With banks offering TINY interest on investments, now is the time to consider Solar as an Investment.
If you compare solar as an investment to a savings account or bank CD account, solar provides an excellent tax-free rate of return.
If you were to put the (net) cost of a solar system in a in a bank and consider the money you were previously wasting paying the utility company as interest or a return on your investment, you would find the rate of return to be somewhere between 8% - 18%.
The NET investment is the full cost of the system, less any tax credits. Example: System Total Cost = $40,000. Less the 26% Investment Tax Credit*. The net cost would be $29,600. $40,000 - <$10,400> = $29,600.
If your solar system investment was $40,000 your net investment $29,600 (assuming you can utilize the ITC); if you are not paying the utility company $250 per month or $3,000 per year, your return would be $3,000/$29,600 or 10.1% return on investment. If you keep your hard-earned dollars in your pocket, versus wasting it to the Utility Company, that 10.1% return would be tax free.
The higher return coming from higher use customers with the ability to utilize the investment tax credit.
*Talk to your professional tax adviser.