10-ish years are the kind of payback I saw when I looked into it. My electricity bill is about $100&#x2F;month--so ~$1K&#x2F;year is about the most I could save if I bought solar panels.<p>Companies like SolarCity can make the math more complicated. And in all fairness they can probably take advantage of various breaks and subsidies I may not have access to as a consumer. However, it&#x27;s like a car purchase. I&#x27;m skeptical that some lease agreement suddenly makes a purchase sensible that wouldn&#x27;t be with a straightforward cash on the barrel buy.