For Xcel Energy customers in Colorado, installing solar panels on their home is made more affordable with a $2/watt rebate offered through the utility. Still, the up-front costs of solar can range into the tens of thousands, and even if the system has a sweet payback period, that may be more than some folks can finance outright. This is why Governor Bill Ritter approved a law this year to allow solar leasing: with a solar lease, a third party pays for the solar installation, while the homeowner makes one monthly payment to that third party to cover both electricity costs and lease payments on the new solar panels.

You might ask: so what’s in it for the third party? The answer is: incentives. The party that pays for the solar installation is the party that can access any applicable solar incentives. Most prominently, this means the federal investment tax credit equal to 30% of a solar installation’s cost. The Colorado solar rebate offered through Xcel, however, has not been approved for distribution to third parties, which makes running a solar leasing operation in the utility’s territory less than appealing. Now, Xcel is asking the state for permission to change this.

If successful, this may mean a big boost to the solar lease market in Colorado. Leasing isn’t the best option all the time; if you can pay or finance solar yourself, you will usually get a better return. But it’s an outstanding way to lock in your energy costs for the next few decades while doing the low-carbon thing in fine style.

And speaking of Colorado solar rebates: last month, while everyone was off gallivanting around on summer vacations, Xcel cut their rebate by a huge fraction. After reducing the rebate from $4.50/watt to $3.50/watt last October with very little warning (30 hours!), the utility waited less than a year before cutting it down to a slim $2/watt. This is still equivalent to 15-20% of the gross cost of a system, but it’s of course much less attractive than a solar rebate that covers 30-40% of costs. If you’re a homeowner in Colorado, you live in Xcel service territory, and you’ve been thinking about solar for your home: now’s the time. Get competitive quotes before your solar rebate is cut further.

Read up on more Colorado solar incentives–click through to GetSolar.com’s helpful solar incentive pages.