Everyone knows you can lease a car or a house. But as the United States solar market increases in popularity there is a new item to lease and that is solar panels. Many home and business owners are choosing to leasing solar panels instead of buying them and there are a few reasons for this decisions.

Not all states offer solar leasing programs but the ones that do have seen reached record breaking levels of alpine solar panel installations. The lease programs make it easier for individuals and companies to make the switch to solar energy because they do not have to spend a lot of money upfront when purchasing solar panels.  This means lower overall costs and cheaper electric bills. Often times the fee paid to lease and the electric bill combined are cheaper than the electric bill was before solar panels were installed.

In addition to costs, maintenance is another reason people cringe when they think about switching to solar panels. But solar panel leasing relieves the consumer of that burden. The company from where the solar panels are leased takes care of the repairs and general maintenance of the pv panels. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the New Jersey solar energy consumption is at an all time high.  Lows costs and no maintenance burdens make leasing an easy decision for new energy savers.

Solar lease programs usually have a contract that lasts a period of 10 to 20 years. This can be daunting since it is hard to predict whether or not one will still be residing in that particular building that far in advance. However, the plus side is that these contracts are usually transferable and can be passed on to the next homeowner or a new home all together.  Some leasing programs also offer the option to buy out the solar energy system at the end of the contract.

As with any leasing program, there is a credit check, thus not everyone is eligible to lease solar panels. Many companies that are leasing solar panels will require the interested consumer to have a credit score near 680.

Even if you can afford to buy your own solar panels or you have great credit and can lease it is also important to make sure having solar panels on your home or business is even a worthwhile investment. Depending on the geographical location of the building, the amount of sunlight it acquires may not make much of an impact.