I read it and I don't think it means what you suggest. If it said that (you don't get credit for what you feed back to the grid) then it would be a dealbreaking flaw in the agreement, since this really only works with net use metering.

I think what they're saying here is that CitizenRe isn't going to make guarantees about how the net use metering works in your area. Your local utility may credit you less for your backfeed than you pay CR to generate it, and they're warning you it is possible the utility may not credit you at all, leaving you screwed.

Solar only works with grid-tie and net-use metering. If you don't get those it's vastly more expensive. Off-grid use is not very green because in most cases the panels spend a lot of their time throwing away energy because the batteries are mostly charged. As soon as you start throwing away any significant part of what's generated you really kill the utility of the PV.

Here, however, is a catch that people may not consider with CitizenRe (or privately funded solar) if grid power goes down it price. If you sign a 25 year contract with CR for 10 cents/kwh, and grid power goes down to 5 cents/kwh, then it's not just that you are now paying 10 cents when your neighbours are paying 5. It's that any excess you generate must be paid for at 10 cents, and you can only sell it to the utility for 5. That is what they are warning you about here.

Will you generate excess? With a system sized for your real usage, you will generate a lot of it. A system sized to handle your needs can only provide you power at night or when it's not sunny by buying it from the grid then, and giving it back to the grid when it's sunny.

If you size your system below your needs, then you have less risk here, but more risk if grid power goes up.

Buying solar is (both with CR and regularly) a bet on the price of grid power. If it goes up, you win. If it goes down, you lose. What it will do is hard to predict.

They are also warning you that utilities and states might change the net use metering rules, or even take them away, which really leaves you screwed unless you can get out of the CR contract. If you did it year by year you are safe.

One thing to compensate is time-of-use metering. Most people with solar try to get time of use metering, which means electricity costs more in the day than at night (roughly.) That's perfect for people with a solar grid-tie, except on hot cloudy days that need A/C.

However, power utilities are fighting the idea they should pay you the peak rate for electricity you feed back during the peak time. They try to pay only the blended rate for that. That's not very fair, but it's what they do. I don't know how much success they and solar owners have had in the fight over that.

In the end, a 25 year contract with CR is really just a novel way to finance solar, combined with, if they're good at it, a low cost supplier and somebody to coordinate all the hassles (the value of which should not be dismissed.)

You're still largely buying a PV system, and financing it, and taking the risks associated with that.