I recently went with a solar lease for my solar installation. The price for the one-time lease payment was $1,000 less than if I purchased the system fully myself and got all of the available federal and state credits. Plus, I would have to lave out the before price and wait for the credits on my next year's tax return. Also, if I bought myself, and wanted monitoring, they charge $500 for that. When you lease, the monitoring is paid for in the lease price, and is still less that purchase outright cost. My lease is with the finance arm of SunPower. I think the real money in solar is on the finance side, not in equipment sales. Since the leasing company maintains ownership, they get to depreciate the asset, and also claim any energy credits. My lease is still new, so I don't have any long term experience, but so far I am pleased. They cover all equipment, including the inverter, for the full 20 years of the lease. I like the fact I have a clearly spelled out guarantee of how much power I will generate, and if the system does not meet the targets, they pay me back. Since they are on the hook for underproduction, my guess is that they estimate very low. My goal was to eliminate all tiers above tier 1 rates (we are covered by PG&E in CA).