Terms
Terms and Estimate Disclaimer
SolarCalcNow provides educational solar estimates for early planning. It does not provide installer quotes, engineering designs, tax advice, financial advice, legal advice, or utility interconnection approval.
SolarCalcNow is not a government agency, utility, tax authority, or installer. Source links are provided for review, not as an endorsement or guarantee that a program applies to a specific home.
Estimates can be wrong because of shade, roof orientation, roof condition, local code, utility rates, export compensation, equipment choice, installer pricing, financing, batteries, permitting, and incentive eligibility.
Before purchasing solar, request site-specific quotes, verify utility rules, verify incentives from official sources, and consult qualified tax or financial professionals where appropriate.
Optional quote requests should require explicit consent. No lead workflow should be enabled until privacy, consent, retention, and partner-sharing rules are approved.
Solar finance glossary
Plain-language definitions for terms used in calculators and quote tools. These are planning labels, not tax or legal advice.
- Gross cost
- Total installed price before verified incentives, financing fees, batteries, roof work, or electrical upgrades.
- Net cost
- Price after assumed incentives or credits. Net numbers can hide eligibility, timing, dealer fees, or unverified rebates.
- Payback
- Simple years to recover gross cost from estimated annual bill savings. Not a full ROI, NPV, or financed cash-flow model.
- Net metering
- Utility crediting method for exported solar energy. Rules vary by state, utility, and rate plan.
- Export credit
- Value received for solar sent to the grid. It may be lower than the retail rate you pay for imported energy.
- Planning fit score
- Quote-comparison helper based on gross $/W and checklist flags. It is not an installer recommendation or quality rating.