As the leading distributed solar installer and financier in the United States, SolarCity has been adept at shifting to market conditions. While the company was a pioneer of third-party owned solar, it has also taken a leading market share among consumer-owned solar that is financed with loans.
Today SolarCity unveiled a new loan product to replace its MyPower loan, which will be available in 14 U.S. States, as opposed to only 8 for MyPower. The company notes that its loans feature new options including fixed payments and a 10-year term offering as well as a 20-year loan.
Monthly payments start as low as $50 per month, with rates as low as 2.99% for the 10-year product. Additionally, the company notes that customers can pre-pay some or all of the loan with no fees or penalties. Customers who use SolarCitys loan product will also retain the value of tax credits, which can be an important advantage of direct ownership over third-party solar.
SolarCity says that it is working with multiple lenders to make this loan product available, a move which has been criticized in investment publication Seeking Alpha as undermining the share of value which the company will receive.
However, SolarCity retains key aspects of the customer relationship, including providing its 20-year warranty, production guarantee, continuous monitoring and service offerings. Additionally, the company is providing Nest Thermostats at no additional cost to certain customers.
SolarCitys new loans will be available in all of the largest distributed solar markets, including California, Massachusetts, Arizona, New York and New Jersey, as well as in Texas. Texas has not been a very large market to date, but the states raw size and population – the second largest in the nation – give it great potential.
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