Being retired, I went with a 20 year lease. The company I chose, Solar City, has 5 different options for paying for this. Being retired and on a fixed income, I chose the path of least resistance. The up front costs are nothing. O, nada, zip. Once it's up and running, I pay them $119.00 per month for the lease. Since my lowest electrical bill here in Tucson is about $100.00 a month and in the summer, bills in the $300 to $450 range, $119.00 a month works for me. Also, Tucson Electric will be sending me a check every quarter for the juice I produce but don't use. If you are young and have extra cash laying around, you could pay for the installation up front and have $0.00 electricity costs forever. There are in between options available but at my age, $0.00 down and a small fee every month worked best for me.
I spent a year researching this and went with Solar City. Their C.E.O is Elon Musk, C.E.O. Of Tesla and space X. Qualms? None! Some people say that the pollution caused by producing the panels is harmful. I think the initial downside is more than outweighed by the fact that for the rest of my life, my house will run on Arizona sunshine. Not on coal, not on Nuclear, not on however Tucson Electric produces their power.
What motivated me? You've got to be an idiot to live in Tucson and not run your house on the sun.
Next year we are buying the wife a Prius. It will be charged by my roof and the idea of driving around town on a tankful of Arizona sunshine just gives me a Boehner!
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for your contribution to NOT polluting the air we all breathe.... bravo. 