A solar quote that's honest about 2026.

Really. The residential credit (Section 25D) expired December 31, 2025. Buy a system with cash or a loan in 2026 and there's no federal credit for you — full stop. What survived is the commercial credit (Section 48E), alive through roughly end of 2027, and it belongs to whoever owns the system.

So the play now: programs where a company owns your system (PPA, prepaid ESA, lease), claims the ~30% credit, and passes the value through as a lower price. Add up to 10% more in energy community zip codes. This is why solar prices in 2026 are no higher than before — despite pricier materials. But it has an expiration date. Once the 2027 deadline hits and qualifying materials run out, this pricing era ends.

Prepaid ESA (like Propel): a company owns your system ~5 years, claims the commercial credit, gives you 25-40% off, then ownership transfers to you. Discount + equity. My general favorite for qualifying credit.

PPA: you buy the power, not the panels — $0.17-$0.33/kWh vs SDG&E's $0.40+, with all maintenance, repairs, and replacements covered for 25 years. Watch the escalator (0-3.9%/year), and know that "fixed payment" sales language often hides one.

Cash/loan: cleanest ownership, but with no federal credit anymore, the math flipped hard. Only pencils if outright day-one ownership matters more to you than total savings.

Every PPA has a yearly escalator — the percent your payment increases annually, anywhere from 0% to 3.9%. Because the payment is the same every month, reps love calling it "fixed" while glossing over the yearly climb. "It goes up no more than 3.9%" means it goes up 3.9% every year.

An escalator isn't inherently bad — a higher escalator buys you the biggest day-one savings of any solar option, and it's still better than the utility's trajectory. But hiding it is disqualifying. Fair San Diego pricing with battery: $0.20-$0.24/kWh at 3.5% escalation, or $0.28-$0.31/kWh at 0%. Dramatically lower quotes usually mean the battery payment is hiding on a separate line. Do the math yourself: total monthly payment ÷ average monthly production = your real $/kWh.

Not a scam — a trade-off most reps never explain. Real solar loan interest runs 6-12%. Financiers offer 3-5% rates by "buying down the rate" with an upfront dealer fee baked into your project price — sometimes 25-35% of the total.

The sliding scale: staying 10+ years and never paying early? Low rate + high fee wins. Paying off fast or moving soon? No fee + higher rate wins. In the middle? A 10-15% fee splits the difference. The scam isn't the fee — it's signing up for a huge fee without knowing it exists, then paying off a loan early and eating a fee you never needed. Ask for both quotes side-by-side. A good rep shows you the comparison without being asked.

The industry's real pricing language is Price Per Watt: total cost ÷ total watts installed. A 6kW system quoted at $21,000 = $3.50/W. That one number lets you compare any two quotes regardless of panel count or sales theater.

Fair 2026 cash pricing for the solar portion (California, before battery/MPU/extras): roughly $2.55-$2.80/W for budget equipment, $2.70-$3.05/W mid-tier, $2.85-$3.30/W premium with microinverters. To compare honestly, strip out the extras first: subtract the battery, panel upgrade, and any dealer fee from the total, THEN divide by watts. And remember — the lowest price is not the best price. Companies need margin to still exist when your warranty call comes.

If you live in Carlsbad, Del Mar, Escondido, Solana Beach, San Marcos, Oceanside, or Vista, Clean Energy Alliance's Solar Plus program is one of the most accessible offers in the country: solar + battery (or battery-only) with zero upfront cost and no credit check. Administered by CEA with Participate.Energy; Tesla designs, equips, and services the systems; payments land right on your utility bill; and all equipment replacements are covered for the minimum 25-year term.

The sleeper play I keep telling people about: battery-only for $0 down. If you already have solar, a battery lets you stop selling cheap at noon and buying expensive at 7pm — and maximize those nighttime sell-back credits. CEA also runs income-qualified programs (Battery Bonus Connect and Solar Plus Connect, funded through SGIP). Details: thecleanenergyalliance.org/solar-plus.

Certain zip codes qualify as "energy communities" under federal rules — areas historically tied to fossil fuel employment or meeting other criteria. Systems installed there earn an extra adder on top of the ~30% commercial credit, pushing programs like Propel from 30% off to 39.2% off.

You do nothing to earn this except live where you live. But it changes which program wins for your house — in an energy community zip, prepaid ESA programs get dramatically stronger. It's the first thing I check when running your numbers, and it's why the same system can be priced differently one neighborhood over.

Almost every modern agreement transfers to the buyer — who inherits a power rate locked below the utility, which good real estate agents position as a selling point. Owned systems are cleaner still: they simply add home value ($15-25K typically).

Two cautions: PPAs carry prepayment penalties before year 5, so if you're selling within 5 years, make sure your agent knows how to transfer payments — or choose a program with flexible buyouts. And Sunrun-style providers only offer buyouts at certain years, which limits your options at closing. Tell your rep your realistic timeline in your home and let it shape the program choice. It matters more than people think.