of lease in phoenix. This was back on October though and I believe some things changed on 2012. Would this be considered a good rate today?

That was my claim based on my prepaid lease here in Phoenix: ~$6700 for a 6.9 kW system - actually a bit under a buck a watt. That was last fall when the APS rebate was $1.00 a watt. Now I think it's half that so your deal looks good.

[KRenn]

This quote for my folks is roughly $13k prepaid (instead of monthly payments). This works out to about $1.30 per watt. I believe I read in another thread (can't find it now) that some were claiming $1 per watt was possible on this type of lease in phoenix. This was back on October though and I believe some things changed on 2012. Would this be considered a good rate today?

They are getting additional quotes from other SunPower dealers.

$12000 should be feasible if its about a 10 kilowatt system.

[KRenn]

Just curious which wattage of panels your neighbor has. I wonder if the delay I and presumably others have experienced is because we were spec'd with the older 230 watt panels which may be in the process of being phased out. I see the OP's lease quote is for a higher wattage presumably newer panel.

I believe they are 320 watts.

[KRenn]

Not quite true. The EPR-6 is essentially an overlay on whatever rate plan you have in effect. So you can still opt for a time of use, a standard or a time/demand combined plan. You can even remain with a frozen plan if you are already on it. EPR-6 defines how the net metering is implemented, how and when accounts are settled and at what price excess production will be purchased by APS.

The compensation will almost always come out lower with an EPR-6 as compared to the EPR-2.