A large-scale natural gas-generating plant can supply electricity for around 6 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Then why do I have to pay so stinkin’ much for power to my home?
I had a friend just do the lease-the-panels thing (lease the panels, they install them, and if your electricity bill doesn’t go down at least as much as your lease, blah blah blah). Anyway, he just did this a month or so ago, here in the metro Houston area. I’m going to check in on him and see if it’s been worth it for him. If my electricity bill goes down by $100, and the lease is only $50, or whatever, it’s worth it to me. Right now, $300 a month is too much (and I’m keeping the AC set at 76 all day and night during the summer, not freezing anyone out.)
Leasing is a huge mistake. You save very little and likely end up locked in for 25 years, and the buyout cost is the total potential kwh's the system will generate over the remainder of the lease at market price. I've seen people try to buy out their lease when selling their house and were unable to find a buyer willing to assume it. In one case a $25K system cost almost $70K to buy out so they could sell.