Learn

The full library

All 67 articles on this site, grouped so you can find the answer you came for. The quote funnel is the fastest education here; these pages are the long way around, and the long way is where the fine print lives.

Start here

What subscription solar is, what it costs, and how to decide whether it fits.

Buying solar

How do solar salespeople get paid?

Cash, loan, lease, PPA and subscription pay the person who sold you solar on different schedules. The structural reasons that matters before you sign.

Deciding

Is subscription solar worth it?

Usually yes if you might move within fifteen years, usually no if you'll stay twenty and can pay cash. The pros and cons, the 1.9% escalator, and the sale.

Buying solar

Solar lease vs loan vs cash

Four ways to pay for rooftop solar, with worked numbers for one example home: when cash wins, what a loan really costs, and where a subscription fits.

The model

How subscription solar actually works

Subscription solar, plainly: $0 down, the provider owns, insures and maintains the panels, and you can leave after 36 months with no fee. No lien.

Disambiguation

Community solar vs. subscription solar

Community solar and subscription solar are not the same product. What each one is, why the prices look so different, and which fits you.

Comparison

Solar lease vs. subscription

Both are third-party owned, so the criticism partly lands. Where a lease and a subscription genuinely differ: term, exit, lien, escalator, and the sale.

FAQ

Subscription solar, question by question

Straight answers on subscription solar: the contract, the escalator, liens, selling your house, batteries, and who shouldn't sign.

Cost

$0 down solar, and what the catch is

$0 down is real, and so is the catch: someone else paid for the hardware. The three structures behind no-money-down solar, and what each costs you later.

Selling a house with solar

The closing table is where solar structure matters most: liens, buyers, agents, refinancing.

Title & closing

Do solar panels put a lien on your house?

Whether solar panels put a lien on your house depends on how you paid: loans file a UCC lien, leases often file a UCC notice, owned panels carry nothing.

Refinancing

Refinancing your mortgage with a solar lease

Yes, a solar lease can affect a refinance: the payment usually counts in your DTI and a filing can stall closing. Plus what Fannie Mae requires.

The closing table

Selling a house with solar: what actually happens

What happens to a solar loan, lease, PPA, or subscription when you sell, and why the structure you signed decides whether the deal closes.

Selling

When the buyer won't assume your solar lease

Your buyer refused, or the lessor denied the transfer. What happens next: buyout, seller credit, removal, or a deal that dies days before closing.

For sellers and agents

What the MLS records about your solar panels

The RESO field that tells a buyer's agent whether solar is owned, leased, or subscribed, and why that one entry matters more than the panels themselves.

Title & closing

Where to search for a solar lien

A solar fixture filing sits in county land records, not the state UCC registry. Where to search in Florida, Texas and Illinois, and what to do next.

Check for a solar lien in your county

Where to search the records yourself, county by county.

Brazoria County, TX Charlotte County, FL Collier County, FL Fort Bend County, TX Galveston County, TX Harris County, TX Hillsborough County, FL Lee County, FL Manatee County, FL Miami-Dade County, FL Montgomery County, TX Orange County, FL Osceola County, FL Palm Beach County, FL Pasco County, FL Pinellas County, FL Polk County, FL Sarasota County, FL Seminole County, FL

Contracts and fine print

Escalators, cancellation, bankruptcies, and the checks worth running before you sign anything.

Cancellation

How to cancel a solar contract

Canceling a solar contract works differently for a loan, a lease or PPA, and a subscription. Your rescission window, and what happens after it closes.

Before you sign

How to check a solar company before you sign

Is that solar company legit? The license lookups for Texas, Florida and Illinois, where complaints are kept, and what a pattern of them tells you.

Tax credit

The solar tax credit is gone. Now what?

The 30% residential federal solar credit is gone for new installs. What that changes about buying, leasing, or subscribing, and what it doesn't.

Contracts

Your solar company went bankrupt. Now what?

Your solar company filed for bankruptcy. What happens to the lease, PPA or loan, who holds it now, whether to keep paying, and when to file a claim.

Free tool · runs on your device

Solar contract checker

Check a solar contract in your browser, at no cost. It finds the escalator, term, lien, transfer and cancellation clauses. Nothing is uploaded.

Contracts

Solar escalator clauses

The annual increase inside a 25-year solar lease, what 2.9–3.9% compounds to by year 25, and why we disclose our own 1.9% before anyone asks.

Texas law

Is your solar company registered with TDLR?

Texas solar retailers and salespeople must now register with TDLR. How to look both up, what the contract must disclose, and how to cancel or complain.

Your state and your rates

Florida, Texas, and Illinois specifics, plus electricity-rate pages that update daily.

Florida

The Florida solar contract disclosure form, item by item

Florida's § 520.23 solar disclosure form: all 32 items in plain English, your right to cancel, the license check, and what to do if it's missing.

Florida

Solar panels in Florida

Florida solar in 2026: is it worth it, net metering, the tax exemptions, the federal credit, and when a subscription does or doesn't fit.

Illinois

Solar panels in Illinois

Illinois solar in 2026: Illinois Shines, the ComEd and Ameren rebate, net metering, the federal credit, and when a subscription does or doesn't fit.

Texas electricity · pricing

What a price per kWh before delivery leaves out

What a Texas electricity or solar price quoted per kWh before delivery leaves out, how much delivery adds in each utility area, and how to compare.

Texas electricity · reliability

How often each Texas utility's customers lose power

How often and how long customers of CenterPoint, Oncor, AEP Texas and TNMP lose power, from the utilities' own filings with the PUCT and federal data.

Texas electricity · free lookup

Who delivers electricity to your Texas ZIP code?

Enter a Texas ZIP code to see which utility delivers your power, whether you can choose a provider, and what plans cost in your area today.

Texas

Subscription solar in Texas

$0 down, no lien, provider-owned panels in a deregulated market. What the subscription replaces, what it costs, and who shouldn't sign in Texas.

Florida

What happens to solar panels in a hurricane

Wind ratings, roof damage, why panels go dark in an outage, and who pays for storm damage on owned, leased and subscribed systems in Florida.