What if getting state-of-the-art solar panels and home battery storage could be as easy as leasing a car?
That's the goal of Sunrun, the largest developer of home solar in the U.S. with over one million customers, which offers solar panels and energy storage as a subscription service to customers who want to lower their power bills and increase their home's energy resilience against extreme weather.
Installing solar panels is one of the best ways to cut down on your home's energy bills and environmental impact, but the high upfront costs often put this opportunity out of reach for many Americans who can't yet afford the investment, even with recent tax incentives. Sunrun's solution offers all the benefits of solar and backup power but without the hefty price tag of buying a whole system outright.
"We want energy independence. We want control. We want the feeling of being in charge of our own home and our own life and our pocketbook," said Sunrun CEO Mary Powell, who was recently named one of TIME's 100 Most Influential Leaders in Climate.
With Sunrun's subscription model, customers "can get all this modern technology in your home. You can get solar, can get storage, you can get an EV charger," Powell told us. "It's a super easy, low-friction way to get a lot of amazing technology."
In an exclusive conversation with The Cool Down, Powell walks us through how customers can take advantage of Sunrun's clean energy solutions right now — to save money, be prepared for outages and disasters, and even make money by sending power back to the grid.
🌤️ So how does a subscription for solar actually work?
Powell went solar in her own home 14 years ago "the old-fashioned way," as she put it, "where you had to either get a loan or you just had to come up with cash." But nowadays, Sunrun offers solar and energy storage as a "clean energy subscription service."
That means homeowners can get access to high-tech solar panels, Tesla Powerwalls and other powerful battery storage, plus EV chargers, SPAN smart electrical panels, and more — "you can get all this modern technology in your home … and it's all wrapped into one easy monthly payment with no money down," said Powell.
"Then you're going to see savings that offset that payment, and I think that's the big thing that will really accelerate the tipping point" toward a clean energy revolution, she said.
Bundling home energy upgrades into a subscription payment turns a large financial decision (solar installation costs between $17,900 and $23,600 after Inflation Reduction Act savings, on average) into what Sunrun's team says is a manageable monthly solution.
The company's "clean energy subscription" also includes free maintenance and repairs, 24/7 system monitoring, as well as a 25-year equipment warranty. However, only homeowners who purchase their solar systems outright will directly receive money from the available federal and local governmental incentives.
💸 How much can I save with a "clean energy subscription"?
While every home is unique, Sunrun reports that its customers have saved over $1.3 billion since 2007, and in many instances, customers have saved up to double-digit figures on utility bills compared to traditional energy costs.
Customers are also able to purchase their solar setup outright through Sunrun, in which case all energy savings go straight into their pocket — it's just a matter of figuring out your "break even" point when those energy savings fully offset the larger upfront solar installation costs.
However, the company is seeing a clear preference for its subscription-based solar solutions. In the third quarter of 2024, for example, 95% of new customers opted for the subscription model over outright purchasing, according to the company.
Either way, finding the best solar plus storage setup for your home will be increasingly important as utility bills are expected to rise nationwide due to factors like inflation and extreme weather.
"The scary thing is, for so many consumers in so much of the country, it's not 'Is … the cost of energy from my utility [going to go up?],' it's 'how much.' In California, where I live now … it's been double-digit increases," Powell told us of electrical bill prices from the grid. "There isn't a solution on the horizon for consumers except what we provide, which is what I think what Americans want in so many parts of our lives."
💡 Keeping the lights on during extreme weather
With solar panels on the roof and energy storage to boot, homeowners can get peace of mind that the lights will stay on and the fridge will keep running during blackouts caused by increasing demand on the grid and extreme weather events.
"There's so many stories that, in a really devastating situation, warm your heart of how these [solar and backup power] systems have been life-saving for people … helping them also create a hub of support that helps their community," Powell told us.
After Hurricane Beryl in summer 2024, stories poured in of "customers who share[d] with us not just their own sense of safety and security in their home, but their acts of kindness."
For example, one of Sunrun's regional sales managers who had installed solar panels and a Powerwall backup battery still had electricity during the Category 1 hurricane in Texas that wiped out power to two million homeowners. Using an extension cord, he linked his neighbors up to his solar system and kept appliances running in two adjacent houses.
Since introducing battery storage to its product lineup, Sunrun says it has provided customers with over 2.8 million hours of backup power during 659,000 grid outage events.
💪 Clean energy is a two-way street
How often do you get paid just to park your car in the driveway? In 2024, a few Sunrun customers in Maryland got to find out by agreeing to send power from their Ford F-150 Lightnings to back up the electrical grid using the electric pickup's bi-directional charging capabilities.
"We are leading the charge on these ways to help monetize these systems that then bring even more value to customers," Powell said. For that pilot program in Maryland, "one consumer in particular … he ended up making $1,500 utilizing his F-150 to export back to the grid."
In California, Sunrun has been offering customers the opportunity to sell their solar energy back to the grid through programs like the Peak Power Rewards.
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If you were to install home solar panels, which of these factors would be your primary motivation? Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. |
Energy independence ⚡ "One of my favorite things is in California … we had 8,000 customers that were sent a note saying, 'Hey, would you like us to utilize your system over this summer to help support the California grid? It will have no impact on you or your reliability of your system at home. But if you want to participate, you'll get $750,'" Powell told us.
"What else can we buy as consumers that has the opportunity to suddenly drop money in our lap?" she said.
❓ Will a new administration challenge progress on solar?
Sunrun has over one million customers and is responsible for a fifth of all home solar systems installed in the U.S. — whereas, Powell, told us "the average utility has 650,000 customers." She credits Sunrun's mass appeal to the fact that, she says, "At the end of the day, consumers want energy independence. They want reliable energy. They want an affordable future."
"Residential solar has pulled across political lines with some of the highest favorability for over a decade," Powell said. "At the end of the day, while administration changes happen and policy changes at the state levels happen, customers want what we provide."
"I definitely think [the chance of] a repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act … is very low," Powell told us. "I really see a lot of continued support for residential solar … even in Florida … with Governor DeSantis, he vetoed a bill that the utilities were trying to get through that would have harmed customers who wanted to go solar. And why did he do that? He did that because consumers, voters want solar and they want storage, and they want the ability to control their own future around energy.
"At the end of the day, that is going to be the strongest force that's going to continue to drive progress at a main street level as well as at a political level."
💚 What gives you hope for a clean energy future?
"I truly believe that … we're going to hit this tipping point," Powell said. "Utilities are going to hit the wall … they can't build stuff fast enough … with AI demand happening, with electrification of society happening … and they're going to be forced by regulators or forced by their own need to really embrace distributed resources [like residential solar and energy storage] even more."
"That is going to have a flywheel effect that could be really profound for society," she said. "And [that] gets me really excited."
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