Sunrun Review: My Expert Take on the Popular Solar Provider

Homeowners who installed rooftop solar systems used to get a 30% federal tax credit, saving them upwards of $10,000 on the project. Not surprisingly, the elimination of the tax credit at the end of 2025 has led to a sharp decline in solar purchases. That said, it’s been a bright spot for solar leasing companies, including Sunrun, the nation’s largest, with roughly 18% of the total residential market.

Solar leasing is a more feasible option for many homeowners than buying since it allows them to go solar for little upfront cost. Compare that with the roughly $25,000 you’ll need in a tax credit-free world to make the energy-efficiency upgrade. Plus, you can pair the leased solar panels with a backup battery storage system which will keep your home running through extended power outages.

The solar industry is no stranger to fly-by-night operations, which is why our experts in the Good Housekeeping Home Improvement & Outdoor Lab say it’s important to go with an established brand with a proven track record. With more than 1.2 million solar installations to date, along with an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, Sunrun has claim to both (those factors helped the company win a recent Home Renovation Award in the Sustainability Innovators category).

Still, adding solar to your home is a major investment, so you want to make sure you team up with the right partner for your needs. With that, our experts worked alongside home energy professionals to put together this explainer, answering the essential questions to determine if Sunrun is the right solar provider for you.

Pros

• Allows homeowners to go solar with little upfront cost
• Maintenance and repairs are covered
• Optional accessories, including battery storage, which can keep the home running through power outages

Cons

• Lower return on investment over the long term, compared with owning
• Less control over choice of panels and other equipment
• Lease contracts can make selling your home a bit trickier

It used to be that homeowners who wanted to go solar had to purchase rooftop panels and all the necessary accessories (mounting rack, inverter, electrical cables, etc.) through a solar company, which also handled the installation. Sunrun realized that the steep initial cost of this approach was keeping tens of millions of U.S. homeowners on the sidelines.

So the company pioneered a new “solar as service” model, whereby homeowners lease the solar system through Sunrun and pay a monthly fee, just like leasing a car. Under the terms of the contract, which is usually for 20 or 25 years, Sunrun owns all the equipment and is responsible for any maintenance or repairs.

After requesting a free quote through the website, an in-house Sunrun advisor will schedule a virtual consultation to iron out the details of your solar panel system design. This will include a review of recent utility bills to determine how much energy your home currently consumes, along with any projected changes in the future (for example, the plan to purchase an electric vehicle or a heat pump, which would drive up your electricity needs). The advisor will also go over your savings goals as well as any preferences you might have related to aesthetics.

Based on these inputs, your Sunrun advisor will draw up the lease contract, also known as a power purchase agreement (PPA). Sunrun will then secure any permits or approvals required by your city for the project. Then they’ll schedule the installation, which will probably be completed in a single day, though it might be a few weeks before you receive permission to operate (PTO) from your utility company, allowing you to flip the switch on the system and start harnessing the sun's power for your home.

One thing to note: Sunrun chooses all the equipment for your system. Many customers like it this way since it saves them from having to research the vast array of solar panels and inverters on the market. Plus, as Chance Allred, chief experience officer at Sunrun, points out, "Since we own everything, it's in our best interest to put the best, most reliable equipment on our customers' homes." Still, if you’re the kind of person who likes to geek out on this stuff, or you want to make sure you’re getting the absolute best of the best for your home, solar leasing is probably not for you.

Sunrun serves the 19 states below, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.

• Northeast: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont
• Southeast: Florida and South Carolina
• Midwest: Illinois and Wisconsin
• Southwest: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas
• West: California and Hawaii

Sunrun is great for homeowners who want to go solar but can’t afford the upfront cost. The leasing model allows more people to take advantage of the many benefits of solar. Maybe you want to reduce your carbon footprint by switching from fossil fuels to clean energy (the savings in greenhouse gas emissions by Sunrun solar installations since its inception is the equivalent of taking 3.2 million cars off the road for a year). Other reasons include if you want to take advantage of the high-tech benefits of electrification (more on that below, where we get into battery storage) or if you’re on a fixed income and like the idea of paying a predictable amount each month for energy, especially in the face of rising electricity costs.

It is important to understand the fine print on the Sunrun contract. For example, the terms typically include a so-called escalator clause, whereby payments increase every year, usually by 1% to 3%. That’s less than the electric rate increases seen recently in many states. For example, Duke Energy, which serves residents in South Carolina, announced a rate increase of 8.7% in 2024. California’s PG&E has had rate increases as high as 13%. On the other hand, residents of Pennsylvania, where Sunrun operates, saw their rates go down from 2023 to 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. So before pulling the trigger on solar leasing, it pays to look at electric rate trends in your state.

Because solar lease contracts will be unfamiliar to many consumers, our experts say it’s important to make sure you fully understand the terms and conditions, as well as the payment structure, before signing on the dotted line.

Peace of mind is another major advantage of Sunrun’s solar-as-service model. Since the company owns all the equipment, they’re on the hook if anything goes wrong with it. Sunrun handles any maintenance requirements too. We also like the company’s performance guarantee, which says in writing that if the solar panels don’t produce as much power as expected, they’ll issue a refund each month to make up the difference.

If your goal of switching to solar is to save as much money as possible, solar leasing is not the best option. Though Sunrun says that for most customers, their lease payment is less than what they spent previously on energy, the potential long-term savings are much higher with a solar purchase.

“That's especially true if you’re able to pay cash for the system, as opposed to financing it,” said Spencer Fields, director of insights at EnergySage, a solar marketplace. In that scenario, the savings over 25 years could be as high as $90,000; a solar lease won’t deliver anywhere near that kind of return. (We should note that Sunrun also sells solar systems to homeowners.)

The other issue with solar as a service is that if you end up selling your home, some buyers might balk at the idea of taking over the lease. Sunrun stands behind the 98% transfer success rate of its Service Transfer team, which is dedicated to facilitating the process. It's also worth noting that solar panels will almost certainly add to the value of your home, according to several industry reports, including one from the real estate company Zillow, which found that “homes with solar-energy systems sold for 4.1% more on average than comparable homes without solar power.”

Still, it’s important to know going into a solar lease agreement that any prospective home buyers down the road will need to agree to take over the contract.

Many factors impact price, including the size of the system and the complexity of your roof. But the average cost of a Sunrun project, according to a 2023 report by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is just over $4 per watt.

A typical Sunrun installation generates 7,500 watts, putting the average cost at $30,000. But most Sunrun customers choose to lease their system, for as little as $0 down.

Since 2016, Sunrun has also offered solar battery storage. This is another big part of the company’s value proposition to consumers since battery storage had been kind of a missing link in the whole rooftop solar equation. By adding a battery into the mix (Sunrun partners with both Tesla Powerwall and LG), you can store power generated by your rooftop panels and use it during a power outage caused by extreme weather, wildfire, or some other event; the U.S. experienced about two times more weather-related outages between 2014 and 2023, compared with the first decade of the century, according to the non-profit research group Climate Central.

There are potential savings in battery storage, too. For example, if you still get some power from the utility company and it offers time-of-use pricing, you can program the battery to deliver power to parts of the home during off-peak hours.

Sunrun also has a partnership with Span, a smart electrical panel that our experts awarded a Good Housekeeping Home Reno Award on the strength of its ability to give homeowners more control of their home’s energy usage. "Energy used to be a black box for homeowners." said Allred. "Our array of solar products, including smart features through the mySunrun app, creates a transparency that lets homeowners know everything that's going on with their house and make smarter decisions based on the information."

Sunrun has also started offering EV chargers, though only for purchase as an add-on product at the point of sale. The $1,749 cost includes all the necessary hardware, up to 20 feet of conduit and installation.

If you lease your solar system through Sunrun, maintenance and repairs are covered for the life of the contract. If you purchase through Sunrun, the company offers various packages with different warranties. The panels themselves are usually covered for 10 years, though coverage can be as high as 25 years. There’s also a bumber-to-bumper warranty that covers all equipment replacement and system repairs, including parts and labor, plus the guarantee that roof penetrations will remain watertight, for a full decade.

Sunrun has been a boon to the solar industry by making rooftop panels accessible for more than 1 million U.S. homeowners. If you want to join the clean energy revolution but can’t afford to purchase a rooftop system, you should consider a solar lease from Sunrun. You won’t save as much money over the long haul as you would by buying the system outright, even without the 30% federal tax credit.

But there are other benefits that our experts say make it a smart upgrade, like the ability to add backup power to your home to protect against power outages. Plus, as the home electrification trend continues, you’ll be set up to take advantage of the many clean, cost-effective technologies that are coming down the pike.

Why trust Good Housekeeping?

Dan DiClerico has covered the renewable energy market for nearly 25 years, working closely with agencies like the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as well as leading brands in the alternative energy space. He also keeps up with the latest innovations by attending trade shows and industry events. At the Good Housekeeping Institute Home Improvement and Outdoor Lab, DiClerico oversees the testing and evaluation of any alternative energy equipment that passes through the Lab. He also oversees GH's annual Home Renovation Awards, which surfaces many of the latest innovations in energy efficiency.

Dan DiClerico

Home Improvement & Outdoor Director

Having written thousands of product reviews and how-to articles on all aspects of home ownership, from routine maintenance to major renovations, Dan (he/him) brings more than 20 years of industry experience to his role as the director of the Home Improvement & Outdoor Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute. A one-time roofer and a serial remodeler, Dan can often be found keeping house at his restored Brooklyn brownstone, where he lives with his wife and kids.