If you are, you may be asking yourself: how can I own an energy system if I don't even own my own home? Wouldn't these systems be built into the home I rent? Wouldn't I need the land-lord's consent? And why would I want to own something in someone else's home? Wouldn't that just be helping them instead of me? Finally,  what if I move? What would happen to my equity?

These questions are entirely valid, and we will try to address them in order. 

An energy system can be built into a home, where the technology is owned by one party and the building is owned by another. This is quite common with rooftop solar. Much of the time what you are seeing is a rooftop that is being leased by a solar company. The Own Your Power system is more involved, because it includes  more than only roof-top solar, but also energy storage, geothermal, EVs and the wires and controls to connect the system. So we would not say the program is without novelty. But the basic division of ownership between building and technology has been established.

You would indeed need the land-lord’s permission. We anticipate two arrangements. One is that the land-lord would own the energy system with you, and use it too. Another is the land-lord would lease the relevant surfaces to you, and anyone else participating in your system. We would be glad to help you educate your land-lord about this opportunity.

Equity is not necessarily good. If you own something that produces something at a higher per unit price than if you bought that something, it is a bad idea. So if you own an energy system where what you save on your fuel bills is less than what you are paying for your system, that is a bad idea. On the other hand if you are paying less, it is a good idea. In fact, even if you are paying the same amount this is a good idea: if you wish to reduce your carbon emissions. But which of the two it is can only be discovered by going through the Own Your Power process with us. The result will be concrete offers that you can decide to accept or reject without penalty or fee. Helping your land-lord may be counter-intuitive. But if the benefit to you is great enough, that will be fine. Ultimately it comes down to the benefit to yourself.
 
The renter is often on the move. But the energy system cannot go with the renter. What will happen to the renters equity will ultimately come down to what the energy users owning the system, including that renter, decide to do. Before any funds have been committed or debt accepted, the ownership structure will be created. This must occur for all cooperatively owned assets. The question applies to housing cooperatives, food cooperatives and agricultural equipment cooperatives.  The Own Your Power process is no different. But most importantly, it is organic. This means we want to reach the arrangement that satisfies all parties. We don't know what this will take. But we will help you through the process.
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Does this sound worth a go?
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