Financing Options

Adding a Solar PV system to your home is a high-yield, low risk investment.  PV systems cost a lot of money, and customers need to know as much as possible before committing to a loan or lease.  Most people do not even know how and where they are using their energy.  You may be surprised to learn where and exactly how much of your hard earned money you spend on energy.  It may be a good idea to go on-line to see if you can get your utility bills going back as far as you can or you can call your utility company and ask for assistance.  It's a good idea to gather your energy costs over a period of a few of years to figure out your usage.  Once you have a good idea of your usage you can call us out to go over the costs to you and the different financing options we have.  

Financing gives you more options to pay for your solar and maybe a new roof.  Or even a new HVAC system.  Which in return having some green upgrades done will also help your home run more efficient.  Make sure you ask your Underline Energy crew member about any energy upgrades at the time of your solar consolation.  That way we can make sure to get the correct financing package tailored to your needs.   A loan option will give you control and predictability over your finances with a fixed payment until the loan is paid off.  You will not be subject to fluctuations in the energy grid.  Which include seasonal spikes in electricity costs or yearly rate hikes.   Even better, once your loan term is paid off you will effectively have no electricity costs for the remainder of your solar system’s lifetime!  Make sure you ask about any tax credits.  The number of solar loans has continued to grow over the last few years.

What if you can not benefit from the tax credit?  You can still lease your solar equipment.  Underline Energy will install and maintain the system.  With the lease option you will have fixed monthly payments traditionally over a 20 year period. The lease payments typically are lower than current utility bills and therefore you start saving money from day one.   You may not see as much savings as going the loan route but, either way solar is a great way to gain control over your energy use.  At the end of the lease Underline Energy can offer you a buy out option or take the system back.  

Let's talk now about a PPA (power purchase agreement.)  A PPA is a financial agreement where a developer such as Underline Energy Concepts takes care of the design, permitting, financing and installation of the solar PV system.  The system is installed on the customer's property at little or no cost to the customer.  Then the developer will sell the power generated back to the customer at a low fixed rate.   The PPA can last anywhere from 20 to 25 years.  The developer will remain responsible for the operation and maintenance of the solar system for the years agreed upon in the PPA.   At the end of the PPA the customers may have the developer remove the system, extend the PPA for an extra 5 years or even choose to purchase the system at fair market value.  The PPA and the lease option are very similar.  On average life of solar panels is 30 to 40 years depending on the quality. 

Underline Energy Concepts also offers you the EZ Own Plan through Sunnova.  This is an ownership plan that really has a lot of great benefits not available through other conventional loan programs.  Let's go over some of the EZ Own Plan benefits:

$0 down and low APR
 Homeowner pays nothing up front and enjoys a low APR for full agreement term (annual % rate varies by state.)

Quick credit approval  
Homeowner easily qualified with one phone call

Low kWh rate and fixed monthly payments 
 
Investment Tax Credit
 (federal and state)  Federal tax credit is 30% of solar system investment; state tax credits vary

Comprehensive, lifetime warranty package  
Total system cost includes maintenance and repairs, so there are no additional out-of-pocket expenses for the customer

Transferable service agreement  
Agreement is transferable in the event of a home sale

System monitoring and production guarantee  
Sunnova provides 24/7 monitoring and guarantees power production as outlined in the solar service agreement

Early payment without penalty 
 No penalties or fees for early payoff, and warranty continues for full agreement term
(some terms and conditions apply

Talk to an Underline Energy crew member to discuss the financing options for your situation.