Lease or buy solar in Illinois? Compare your 25-year cost

Start with a typical Illinois example, then change any number to match your quote. The tool ranks each option by its cost per kWh in today’s dollars, counting what your cash could earn elsewhere, the way the state’s disclosure form does. It also shows your total monthly cost with each one, and how each compares with just staying with your utility.

How much does the utility-price guess matter?

A lot. Here is what each option is worth compared with staying with ComEd, in today’s dollars, at three rates. The first two are the state’s disclosure-form low and high. The last is Illinois’s actual 20-year track record. PJM’s capacity auctions have cleared at their price cap three years running, largely on data-center demand, so the next few years may run hotter still.

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Our math, using the calculator’s example: 7 kW in ComEd territory, $18,200 cash price, a 25% loan dealer fee, and a 15-year lease and PPA rising 2.9% a year. Values use the state’s 5.5% rate; a minus sign means worth less than staying. If your money would earn only 2% a year, paying cash would be worth about $10,994, vs. $4,196 for a PPA.

For most Illinois families, a PPA now beats paying cash in today’s dollars. Here is why, and when it doesn’t.

1. Only the company can claim the federal tax credit now. Homeowners who buy lost the 30% credit after 2025. A PPA company can still claim a business credit and build it into your price.
2. $0 down, and a lower cost from month one. In our ComEd example, the total monthly cost drops from $173 to about $156 in year one.
3. Your cash stays yours. Keep it for emergencies, debt or investing. At 5.5% a year, $18,200 could grow to about $69,404 over 25 years.
4. You pay only for the power the panels make. If they make less, your PPA bill is smaller. Many contracts also guarantee production and credit you for shortfalls.
5. Repairs are the company’s job. It monitors and fixes the system at no cost to you for the whole contract. Illinois Shines pays the company for 15 years of your system’s output, so it has every reason to keep it running. When you own, manufacturer warranties usually cover parts, not labor.
6. You can still own it later. A buyout around year 5 is standard. Once you buy, the company’s repair coverage ends, and you’re back to parts-only manufacturer warranties.
7. The window is closing. New company-owned systems must be running by December 31, 2027 to get the federal credit, unless construction began by July 4, 2026. Waiting to save up could mean missing it.

When buying still wins

• You have cash that would otherwise earn less than about 4% a year, and you’ll keep the panels 25 years.
• You want the home-value boost and the higher Illinois Shines price for yourself.
• The PPA or lease price is high: more than about 15¢ per kWh to start, or rising more than 3% a year.

Whichever you choose, get the production guarantee, the repair coverage and the buyout schedule in writing. The federal credit rules and how Illinois Shines pays are explained in full elsewhere.

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For most families in 2026, a PPA or lease: $0 down, a lower monthly cost from day one, repairs covered, and your cash stays free. Buy if you have cash that would otherwise sit earning little and you’ll stay in the house for 25 years.

In our ComEd example, a PPA brings a $173 monthly bill to about $156 in year one, and it’s worth about $3,152 more than staying with ComEd in today’s dollars. The answer works the same way in ComEd towns like Des Plaines and Ameren towns like East Peoria (solar in the Peoria area). Only the credit prices and how much sun your panels get are different. Rising bills are why these offers are everywhere right now — here’s why ComEd bills jumped and why Ameren bills jumped.

A PPA or lease usually wins when:

• You’d rather keep your cash for emergencies, debt or investing.
• You want a lower monthly cost from the first month, with nothing down.
• You want the company to handle repairs and stand behind the system’s output.

Buying can win when:

• You have cash that would otherwise earn less than about 4% a year.
• You plan to keep the panels for all 25 years.
• You want the rebate, the higher Illinois Shines price and the home-value boost for yourself.

Either way, your roof has to work first: is your house good for solar?, solar roof requirements and how much shade is too much. For payback on a system you buy, use the Illinois solar payback calculator.

Cash and loans mean you own the panels, and you keep the rebate, the higher Illinois Shines price and the home-value boost. Leases and PPAs mean a company owns them: $0 down, repairs covered, but yearly increases and rules when you sell.

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What you earn for power you send back is the same whichever way you pay. Hail and storm damage is usually the company’s problem on a lease or PPA and yours when you own — see whether panels survive Illinois hail.

Yes, in three ways, and none of them is free: a lease, a PPA, or a $0-down loan. With a lease or PPA, the company owns the panels and keeps the incentives. With a $0-down loan, you own them, but the price is often raised by a dealer fee.

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Many $0-down offers now bundle a home battery. One $0-down offer that launched in Illinois in August 2026 includes a large battery and lets the price rise up to 2.9% a year for 25 years. The company keeps the tax credit and Illinois Shines money, and earns from grid programs. See how free home battery offers work, ComEd’s virtual power plant, Ameren’s virtual power plant and whether a battery is worth it.

Is a “no-cost solar program” legit?

Usually it’s a lease or PPA with a marketing name. The only state program that installs solar with nothing up front is Illinois Solar for All, and it’s only for income-qualified households. If someone says the government is paying for your panels, ask which contract you’re signing: a lease, a PPA or a loan. Then check that the company is a registered Approved Vendor.

Not homeowners who buy. The 30% homeowner credit ended for spending after December 31, 2025. The IRS counts the spending when installation is finished, so a system finished in 2026 doesn’t qualify, even if you paid in 2025.

Lease and PPA companies can still claim a separate business credit, called Section 48E, on systems they own. The system must be running by December 31, 2027, unless construction began by July 4, 2026 — a date that has now passed. New rules on where the equipment comes from also apply to projects started in 2026. Any of that money reaches you only as a lower lease or PPA price. Ask the company to say in writing whether your system qualifies and how it lowers your price. More: did the solar tax credit end? and does Illinois have a state solar tax credit?

Whoever owns the panels. If you buy, you get the $300-per-kW utility rebate and the higher Illinois Shines price. On a lease or PPA, the company claims the rebate and earns the lower price.

For systems up to 10 kW, the owner price is $100.77 per credit in ComEd territory and $90.37 in Ameren territory. That includes a $20 bonus for owning the system. Leased and PPA systems earn $80.77 and $70.37. Either way, the Illinois Shines money goes to the installer’s registered Approved Vendor, not to you. It’s paid half when the system turns on and the rest over six years, and it reaches you only as a lower price. Ask for that amount in dollars, in writing. How it works: Illinois Shines, explained, ComEd’s solar rebate and every Illinois solar incentive. Battery rebates follow the same rule: the ComEd battery rebate and every Illinois battery incentive.

Interest, and often a dealer fee. Many solar loans add a fee to the price so the lender can advertise a low interest rate. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found these fees usually run 10% to 30% of the cash price.

Sometimes the fee is more than 50%. In the Bureau’s own example, a $30,000 system became a $39,000 loan. Ask every installer for the cash price and the financed price side by side, in writing. The gap between them is what the loan really costs you. More: why is my solar loan bigger than the cash price?

It adds up. At 2.9% a year, a $100 payment grows to about $149 by year 15. Over a 15-year Illinois contract, you pay about 23% more than with no increase.

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Our math, per $100 of first-year monthly payment. Illinois contracts usually run 15 years; 25-year contracts are common elsewhere. The official Illinois Shines PPA form shows the same effect: a 14¢ price rising 1.7% a year reaches about 16.3¢ by year 10. Utility prices can rise too — ComEd’s supply price is about 53% higher than two years ago (what changed October 1) — but no one can promise how fast. A 0% increase makes your costs easy to predict.

Your buyer takes over the contract if they qualify, or you buy it out. The company usually files a notice on your property records, called a UCC-1 fixture filing, and it’s handled at closing. A system you own simply goes with the house.

Berkeley Lab researchers found buyers paid more for homes with solar the homeowner owned, but not for homes with leased systems. If you might move before the contract ends — usually 15 years in Illinois — read the transfer and buyout terms before you sign. More: selling a house with solar in Illinois and why owners should file for the Illinois solar property-tax protection.

Yes. A buyout around year 5 is standard. The company has to own the system for five full years to keep its federal tax credit, so buyouts usually open then.

The price usually comes from a schedule in your contract or from the system’s fair market value. Some homeowners use this on purpose: they let the company claim the tax credit, then buy the system in year 5. Whether that beats buying outright depends on the buyout price, so get it in writing before you sign. Enter it in the calculator above to see your cost per kWh.

At the end of a typical 15-year Illinois contract, you can usually buy the system at fair market value. Leaving early without a buyout usually means paying most of what’s left. The calculator shows the payments left if you sell in year 5, 10, 15 or 20.

Nationally, more homeowners now lease or sign PPAs than buy. Leases and PPAs passed half of U.S. home solar installs in late 2024, for the first time since 2016, Wood Mackenzie reports.

Most installers expect leases and PPAs to be the majority of their 2026 sales, mostly because only companies can still claim the federal credit. Popular doesn’t mean cheapest, though. Compare the 25-year totals for your own offers.

Seven things, on paper, before you sign any solar deal. If a seller won’t put them in writing, that tells you what you need to know.

1. The Illinois Shines Disclosure Form for your exact deal, before you sign. It must match the sales pitch.
2. The Approved Vendor’s name. Check it on the program’s official list.
3. How much Illinois Shines money you get, in dollars.
4. For a lease or PPA: whether the company’s federal credit applies, and how it lowers your price.
5. The cash price and the financed price side by side, or all 25 years of payments with the yearly increase.
6. Who files for the utility rebate, and who gets it.
7. Warranties and roof coverage, plus the transfer and buyout terms.

The installer handles permits either way (Chicago and Aurora have their own rules). The questions that separate a good quote from a bad one: how to vet an Illinois solar quote.

More answers: your bill after solar · the average Illinois electric bill · ComEd Hourly Pricing with solar · what an HOA can and can’t block · solar through an Illinois winter · the ComEd solar guide · Illinois solar facts.