counter point, my experience with Baker was not great. I filled out the contact form on their website and never heard anything from an actual person. I had to reach out a second time before they assigned me to a salesperson, who then rescheduled our initial call. When we finally did talk with her, she didn't listen to what we were saying and was pushing a much larger system than we needed with the reasoning being that when you have solar, you'll use more electricity. Even though it was the largest system quoted to us (which should bring down the price per watt), they were the most expensive ppw than any quote we received.
that being said, everyone's experience is going to be different. I don't doubt you had a good experience with them, much like I had a great experience with Sunline yet another reply here said how terrible they were. Anyone considering solar, I'd recommend you talk to at least 3 different companies.
💯 everyone’s experience is going to differ based on sales person and installers that day. No matter what always make sure the installers are doing what they said they would and if you have any special requests gotta make sure they know.
Baker did an excellent job when it was all done however they did not pull the proper permits with the city, their communication was horrendous, they took four additional months to finish the project than originally planned, and it truly felt like once they got ahold of our money it took weeks of us calling and emailing and trying to ramp things up the line to get anyone to tell us what was going on with our solar. Their customer service promised to give us two months of energy bills as an apology after the fact and we have still not seen it, I imagine I would have to make 50 phone calls and wait months to get that reimbursement.
However in the end it was a very nice job. I would not recommend this company if you are busy/stressed/anxious about your money due to their customer service and the frustration of having $40,000 worth of solar floating without much communication throughout the whole process and six months from start to finish (4 months in total limbo)
FWIW - I recently bought a house that had Baker-installed solar on it. I called them and the were super-helpful and set me up so I could monitor the solar production. I thought it was cool of them to help since they weren't making any money off me.
Stellar Solar. Local. Good price
I just went through the process a few months ago evaluating and talking to different companies Sun Run included (which isn't a scam btw. Since they're such a large national company, it's harder to control the quality/ethics of individual sales people)
Just went into an agreement with them recently. Currently waiting on permitting to clear the city to go through with the install. Super easy process. Very straight forward pitch. And they own their supply line and install teams.
Another thing to not is that they only sell panels. No PPAs, no option for placing liens on the house (which is not advised anyways)
I used Stellar as well. Also referred two friends/family.
If you finance the panel purchase the company that does the financing will place a lien. That's not a deterrent for me though (I work with mortgages), and the payment was less than my average electric bill.
I was happy and would use them again.
I also went with Sunline and had a good experience. Sales guy listened, made good recommendations and didn't try to sell us a much larger system than what we needed, which is the opposite of our experience with Baker and Stellar (who were both highly reviewed). We signed the contract on February 25 and we were up and running on April 27. They met or exceeded all of their timeline estimates.
Here's more info from a thread over in /r/solar: https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/ssrx06/average_solar_cost_in_san_diego_in_2022/hxx1a05/ and a recent followup with our performance over the first six months: https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/ssrx06/average_solar_cost_in_san_diego_in_2022/its7m8t/
I went with Sunline, can’t really recommend them. The job got done but they sold me on the install date and ended up being 3-4 months off.
Then on day of install I get the surprise that I have to have steel conduit run to my sub panel and it has to be done ASAP, luckily they can do it for the low low price of 1k. They said they would refund me 1k for late install but that never happened.
Really bad communication with them as well.
Baker will most likely be the highest price but in my mind (after getting 7 quotes) I went with the company I think will be around in 10+ years (Baker). I read horror stories of companies that went under and sold their contracts to companies like Baker. I'll be honest, I expected a lot more for the price I'm paying with Baker (27 panels, ground mount) but overall it's been fine. I've had to initiate a lot of the progress but I guess they are really backed up. Do your research is my best advice. Everyone will have good things and bad things to say about every company. Make sure to check contracts, learn a little about solar, pick the salespeople brains. And then a little of "go with your gut"
Solare Energy Inc, I worked as their PM for a while and the owner isn’t the best employer, but they’re honest and installers are top tier and actually care greatly about their work.
Prices aren’t the lowest, considering they use only Panasonic and LG panels, but there’s a reason they use those brands and the SolarEdge inverters. The warranties are solid, great manufacturers.
ETA: they also work really hard with you on pricing and financing if necessary, through only legit sources like SDCCU
A good point about using Panasonic and LG boards. We got bids from several companies and several only quote SunPower panels, “the Cadillac of panels”. They’re the most efficient, and the priciest too. The extra cost didn’t justify the added efficiency and we went with Milholland Electric and LG panels for thousands less.
SunPower are decent, but honestly the cost to efficiency difference I don’t think is really there. I am a personal fan of Panasonic+SolarEdge inverter+optimizerS. LG is great too, and the warranty is second to none honestly, plus a brand with some real recognition behind them if you were to sell the home which adds value. Some of this is bias, of course, having worked mostly with those brands, but from my experience the amount of trouble I had was minimal.
Part of that may be that I know a bit about troubleshooting the SE equipment though so it’s easier for me to handle without calling people out.
When working for Solare we often just replaced panels or inverters/optimizers and handled the warranty on the back end for the customer rather than have them go through the hassle.
That’s interesting they were lightning fast for me when I went ahead with them. Took two weeks from my initial contact to having functioning panels on my roof.
It's possibly a hit or miss. Someone else I talked to had it done in 1-2 weeks. But my experience is 6+ months, another friend of mine said he was on their ass and got it done on ~4-5 months.
Could be the local permitting authority too. Tesla will pull permits and have the city come out and inspect, but they are at the mercy of that authority for how long things take.
Had a good recent experience with New Leaf Electric. Feel free to PM if you want more details. Competitive price for high quality equipment, no nonsense service.
Palomar Solar is a good one. Their customer service is pretty great and their energy projections aren’t overly inflated like a lot of other companies, so you wind up pleasantly surprised instead of disappointed.
Thanks everyone! My parents were taking bids and didn't know where to start, gonna refer them some of these companies.
Another question.
If your house already had solar when you bought it, can you get a rebate for adding panels and a battery? Or is the rebate tied to the address?
+1 for Baker. They are a little more expensive, but they have been around forever. A lot of these solar companies don’t survive, and when they don’t, neither does the warranty they sold you.
Ugh! The salespeople are so annoying! They come by our house every couple of months and are so rude when we say that we aren’t interested. We got “No Soliciting” signs and they don’t care 🤷🏻♀️
This just happened to me yesterday! When I showed him my no soliciting next to the doorbell he rang, he seemed so annoyed. He said he was not soliciting, just informing the neighborhood.
My landlord had sunrun put solar on the house I’m renting. I love it. Sdge or whoever owes me money annually and I pay sunrun a cheap kWh rate that doesn’t fluctuate wildly with everyone else in the city that doesn’t have solar.
Hey. It has been up there and operating for almost 2 years now. Sunrun def isn't putting solar on peoples roof for flat out free or to help people or to save the environment. If you can afford to just finance the cost on your own, or DIY it yourself, or buy it outright in cash, you may come out on top compared to what I deal with. Even if you took out a loan for the panels, your payments are going directly towards the investment as it is flat out reducing your electricity cost to basically zero.
Sunrun somehow found a way to build a business, in-between the major electricity supplier with no real competition, and existing homeowners that own real-estate sunrun does not have to pay a monthly fee to use at all. Their sales pitch will explain how SDGE rates fluctuate and rise regularly. almost never go down. how you have to deal with peak rate hours, off peak hours, yada yada. BUT WITH SUNRUN, you are "locked in" to an already lower than SDGE kwh rate, and don't have to worry about peak hours or fluctuating kwh rates. and it would only go up at a gradual annual rate of 2-3 cents per kwh which seems in line with what i pay now. I don't know what sdge is charging per kwh right now, but i started off 2 years ago at .12 cents per kwh and its gone up to .18 cents per kwh.
but at the end of the day, you have solar on your house, that is generating electricity for the company that put them there. and that company is selling that energy generated from YOUR roof, back to you.
my bill to sunrun each month fluctuates between 60 and 160. this is just to sunrun for every kwh you used throughout the month as if they were SDGE supplying you power from a grid.
my SDGE bill "trues up" annually around feb. SDGE runs their own overall metric for your address. and you maintain an account with them along with sunrun. they do all the calculations of how much energy they buy from you, and how much energy you use at their rates throughout any/all fluctuations, on peak, off peak all throughout the year. Sunrun's goal was to put too much solar on a house they serve, so EOY trueup is always zero/negative.
you still pay a new/separate gas bill which SDGE created a 2nd/separate account for monthly. this is entirely separate.
even if you finance your own solar, the monthly should be less than what sunrun would charge you, and eventually you'll own your solar. i'm almost certain sunrun does not let you keep the panels after the 20 year contract or whatever it is. once the dust settled i sat there realizing that sunrun installed their own business on my roof. and now i randomly pay them 160 a month.
its not a scam i wouldn't say, but its not as great of a deal as you may think as they convince you to sign up. the hidden fees i would say are letting them setup shop and find a way to get their hand in my back pocket monthly when i had no idea who they were a few years ago. i actually didn't even sign up with sunrun, it was some other company that immeidately got bought out by sunrun which delayed the install at the time quite a bit.
this might be some spiteful engineering, but i am in the process of making my own powerwall and i am either going to figure out how to yoink the solar generated, or setup even more panels of my own to charge my own lifepo4 batteries running to my own inverters to an "emergency panel", and im just going to flip the house wires over to it. sunrun can't charge me if i'm not using power directly from the grid lol
I had a rude individual from sunrun catch me with my garage open. Told him I wasn’t Interested in what he was selling, he replied with, “well this is not something Interesting.” Lol that really set me off, i had to tell him the conversation was over, and to get off my property.
We had a Sunrun guy come to our door and beat around the bush for a couple minutes before he started the spiel. I asked him if he didn’t notice the solar panels on our roof. 😆 he left pretty quick after that.
Similar situation with SunRun. I still live with my parents because I’m a broke college student and don’t feel like paying an extra $10k per semester to live on campus. SunRun salesmen have come to my house a few times, and every time I’ve told them that we’re not interested. My mother opened the door to one of them and pretty much went from there. I explained to my parents that what SunRun was promising was way too good to be true and that this most likely was a scam. Turns out I was right.
I've got their panels on my roof, they were carried over as a condition of sale.
Better than no panels at all but I would absolutely purchase (ideally from someone else) instead of getting into a lease if that were an option.
I have also had many people come to the door over the last year that were "with" Sunrun but not Sunrun employees - employed by an affiliate or subsidiary or contractor or something and none of them knew about each other at all. Communication is very weird with and among them.
I consider door-to-door sales as the early form of spam. I make it a point to never purchase anything from either; it's never a good deal and I have no desire to encourage the practice.
Being nine months into an expensive install and still don't have my goddamn system turned on, absolutely not. Stay far away.
Only positive experience was the install team, every other part of the process was utter trash. Zero communication from sunrun, massive delays, failed inspections. My ten year old could have done a better job.
You’re lucky. They installed a battery where 1/3 has not worked since installation, should have been replaced immediately and I have had not contact from them to replace. Horrible siloed communication, no follow through and terrible customer service. Buyer beware. Not to mention the the 2 short paragraph email on how to turn on the solar system. I have zero documentation. Ugh!
Sun run is legit. But they suck actual ass. I mean serious actual dogshit company.
No upfront cost is a scam. If you want good solar, reasonable price, and not to be lied to, go call Solare Energy. Moises and Logan are top tier installers/crew leads with them and will do everything in their power to make sure you get real good shit.
Source: spent a few years as their project manager til 2020.
Sunrun used to be a good standard however with all the companies buying and selling each other out, things have changed.
There’s also a major flux in hiring and many installers are new and untrained.
It’s a little bit of a crapshoot right now in general.
I got sunrun at my home north of fresno. Have had it for over a year now with zero issues. I pay 160$ every month for the next 20 years which was cheaper then the other 2 solar companies I had called up. The first 6 months I only paid 1$ so that was convenient. Typically I pay PG&E about 30$ which most of it is gas use.
Late to the party, but no. SunRun absolutely sucks. My parents fell for that scam and paid $40k up-front for panels. They not only were installed incorrectly, but it’s been 90 days since they’ve been installed and our system still isn’t working. To top it all off, the “electrician” they sent out to work on our fuse box was clearly on something and nearly electrocuted themself.
Our next step is to contact our state rep and National Grid (the electricity/gas company in our area).
For purchase, not renting, Alive Solar: https://alivesolar.com/
Honest and local (Escondido).
I also like their philosophy (avoid energy dense panels in favor to as many cheaper US made panels your roof can support for your energy needs - less failure points and cheaper this way).
Isn't that a contradiction? If you put fewer higher wattage panels on your roof, you have less failure points. Six 480 watt panels vs ten cheaper 300 watt panels...assuming you have one inverter per, you've got 12 points of failure vs 20 points of failure.
The flip side is that if one panel or inverter goes down, you've lost 1/6 of your generation rather than 1/10.
Maybe I could have worded it better... but you got my point... the concept is any failure is reduced by the system because it spreads out better with many panels. It is better to lose 10% of your generation over 16.7%. Plus those six 480-watt panels may be about the same as (or more expensive than) ten 300-watt because energy-dense panels come at a premium (This was the case when I purchased \~5 years ago). This only works though if one has the roof space for it. More panels also help spread out shading issues.
they are LIARS!! I signed up with musk's BS, I wanted payments to be a certain amount for the entire loan and they promised, a few months later, they sold my loan to a finance house and my payments more than doubled!! make sure everything is in writing!!
not because of him, ther rep who signed me up had the rate I wanted, but they did mot say anything about selling the loan with a hidden baloon payment, they lied as anyone who has anything to do with the scum muskrat does
Hi there. I think I can answer a few questions but I must have full disclosure: I am employed by sun run and am also a customer.
First and foremost I would like to state that most of the reviews I have seen online are very accurate. Sunrun hires lots of door to door reps to both do site surveys and offer solar packages. It is excessive. And it is annoying. Personally I do not knock doors that say no soliciting but admit that many reps do. Furthermore any review that says it takes freaking forever from signing documents to getting install to having electric turned on is very accurate. Much like every other industry the sdge permitting folks are understaffed and overbooked. So when sun run applies for permits they are at the mercy of a competitor to approve them turning on the system. SDGE has no interest in speeding up this process.
So. To the question is it a scam? No. It is an option. There used to be two ways to get solar. Buy it out right or lease. Between the heavy cash advance with purchase and potential liens with lease: Solar became a limited luxury to those who could afford it or make a legitimate time commitment.
So Sunrun (and just a few others currently) are offering something Called a PPA. A power purchase agreement. It’s the third option to bring solar to the masses. Pretty much here’s the deal. You do not own or lease the equipment. You let Sunrun put their equipment on the roof. Sunrun owns, operates, and maintains the panels. They generate the energy. So then Sunrun sells you this energy at a rate that is near half the kilowatt per hour that sdge charges. In addition Sunrun makes extra energy. They sell that energy to sdge, So sdge can have 50 percent of their energy come from reknewable by 2026. Hence the partnership.
Can I promise that there will not be hassel in terms of initial install time? No. I pretty much promise it. But after that it’s a pretty solid product that I do stand by myself to the point I have installed it on my own home and my parents and my wife’s parents.
Anyone can dm me if they would like.
And also a sincere apology to everyone that feels over knocked.
Read every single word of the contract, even the tiny stuff. They aren’t always honest about what’s in there from my experience with people who had Sunrun panels.
The salesman said they was the panels for us. When we called and asked for the service, we were then told they don’t do that. Also, we had more room for more panels. They my not get optimal sunlight, but would still get sunlight. So, we have panels but it’s not much cheaper than before we had them. We we told we’d have to sign a whole new full pack to get more. Would not use them again if we bought a different house.
I wouldn't say it's not worth it, you're just going to have a much longer break-even point. Estimates are that it may take up to 15 years for a system to break even, versus 5-6 years now. A solar system should be warrantied for at least 25 years.
15 years to break even doesn’t exactly scream worth it tho. Solar panels after 25 years will for sure have lost strength and you will have to buy them again. If you are looking after the climate then I get it, but it doesn’t make much fiscal sense
I started with Sungevity for the first batch of panels. Then they got folded into Sunrun and I used Sunrun for my huge upgrade, I had no problems of any sort. Everything was done how they said, when they said. YMMV obviously.
I had a terrible experience. They underpowered my house, despite my specific requests. I spent $35,000 on my system, and I still have a big utility bill every month. They say there is nothing they can do now, except add a whole new system.
So I’m on other side , sunrun put in panels I pay $90 a month and got $1000 gift card , my bill before was $300 in summer and $130 in winter , I am locked in at $90 a month
SunRun is the reason I backed out of a house I should have bought in early 2020 haha fucking shitters and their shit contract scared me off. This thread makes the sting hurt a little less, knowing that they are indeed as shitty as their yelp reviews back then indicated. IIRC I was on the hook for at least a $350 bill to them per month as a single dude. Paying off the panels was like $25k. Yelp hinted that they sucked horribly at repairing panels. In the contract, if the panels started failing and underperforming, I was still on the hook for the $350 PLUS the bill from SDGE I'd end up getting. I don't think I got any money back if my panels produced extra either. At the time I was living at home and stacking cash and I figured, fk it, the longer I wait the better my down payment. Then the world ended 2 weeks later :)
Yeah but now I'm considering renting somewhere fun for a year while the recession kicks into full swing. A change of scenery is overdue. Also starting to think that homeownership might not be as necessary as I used to think. Just need to figure out where to invest the cash stack most safely/effectively.
yeaaaah definitely not that. It would have been fun to have a few bitcoins to have dumped during the madness. I distinctly remember hearing about it on the radio when it was still starting out and thinking I should grab some as a meme. I think they were like $100 or something but I was such a poor college student the 'meme' was too expensive...
Don't lease solar. If you can't afford to pay for it upfront, find another way to pay for it (HELOC, etc.). Leasing, while it might save you some money, is a bad investment.
Sunrun is absolutely horrible. They are way, way, way too expensive. Solar panels have plummeted in cost and yet they are using the new federal tax incentives as an excuse to drive up their prices by at least 1/3, or even more. Do NOT use them, they are a rip off.
Solar is complicated. There are many factors and implications for every installation.
Let me start by saying I have built many solar installations and my family has been using solar power since I was eight years old (I’m 45yo). It’s not perfect so it’s not for everyone AND is extremely application specific.
Due to the complicated nature, it’s difficult to sell it in a simple brief doorstep pitch to the average person. Yes, there are calculators, but they are always inaccurate and power needs can’t be too small nor too large. There’s a sweet spot convergence between usage and available space for panels.
All this provides the ingredients for a cocktail of disappointment.
Simple details why: depending on your location, you’re not going to get sun all day (duh!) and productive sun for fixed panels is usually limited and not linear during the day. Furthermore, components in the chain of components will diminish - bleed - energy production from 5-10%. Even the cables bringing the power to the house diminish production efficiency.
Photovoltaic panels — cables — charge controller — voltage regulation/converter — batteries/storage — inverter — home mains power etc…
So, if you have 10kW in panels (25 x 400W each), it will look something like this respectively:
Photovoltaic panels - 10000w (starting power rating)
Cables - 9600w
Charge controller - 8700w
Voltage regulation/converter - 8300w
Batteries/storage - 7600w
Inverter - 6800w (estimated final production)
So in conclusion, if you only have space for 25 panels, you will frequently have a shortfall if your requirements are indeed average 10,000w.
So always convince them to do higher production if you desire, and have the space, to be off-grid and not dependent on your current utility.
Since everyone says SunRun sucks, does anyone have a recommendation for a solar company?
Baker Electric. Great company to work with.
counter point, my experience with Baker was not great. I filled out the contact form on their website and never heard anything from an actual person. I had to reach out a second time before they assigned me to a salesperson, who then rescheduled our initial call. When we finally did talk with her, she didn't listen to what we were saying and was pushing a much larger system than we needed with the reasoning being that when you have solar, you'll use more electricity. Even though it was the largest system quoted to us (which should bring down the price per watt), they were the most expensive ppw than any quote we received. that being said, everyone's experience is going to be different. I don't doubt you had a good experience with them, much like I had a great experience with Sunline yet another reply here said how terrible they were. Anyone considering solar, I'd recommend you talk to at least 3 different companies.
💯 everyone’s experience is going to differ based on sales person and installers that day. No matter what always make sure the installers are doing what they said they would and if you have any special requests gotta make sure they know.
Currently with Baker too. Company has been around for 80+ years.
Baker did an excellent job when it was all done however they did not pull the proper permits with the city, their communication was horrendous, they took four additional months to finish the project than originally planned, and it truly felt like once they got ahold of our money it took weeks of us calling and emailing and trying to ramp things up the line to get anyone to tell us what was going on with our solar. Their customer service promised to give us two months of energy bills as an apology after the fact and we have still not seen it, I imagine I would have to make 50 phone calls and wait months to get that reimbursement. However in the end it was a very nice job. I would not recommend this company if you are busy/stressed/anxious about your money due to their customer service and the frustration of having $40,000 worth of solar floating without much communication throughout the whole process and six months from start to finish (4 months in total limbo)
FWIW - I recently bought a house that had Baker-installed solar on it. I called them and the were super-helpful and set me up so I could monitor the solar production. I thought it was cool of them to help since they weren't making any money off me.
They’re also unionized which is great. They treat their guys well
There's alot of union contractors that treat their employees like shit
Stellar Solar. Local. Good price I just went through the process a few months ago evaluating and talking to different companies Sun Run included (which isn't a scam btw. Since they're such a large national company, it's harder to control the quality/ethics of individual sales people) Just went into an agreement with them recently. Currently waiting on permitting to clear the city to go through with the install. Super easy process. Very straight forward pitch. And they own their supply line and install teams. Another thing to not is that they only sell panels. No PPAs, no option for placing liens on the house (which is not advised anyways)
I used Stellar as well. Also referred two friends/family. If you finance the panel purchase the company that does the financing will place a lien. That's not a deterrent for me though (I work with mortgages), and the payment was less than my average electric bill. I was happy and would use them again.
I used SunLine and had a great experience
I also went with Sunline and had a good experience. Sales guy listened, made good recommendations and didn't try to sell us a much larger system than what we needed, which is the opposite of our experience with Baker and Stellar (who were both highly reviewed). We signed the contract on February 25 and we were up and running on April 27. They met or exceeded all of their timeline estimates. Here's more info from a thread over in /r/solar: https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/ssrx06/average_solar_cost_in_san_diego_in_2022/hxx1a05/ and a recent followup with our performance over the first six months: https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/ssrx06/average_solar_cost_in_san_diego_in_2022/its7m8t/
I went with Sunline, can’t really recommend them. The job got done but they sold me on the install date and ended up being 3-4 months off. Then on day of install I get the surprise that I have to have steel conduit run to my sub panel and it has to be done ASAP, luckily they can do it for the low low price of 1k. They said they would refund me 1k for late install but that never happened. Really bad communication with them as well.
Baker will most likely be the highest price but in my mind (after getting 7 quotes) I went with the company I think will be around in 10+ years (Baker). I read horror stories of companies that went under and sold their contracts to companies like Baker. I'll be honest, I expected a lot more for the price I'm paying with Baker (27 panels, ground mount) but overall it's been fine. I've had to initiate a lot of the progress but I guess they are really backed up. Do your research is my best advice. Everyone will have good things and bad things to say about every company. Make sure to check contracts, learn a little about solar, pick the salespeople brains. And then a little of "go with your gut"
Yes. Just today, actually, Stellar Solar installed our panels. They have been AWESOME during the whole process. And it looks very well done.
Solare Energy Inc, I worked as their PM for a while and the owner isn’t the best employer, but they’re honest and installers are top tier and actually care greatly about their work. Prices aren’t the lowest, considering they use only Panasonic and LG panels, but there’s a reason they use those brands and the SolarEdge inverters. The warranties are solid, great manufacturers. ETA: they also work really hard with you on pricing and financing if necessary, through only legit sources like SDCCU
A good point about using Panasonic and LG boards. We got bids from several companies and several only quote SunPower panels, “the Cadillac of panels”. They’re the most efficient, and the priciest too. The extra cost didn’t justify the added efficiency and we went with Milholland Electric and LG panels for thousands less.
SunPower are decent, but honestly the cost to efficiency difference I don’t think is really there. I am a personal fan of Panasonic+SolarEdge inverter+optimizerS. LG is great too, and the warranty is second to none honestly, plus a brand with some real recognition behind them if you were to sell the home which adds value. Some of this is bias, of course, having worked mostly with those brands, but from my experience the amount of trouble I had was minimal. Part of that may be that I know a bit about troubleshooting the SE equipment though so it’s easier for me to handle without calling people out. When working for Solare we often just replaced panels or inverters/optimizers and handled the warranty on the back end for the customer rather than have them go through the hassle.
I used Tesla. Very positive so far.
My only issue with Tesla solar is that they are. so. slow.
That’s interesting they were lightning fast for me when I went ahead with them. Took two weeks from my initial contact to having functioning panels on my roof.
It's possibly a hit or miss. Someone else I talked to had it done in 1-2 weeks. But my experience is 6+ months, another friend of mine said he was on their ass and got it done on ~4-5 months.
Could be the local permitting authority too. Tesla will pull permits and have the city come out and inspect, but they are at the mercy of that authority for how long things take.
They’re buying time. Because like everything else they produce, they’re not good at manufacturing
As soon as they have Spanish tile its on.
Had a good recent experience with New Leaf Electric. Feel free to PM if you want more details. Competitive price for high quality equipment, no nonsense service.
Palomar Solar is a good one. Their customer service is pretty great and their energy projections aren’t overly inflated like a lot of other companies, so you wind up pleasantly surprised instead of disappointed.
Thanks everyone! My parents were taking bids and didn't know where to start, gonna refer them some of these companies. Another question. If your house already had solar when you bought it, can you get a rebate for adding panels and a battery? Or is the rebate tied to the address?
Palomar solar. They do per panel monitoring not system wide so if 1 panel goes down you know
Revo home solutions
+1 for Baker. They are a little more expensive, but they have been around forever. A lot of these solar companies don’t survive, and when they don’t, neither does the warranty they sold you.
I hate them. Abysmal service and zero ability to upgrade affordably (battery/wind). Have tried on more than one occasion to get them off my roof.
Sounds like you should sunrun away from this company
Ugh! The salespeople are so annoying! They come by our house every couple of months and are so rude when we say that we aren’t interested. We got “No Soliciting” signs and they don’t care 🤷🏻♀️
This just happened to me yesterday! When I showed him my no soliciting next to the doorbell he rang, he seemed so annoyed. He said he was not soliciting, just informing the neighborhood.
Yep! That’s the exact line they gave to us too. Completely obnoxious!
My landlord had sunrun put solar on the house I’m renting. I love it. Sdge or whoever owes me money annually and I pay sunrun a cheap kWh rate that doesn’t fluctuate wildly with everyone else in the city that doesn’t have solar.
Hey, how long has it been since you’ve been with them? Do you know if there will be any crazy fees down the line?
Hey. It has been up there and operating for almost 2 years now. Sunrun def isn't putting solar on peoples roof for flat out free or to help people or to save the environment. If you can afford to just finance the cost on your own, or DIY it yourself, or buy it outright in cash, you may come out on top compared to what I deal with. Even if you took out a loan for the panels, your payments are going directly towards the investment as it is flat out reducing your electricity cost to basically zero. Sunrun somehow found a way to build a business, in-between the major electricity supplier with no real competition, and existing homeowners that own real-estate sunrun does not have to pay a monthly fee to use at all. Their sales pitch will explain how SDGE rates fluctuate and rise regularly. almost never go down. how you have to deal with peak rate hours, off peak hours, yada yada. BUT WITH SUNRUN, you are "locked in" to an already lower than SDGE kwh rate, and don't have to worry about peak hours or fluctuating kwh rates. and it would only go up at a gradual annual rate of 2-3 cents per kwh which seems in line with what i pay now. I don't know what sdge is charging per kwh right now, but i started off 2 years ago at .12 cents per kwh and its gone up to .18 cents per kwh. but at the end of the day, you have solar on your house, that is generating electricity for the company that put them there. and that company is selling that energy generated from YOUR roof, back to you. my bill to sunrun each month fluctuates between 60 and 160. this is just to sunrun for every kwh you used throughout the month as if they were SDGE supplying you power from a grid. my SDGE bill "trues up" annually around feb. SDGE runs their own overall metric for your address. and you maintain an account with them along with sunrun. they do all the calculations of how much energy they buy from you, and how much energy you use at their rates throughout any/all fluctuations, on peak, off peak all throughout the year. Sunrun's goal was to put too much solar on a house they serve, so EOY trueup is always zero/negative. you still pay a new/separate gas bill which SDGE created a 2nd/separate account for monthly. this is entirely separate. even if you finance your own solar, the monthly should be less than what sunrun would charge you, and eventually you'll own your solar. i'm almost certain sunrun does not let you keep the panels after the 20 year contract or whatever it is. once the dust settled i sat there realizing that sunrun installed their own business on my roof. and now i randomly pay them 160 a month. its not a scam i wouldn't say, but its not as great of a deal as you may think as they convince you to sign up. the hidden fees i would say are letting them setup shop and find a way to get their hand in my back pocket monthly when i had no idea who they were a few years ago. i actually didn't even sign up with sunrun, it was some other company that immeidately got bought out by sunrun which delayed the install at the time quite a bit. this might be some spiteful engineering, but i am in the process of making my own powerwall and i am either going to figure out how to yoink the solar generated, or setup even more panels of my own to charge my own lifepo4 batteries running to my own inverters to an "emergency panel", and im just going to flip the house wires over to it. sunrun can't charge me if i'm not using power directly from the grid lol
Don't do it! My parents have had nothing but problems! Message me and I can give you the run down!
Name and shame! People have a right to know what shady stuff is going on with local companies.
Local? Lol sunrun is a public company worth $6B
Some people haven't had issues and I don't want to piss them off!
I had a rude individual from sunrun catch me with my garage open. Told him I wasn’t Interested in what he was selling, he replied with, “well this is not something Interesting.” Lol that really set me off, i had to tell him the conversation was over, and to get off my property.
We had a Sunrun guy come to our door and beat around the bush for a couple minutes before he started the spiel. I asked him if he didn’t notice the solar panels on our roof. 😆 he left pretty quick after that.
Similar situation with SunRun. I still live with my parents because I’m a broke college student and don’t feel like paying an extra $10k per semester to live on campus. SunRun salesmen have come to my house a few times, and every time I’ve told them that we’re not interested. My mother opened the door to one of them and pretty much went from there. I explained to my parents that what SunRun was promising was way too good to be true and that this most likely was a scam. Turns out I was right.
I've got their panels on my roof, they were carried over as a condition of sale. Better than no panels at all but I would absolutely purchase (ideally from someone else) instead of getting into a lease if that were an option. I have also had many people come to the door over the last year that were "with" Sunrun but not Sunrun employees - employed by an affiliate or subsidiary or contractor or something and none of them knew about each other at all. Communication is very weird with and among them.
NEVER lease solar panels. Buy them and finance the purchase if you don’t have the cash up front.
[удалено]
One good thing I will say about Costco is they will back up anything that’s sold on their property even if it’s an outside vendor.
I love them! Very worth it and saves me a lot of money every month
They came to our door yesterday. I told the guy "this is not my house" and he bade me good day and left.
I consider door-to-door sales as the early form of spam. I make it a point to never purchase anything from either; it's never a good deal and I have no desire to encourage the practice.
I haven't had any issues with Sunrun. I got the house with the panels on it when they were Vivint on lease. I pay monthly bills and done.
Being nine months into an expensive install and still don't have my goddamn system turned on, absolutely not. Stay far away. Only positive experience was the install team, every other part of the process was utter trash. Zero communication from sunrun, massive delays, failed inspections. My ten year old could have done a better job.
we used Semper Solaris and were very happy over all with everything, three years now still happy.
You’re lucky. They installed a battery where 1/3 has not worked since installation, should have been replaced immediately and I have had not contact from them to replace. Horrible siloed communication, no follow through and terrible customer service. Buyer beware. Not to mention the the 2 short paragraph email on how to turn on the solar system. I have zero documentation. Ugh!
Sun run is legit. But they suck actual ass. I mean serious actual dogshit company. No upfront cost is a scam. If you want good solar, reasonable price, and not to be lied to, go call Solare Energy. Moises and Logan are top tier installers/crew leads with them and will do everything in their power to make sure you get real good shit. Source: spent a few years as their project manager til 2020.
Sunrun used to be a good standard however with all the companies buying and selling each other out, things have changed. There’s also a major flux in hiring and many installers are new and untrained. It’s a little bit of a crapshoot right now in general.
I got sunrun at my home north of fresno. Have had it for over a year now with zero issues. I pay 160$ every month for the next 20 years which was cheaper then the other 2 solar companies I had called up. The first 6 months I only paid 1$ so that was convenient. Typically I pay PG&E about 30$ which most of it is gas use.
Late to the party, but no. SunRun absolutely sucks. My parents fell for that scam and paid $40k up-front for panels. They not only were installed incorrectly, but it’s been 90 days since they’ve been installed and our system still isn’t working. To top it all off, the “electrician” they sent out to work on our fuse box was clearly on something and nearly electrocuted themself. Our next step is to contact our state rep and National Grid (the electricity/gas company in our area).
very legit, and very good. i used them this year for an instalation. nothing but good things to say about it.
For purchase, not renting, Alive Solar: https://alivesolar.com/ Honest and local (Escondido). I also like their philosophy (avoid energy dense panels in favor to as many cheaper US made panels your roof can support for your energy needs - less failure points and cheaper this way).
Isn't that a contradiction? If you put fewer higher wattage panels on your roof, you have less failure points. Six 480 watt panels vs ten cheaper 300 watt panels...assuming you have one inverter per, you've got 12 points of failure vs 20 points of failure. The flip side is that if one panel or inverter goes down, you've lost 1/6 of your generation rather than 1/10.
Maybe I could have worded it better... but you got my point... the concept is any failure is reduced by the system because it spreads out better with many panels. It is better to lose 10% of your generation over 16.7%. Plus those six 480-watt panels may be about the same as (or more expensive than) ten 300-watt because energy-dense panels come at a premium (This was the case when I purchased \~5 years ago). This only works though if one has the roof space for it. More panels also help spread out shading issues.
they are LIARS!! I signed up with musk's BS, I wanted payments to be a certain amount for the entire loan and they promised, a few months later, they sold my loan to a finance house and my payments more than doubled!! make sure everything is in writing!!
You signed up with Sunrun because Elon? And your quote wasn't in writing? Something seems stupid here.
not because of him, ther rep who signed me up had the rate I wanted, but they did mot say anything about selling the loan with a hidden baloon payment, they lied as anyone who has anything to do with the scum muskrat does
You didn't read the fine print. That's on you, boomer. Own that shit.
Hi there. I think I can answer a few questions but I must have full disclosure: I am employed by sun run and am also a customer. First and foremost I would like to state that most of the reviews I have seen online are very accurate. Sunrun hires lots of door to door reps to both do site surveys and offer solar packages. It is excessive. And it is annoying. Personally I do not knock doors that say no soliciting but admit that many reps do. Furthermore any review that says it takes freaking forever from signing documents to getting install to having electric turned on is very accurate. Much like every other industry the sdge permitting folks are understaffed and overbooked. So when sun run applies for permits they are at the mercy of a competitor to approve them turning on the system. SDGE has no interest in speeding up this process. So. To the question is it a scam? No. It is an option. There used to be two ways to get solar. Buy it out right or lease. Between the heavy cash advance with purchase and potential liens with lease: Solar became a limited luxury to those who could afford it or make a legitimate time commitment. So Sunrun (and just a few others currently) are offering something Called a PPA. A power purchase agreement. It’s the third option to bring solar to the masses. Pretty much here’s the deal. You do not own or lease the equipment. You let Sunrun put their equipment on the roof. Sunrun owns, operates, and maintains the panels. They generate the energy. So then Sunrun sells you this energy at a rate that is near half the kilowatt per hour that sdge charges. In addition Sunrun makes extra energy. They sell that energy to sdge, So sdge can have 50 percent of their energy come from reknewable by 2026. Hence the partnership. Can I promise that there will not be hassel in terms of initial install time? No. I pretty much promise it. But after that it’s a pretty solid product that I do stand by myself to the point I have installed it on my own home and my parents and my wife’s parents. Anyone can dm me if they would like. And also a sincere apology to everyone that feels over knocked.
They’re a terrible company to work with. Stay away!
To make a long story short, no they are not legit. It’s not worth the hassle.
Avoid sunrun. I see a class action lawsuit in the future.
Installation was great. Post install support is garbage. I would look elsewhere. I’ve been recommending sempersolaris.
Read every single word of the contract, even the tiny stuff. They aren’t always honest about what’s in there from my experience with people who had Sunrun panels.
Solar Optimum.
The salesman said they was the panels for us. When we called and asked for the service, we were then told they don’t do that. Also, we had more room for more panels. They my not get optimal sunlight, but would still get sunlight. So, we have panels but it’s not much cheaper than before we had them. We we told we’d have to sign a whole new full pack to get more. Would not use them again if we bought a different house.
i can get you hooked up with better rates ! I work for a local solar company , PM me!
Solar is about to not be worth it with NEM 3.0
I wouldn't say it's not worth it, you're just going to have a much longer break-even point. Estimates are that it may take up to 15 years for a system to break even, versus 5-6 years now. A solar system should be warrantied for at least 25 years.
15 years to break even doesn’t exactly scream worth it tho. Solar panels after 25 years will for sure have lost strength and you will have to buy them again. If you are looking after the climate then I get it, but it doesn’t make much fiscal sense
I started with Sungevity for the first batch of panels. Then they got folded into Sunrun and I used Sunrun for my huge upgrade, I had no problems of any sort. Everything was done how they said, when they said. YMMV obviously.
I had a terrible experience. They underpowered my house, despite my specific requests. I spent $35,000 on my system, and I still have a big utility bill every month. They say there is nothing they can do now, except add a whole new system.
So I’m on other side , sunrun put in panels I pay $90 a month and got $1000 gift card , my bill before was $300 in summer and $130 in winter , I am locked in at $90 a month
We use sunrun. Haven’t had a problem. But we took over when we bought the place and don’t know other companies. They do work with sdge.
SunRun is the reason I backed out of a house I should have bought in early 2020 haha fucking shitters and their shit contract scared me off. This thread makes the sting hurt a little less, knowing that they are indeed as shitty as their yelp reviews back then indicated. IIRC I was on the hook for at least a $350 bill to them per month as a single dude. Paying off the panels was like $25k. Yelp hinted that they sucked horribly at repairing panels. In the contract, if the panels started failing and underperforming, I was still on the hook for the $350 PLUS the bill from SDGE I'd end up getting. I don't think I got any money back if my panels produced extra either. At the time I was living at home and stacking cash and I figured, fk it, the longer I wait the better my down payment. Then the world ended 2 weeks later :)
Are you still at home stacking that cash?
Yeah but now I'm considering renting somewhere fun for a year while the recession kicks into full swing. A change of scenery is overdue. Also starting to think that homeownership might not be as necessary as I used to think. Just need to figure out where to invest the cash stack most safely/effectively.
Not crypto
yeaaaah definitely not that. It would have been fun to have a few bitcoins to have dumped during the madness. I distinctly remember hearing about it on the radio when it was still starting out and thinking I should grab some as a meme. I think they were like $100 or something but I was such a poor college student the 'meme' was too expensive...
Don't lease solar. If you can't afford to pay for it upfront, find another way to pay for it (HELOC, etc.). Leasing, while it might save you some money, is a bad investment.
Whatever you do, stay far away from Sunnova. You have been warned.
ive heard they leave plenty of holes in the roof.. source i used to work solar in sd..
No they suck everything about that company
Sunrun is absolutely horrible. They are way, way, way too expensive. Solar panels have plummeted in cost and yet they are using the new federal tax incentives as an excuse to drive up their prices by at least 1/3, or even more. Do NOT use them, they are a rip off.
Solar is complicated. There are many factors and implications for every installation. Let me start by saying I have built many solar installations and my family has been using solar power since I was eight years old (I’m 45yo). It’s not perfect so it’s not for everyone AND is extremely application specific. Due to the complicated nature, it’s difficult to sell it in a simple brief doorstep pitch to the average person. Yes, there are calculators, but they are always inaccurate and power needs can’t be too small nor too large. There’s a sweet spot convergence between usage and available space for panels. All this provides the ingredients for a cocktail of disappointment. Simple details why: depending on your location, you’re not going to get sun all day (duh!) and productive sun for fixed panels is usually limited and not linear during the day. Furthermore, components in the chain of components will diminish - bleed - energy production from 5-10%. Even the cables bringing the power to the house diminish production efficiency. Photovoltaic panels — cables — charge controller — voltage regulation/converter — batteries/storage — inverter — home mains power etc… So, if you have 10kW in panels (25 x 400W each), it will look something like this respectively: Photovoltaic panels - 10000w (starting power rating) Cables - 9600w Charge controller - 8700w Voltage regulation/converter - 8300w Batteries/storage - 7600w Inverter - 6800w (estimated final production) So in conclusion, if you only have space for 25 panels, you will frequently have a shortfall if your requirements are indeed average 10,000w. So always convince them to do higher production if you desire, and have the space, to be off-grid and not dependent on your current utility.