Solar Financing in Mount Pleasant, SC

Cash and home equity for a Mount Pleasant system

Paying cash avoids interest and dealer fees and lets you claim the state credit on the full price. Because the credit is limited to the lesser of $3,500 or half your state tax liability each year, a large system’s credit arrives over two or three years, not at once.

With a median owner-occupied value of $667,100 and 73.7% of homes owner-occupied (ACS 2023 5-year), many Mount Pleasant owners have enough equity for a home equity loan or HELOC.

These often carry lower rates than unsecured solar loans because the house is collateral, which is also their risk: missed payments put the home at stake. Closing costs and appraisal fees vary by lender; ask for them in writing.

Solar loans offered with Mount Pleasant proposals

Most installer proposals come with a lender’s loan attached. The common trade-off: a very low advertised APR paid for by a dealer fee, a percentage added to the price you finance.

The fee is often not shown as a line item; the giveaway is a financed price higher than the cash price for the same system. Ask for both prices on the same page.

Many solar loans are structured on the assumption that you pay down a lump sum, often matched to an expected tax credit, by a set month; if you do not, the payment rises.

In South Carolina the state credit arrives over one to several tax years, not as one lump, so check that the loan’s re-amortisation date fits when you will actually receive it.

How interest changes savings on Dominion Rate 5

Financing only makes sense if the monthly saving comes close to the payment.

For a Dominion Solar Choice home, solar you use yourself mostly replaces Rate 5 off-peak power at 15.074¢/kWh, and surplus is paid out at avoided cost in November; the minimum bill of $13.5 stays.

So 750 kWh a month of self-used solar (an example figure) saves about $113.06 a month, against the example payments above.

That gap is why many Mount Pleasant owners who finance choose a shorter term and a smaller system sized to daytime use. See the Mount Pleasant cost scenarios for the same arithmetic on purchase price.

Leases and the PPA ban for Mount Pleasant homes

Lessors need a certificate from the Office of Regulatory Staff, one premises per lease, and the customer owns the output. Third-party sales of electricity from a system on your property (power purchase agreements) are not permitted.

Act 62 removed the old leasing cap. A lease lowers what you pay up front but hands the tax benefits to the lessor and adds a contract that a future buyer of your house must assume or that you must buy out.

In a town where homes change hands at high values, ask for the transfer and buyout terms before signing.

A lease or loan sold at your door can be cancelled until midnight of the third business day after signing, by written notice, which gives you time to compare it with a home equity rate.

Financing a battery and timing the tax credit

Adding a battery to the same loan raises the amount financed; whether the battery portion qualifies for the state credit is something we could not confirm, so do not let a lender size a paydown on that assumption.

For when a battery pays its way in Mount Pleasant, see battery storage. The Town permit and plan review, about $562.50 on a $28,000 contract, are usually rolled into the financed price; check the proposal.