Buying the power from the panels instead of the panels itself can help with the upfront costs and lock you in to a lower per kwh cost than buying from the electric company. However, you would not qualify for the rebates available if you bought the equipment yourself, so you would continue to pay for electricity after the equipment was paid for if you bought it outright.

I don’t know anything about these companies, but a quick search for California Solar PPA turned up:

Heliomu PPA http://www.heliomu.com
Solar City Lease http://www.solarcity.com
SunRun PPA. http://www.sunrunhome.com
References :

EDIT ;

thanks for response via e mail.
But if you think you can save money
by, renting solar panels , then you are a very ignorant person.
The only way that a scheme would would work ,is if the company that is leasing the panels to you ,,have
bribed " lobbied " the local or fed politicians to get subsidized to provide the panels.
then they get payed to install them
and guaranteed to make a profit by the gov.
for "" green energy""
that is why you have to pay 25 cents , while most people pay 10 cents , because you subsidizing all the profits of these Professional thieves.
Who’s job is to find new ways to get into that deep pool of public dollars,,"tax dollars" .

Question for you ..

Do really think the rented solar panels will?
1) pay for installation
2) pay for the cost to buy the panes
3) pay the sales commission to the people that sold it to you
4) pay the on going commission to those that over see them
5) Add to that the higher rate on your elec bill to pay for these people to be subsidized , so they can " rent " you some solar panels ?????????????

Like I said ,,,,,,,you must be very ignorant about energy.
Or very Ignorant about the thousands of companies that are formed to succk tit of the tax payers.
You are ignorant on both of those points.

So dont get piisssed of at me for answering your question !!!!!
Instead ,
you should ask why you are so easily led ?
Why you are so easily "fooled " by the " users " ?
That is those that use the gov to use ignorant people like you.
HAHAHAAH.
And you fell for the whole scam without even realizing it
That is why I use the word ignorant ,, because you are.
If you dont know what "ignorant " means google it to find out.
because you are,
References :

Remember that this is generally not a way to save money. It’s a project that you do for fun. If you go to eBay and search for solar cells, I’m sure the vendors will have information on how to hook the cells together into panels. After all, they want to sell to you.
References :

http://solarpanels.infoworldhelp.com

good luck.

Chris Cordoba
References :
http://solarpanels.infoworldhelp.com

If I were you, I would go for insulation and energy conservation first, then solar hot water if you have money left, then solar electric if you still have money left. Call a professional for a bid - they can gauge your particular energy needs, and how suitable your house is for solar.
References :

Call some local companies to come out for free estimates. There are rebate programs that you can take advantage of. You may have additional rebates from local utility companies as well. Make sure you know your usage so you can get a system that will cover how much you use. If your water heater is electric you should also consider solar water heater with a back up (gas/electric) system as well.

There are also passive solar heating like this (but only works when sun is on it) http://www.symliving.com/store/ListProduct.asp?idCategory=3
References :