Solar Panel Installation Funding and Financing
Here at Sunpak, we are often asked about what are the best options for financing or funding your solar installation so we decided to run through some options and how they work.
Self Funding
The most common for us are people who decide to self-fund their solar installation. They use their savings and then get around a 3rd of the cost back through incentives. Holy Cross Energies rebates usually come in pretty quickly after the array is powered up. The solar Fed tax incentive currently at 30% obviously has to be put in with your tax return at the end of the year. For a lot of people, this is the best option but not great if you don’t want to deplete savings.
Self Financing
When it comes to solar financing a lot of times it’s best to go to your preferred credit union as more often than not they offer the best interest rates. Some will offer solar-specific loans. One thing to consider with this is they usually only want to pay 1 lump sum on completion of the project. We and most other companies will want a Deposit to start the ball rolling on the project, this covers a lot of the paperwork and office time to get started. Then we usually require a lump sum on delivery of the materials and a final amount due when the solar installation is commissioned and switched on. Always make sure to discuss this with your installer so you can have an agreement in place and save some hold-ups down the line.
Financing through Renu
For residential solar installations, another financing option is the RENU colorado residential energy upgrade loan. Sunpak Electric is an approved install for this program which is run via the Elevations Credit Union. We have nothing to do with the program so we do not receive a commission etc. Rates vary depending on credit score, so it is always worth shopping around and comparing. Below is a link to their website and an image showing how that process works.
Financing through CPACE
This is similar to RENU however this is aimed at solar installations on commercial properties. Like RENU we are an approved contractor. We do not receive any commission if a client decides to fund their project through them. They also offer loans for other energy efficiency upgrades. Their website is linked below.
A lot of clients when taking a loan for their project will make sure there is no penalty clause for early payment of the loan. This allows them to put the rebate straight back towards the loan, for example most of our solar installs are carried out on homes that have their electricity supplied by Holy Cross Energy. When the solar installation is complete, commissioned, Inspected and turned on by their team they release a rebate which is usually in the region of $1,700 – depending on the size of the array. They then put this straight to the principle of the loan. Next, at the end of the following tax year a further claim of 30% (current federal incentive as of 1/14/2023) of the remaining install is credited towards their return Which they also put towards the principle of the loan.
This has a significant benefit towards getting the loan term down and if you can aim to get the loan payment to be around that of your average electric bill then there is no real extra burden, something many solar users have found to be a very pleasant surprise.
There are a lot of solar financing options out there which we have covered briefly in this post. If you have any questions on these please feel free to contact us and we would be more than happy to discuss any of the options further.
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