The Potrero Prepaid Energy Service.
One upfront service fee. No monthly payments. Potrero owns, monitors and maintains the system, with 25 years of solar service, 10 years of battery service, and a savings guarantee paid in cash.
The homeowner credit ended. The commercial one didn’t.
The 30% federal credit for new homeowner-owned solar and batteries ended after 2025. Eligible company-owned systems can still qualify for commercial credits.
That is driving a shift to company ownership. Ohm Analytics forecasts third-party ownership rising from 43% in 2025 to 64% in 2026.
The tax credit pays for your protection.
We dislike the opaque, third-party financing games that dominate the solar industry.
We wanted to pass as much of the commercial tax credit to homeowners as possible. The credit goes to whoever owns the system, so it goes to Potrero, and we spend it on you. It lowers your prepaid fee, and it funds the long-term protection a cash purchase cannot offer: covered maintenance and replacement for the full service term, and a savings guarantee settled in cash rather than promises.
Illustrative only. Potrero retains the commercial tax credits and system ownership; your agreement sets the prepaid service fee and coverage.
One company responsible for your system.
You, an installer, and a financier.
In a typical lease or PPA, a financier owns your system and a separate contractor installs and services it. Each needs a margin, and responsibility splits when your system needs attention.
You and Potrero.
We design, install, own and maintain your system. Your agreement stays with the company doing the work, and so does the responsibility when something needs attention.
Replacing three weak relationships with one strong one. Less complexity, better aligned incentives, better value for homeowners.
At a glance.
One prepaid agreement. Every line here is a term in it.
- Upfront fee
- One payment, set in your agreement. No monthly payments, no escalator.
- Solar service
- 25 years from the day PG&E grants permission to operate.
- Battery service
- 10 years from the same date.
- Who owns it
- Potrero, for the service term. You set how much of the battery is always held back for your home, and you can hold it at full charge for 72 hours during a shutoff.
- Repairs and replacements
- Potrero pays, including inverters and batteries, for the length of each term.
- Savings guarantee
- 80% of simulated savings on your actual usage, measured cumulatively, paid in cash within 60 days.
- Grid income
- When the battery earns money from grid programs, Potrero keeps a share capped at half of the extra savings its management creates, paid only out of that income. You never pay out of pocket.
What you can do, and when.
Nothing ties you to the house, and nothing requires you to buy.
- Any time
Sell your home.
The buyer takes over the service and every guarantee. No fee, no restart, nothing to buy. Or buy the system out at closing at appraised value; before year six, Potrero’s documented transfer cost is added and itemized first.
- Year 6 onward
Buy the system.
Any time, on 90 days notice, at independently appraised fair market value. Nothing requires you to buy.
- Year 10
Battery term ends.
Potrero gives 180 days notice. Renew, buy the battery at appraised value, or Potrero removes it at its own cost. Solar service continues.
- Year 25
Solar term ends.
The same three choices on the same 180 days notice: renew, buy at appraised value, or Potrero removes it at its own cost. Nothing is left in place and nothing transfers on its own.
Why the contract says “fair market value,” not “$0.”
Short version: the price starts from an independent appraisal, and from year six we expect that formula to land at $0. If you sell before year six, the price covers only the part of the tax credit the IRS would claw back. Here is why the contract has to be written that way.
Some solar leases promise a $0 buyout from day one. The IRS treats a promised $0 transfer as a sale in disguise and can cancel the owner’s tax credit years later. The bill lands on the finance company that owns the system, not on you. But an owner facing that bill has less reason to keep up your maintenance and less ability to honor your buyout. Potrero owns your system, and its credit is what pays for your guarantee and coverage. So the contract sets a formula instead of a price.
- 1
Start with what the equipment is worth.
An independent appraiser values the used hardware on your roof. That is less than you paid, because permitting, engineering and labor are not resalable, so a $40,000 system starts near $30,000 and declines each year. A lower value means a lower price for you.
- 2
Subtract what you have already paid for, and what removal would cost.
The service you prepaid but have not used yet, and the cost of taking the equipment down. On a typical system those exceed the hardware’s value, so this lands at $0.
- 3
If you sell before year six, pay the unvested credit instead.
The IRS claws back the tax credit if the system changes hands in the first five years, and the clawback shrinks by a fifth each year. Buying out at a home sale in those years costs that clawback amount. From year six it is gone, and the price is $0.
Net Buyout & Valuation Economics ($40,000 Prepayment Example)
Price = greater of (equipment value − removal cost − unused prepaid service, floored at $0) and the unvested tax-credit recapture. Illustrative example.
Straight answers.
Once a year we run a software simulation of your home: your actual, verified energy use against the utility rate plan and export credit schedule in effect that year, with the system operating in a standard self-consumption mode, where the battery stores daytime solar for use in the evening. That gives the bill savings the system should have produced for the way you actually lived.
Potrero guarantees at least 80% of that simulated figure. The guarantee is cumulative from the start of service: extra savings in earlier years carry forward and offset a weaker year later. If the running total ever falls below the 80% threshold, Potrero pays the lost savings to you in cash within 60 days. That payment is never deferred and never credited against a buyout or any other obligation.
Because the simulation uses your real consumption, the guarantee protects you against equipment underperformance, not against changes in how much electricity you use. Because it uses the live rate plan, it adjusts to rate changes rather than insuring against them: utility rate redesigns and fixed charges are not covered. The guarantee is suspended for any period where a shortfall is caused or prolonged by tampering, unauthorized additions, damage by you or a third party you brought in, loss of broadband for the system, or denied access for diagnostics and repair. After the 10-year battery term, the baseline is recalculated for the solar system alone.
Potrero owns the equipment for the full service term, including any replacements. The commercial tax credits, incentives and renewable energy certificates that come with ownership belong to Potrero. Potrero operates charging, discharge, dispatch, settings and firmware through its energy management system.
You control two things, and Potrero must honor both: your backup reserve, the share of the battery that is always held back for your home, and a backup override that holds the battery at full charge for 72 hours when PG&E announces a shutoff or the grid goes down. Grid dispatch uses only energy above your reserve. A safety intervention can override a setting only as far as needed to protect people or equipment, and the reason and duration are logged and disclosed to you.
When your battery earns income from grid programs, Potrero keeps a share that is capped at half of the total value its management creates, and that share is paid only out of the grid income itself. You receive any grid income above it, and you can never owe Potrero out of pocket. An annual statement shows the simulated savings, the gross grid revenue, any third-party deductions and the resulting split.
The fee is split between the solar and battery services in your agreement and is earned month by month across each term. Before service starts, none of it is earned. You receive a cash refund of the unearned portion within 60 days if Potrero ends the agreement for any reason other than your material breach, if the system is destroyed and not restored within 180 days, if you end a service because Potrero materially breached it and did not cure within 30 days of your written notice, or if the utility has not authorized service within 180 days of a complete application.
Choosing to buy the equipment does not trigger a refund. Statutory cancellation rights apply on their own shorter timeline with no deduction.
There are no monthly bills, so there is nothing to fall behind on. If Potrero ends the agreement for any reason other than your material breach, the unearned portion of your fee is refunded within 60 days. The agreement and every obligation in it bind Potrero’s successors and assigns, so an acquirer must honor your service, guarantee and purchase terms exactly as written.
Ownership does not transfer to you automatically if Potrero becomes insolvent, and no purchase price is reduced by it. Your purchase option is unchanged: from year six, at appraised fair market value. The hardware itself is standard and non-proprietary, with manufacturer warranties, so any qualified electrician can service it.
During each service term Potrero pays for repairs, maintenance, telemetry and replacement of inverters and other components, and bears the risk of loss, theft and damage to the equipment. Ordinary equipment failures and damage by third parties are Potrero’s responsibility. Potrero acknowledges a service report within two business days and starts diagnostics within five. This is a business-hours service, not 24-hour dispatch.
You can be billed only for documented repair costs caused by your gross negligence or intentional misconduct, or by a material breach of your access, connectivity or no-tampering obligations after notice and a chance to fix it. Potrero tells you the cause, the work and the rates before any billable non-emergency work. A reasonable truck-roll fee applies only to a missed confirmed appointment or a visit needed solely because the system was left offline after notice. If your roof needs replacing, temporary removal and reinstallation are priced and scheduled in a signed amendment first.
A standard solar loan uses the equipment as collateral, which requires the borrower to own it. Potrero holds title under this program, so those loans do not fit. The fee is paid in cash under the milestones in your agreement.
Structurally it is not new. A company owns the equipment and you buy the energy services it provides, the same shape as the agreements that have carried residential solar for decades. The 25-year term, full maintenance coverage and a savings guarantee are standard features of those agreements.
What is different is that there is no third party. The company that designs, installs, owns and services your system is the one you call. And because the fee is prepaid, there is no monthly bill and no escalator.
See your price, then decide.
Start with your address. We will read your roof and build an instant estimate, then you can book a 30-minute design consultation with the engineer who would design your system.
No contact info required.