Adding solar to your Denver home. Can you really do it for free?

Most people I know would love to add solar to their home, it is just a matter of how expensive it is and if it's really worth it. I wondered the same thing so I started asking around. What I found was pretty shocking. Did you know you can actually add solar to your home for absolutely free?

Last week, I met with Jeff Munn with Syndicated Solar and was amazed by what he had to show me. After about 30 minutes meeting with him, I felt like an expert on solar and was excited about my options. Syndicated Solar offered me three different options.

1) The first is a zero down program. With no money out of pocket, I could add solar to my house and over the next 20 years potentially save $6,498 in electric bills. The way this program works is that you actually lease the system from Syndicated Solar. Instead of paying Xcel for your electric, you buy it from Syndicated Solar and use the power produced by your system.

The beauty of this system is that Syndicated sets your electric rate for the time you lease the system. My electric rate would increase by 2.9% per year compared to Xcel which is expected to increase their rates by 6.5% per year, and that is conservative. With this option, you don't get the huge savings over the life of the system but you can save a significant amount of money for free while helping the environment.

2) The second option is to prepay a portion of the system. With this option you have no rate increases over the life of the system and by putting $1,000 down upfront, I could potentially save $8,675 over the next 20 years, a 22% estimated return on investment.

3) The third option is to buy the system outright and simply use the electricity the system produces. It would cost about $8,600 to buy the system for my house and I would never have an electric bill again, a savings of about $13,000 or more depending on how high electric costs rise in the next 20 years.