Before signing a contract with a solar installer, comparing your options and research is important — as with any major purchase. Comparing loan and lease options are slightly different. For leases simply compare your Price Per KwH and annual escalator with other quotes. For loan options you want to consider your overall goal with solar, whether it’s to stay in your home and enjoy the benefits of solar for 20+ years, or if you plan to sell your home within that time. In general, for loans, you want to compare the Net Price Per Watt. This can be found by dividing the size of your system in watts with the net price of your system after all incentives. For example; if you have a 10kW system (10,000 watts) and the price is $30,000, your total Price Per Watt is $3.00. However, you could qualify for the Federal Renewable Energy Tax Credit & AZ State Tax Credit, which in this example would be $9,000 for federal and $1,000 for state, which would bring the net price down to $20,000 and the Net Price Per Watt down to $2.00.