Sunrun Reviews

We didn't have quite enough panels on our house because we'd only been in the house for a year. It was kind of hard to identify how many panels we would need. So, we added on some second panels that I had called David back and asked him, and he said he wasn't with Sunrun anymore, but he could give me some information about a company that he felt was good. So, they came over and gave us some more panels.

My last bill was only like $36 for the electric through APS, and then we make the payment to Sunrun and also to the other company. But I'm pleased that Sunrun is still in business. We were noticing where our electric bills were going up just a little bit, but we had heard a loud thunder clap one night, and it sounded like lightning struck somewhere really close. Then a part inside of our solar panel on the side that registers everything wasn't converting the way it should be.

Sunrun saw it on their end and called us up and said, “We see that there's an issue here. Can we come out and check it out?” I told them, “Yeah. We've just noticed our last bill was a little higher than it should have been.” So, they checked it out and got it ordered, and it was at a time when it was really hard to get those chips. It didn't take very long, though. As soon as they got it, they were back out here, got it up and running, and it's been running great ever since. So, our experience with Sunrun has been great.

We have referred Sunrun to several people, too. We got a credit for somebody we referred you to, and they decided to go with Sunrun. Recently, on Nextdoor, people were asking about solar and what did we think. I put in our two cents with Sunrun and said it was a great company, and I've been pleased. We've had them for over 10 years. I gave them an example of my electric bill just last month, and other people were complaining that theirs were really high because we've had unusually hot weather.

If I had to sell the house, I would have to upgrade that electrical panel anyway, with a home inspection. And the roof was 33 years old, so I knew I had to replace that. You got to strip everything right down to the wood. Instead of getting a loan and doing all those other repairs, it was part of the deal with Sunrun. That is of one of my reasons to switch.

The first process is the electric company has to approve it before they can move forward. There are only so many on the same line that they could approve. It would take a while because there's a lot of stuff going on. Once that was approved, the permitting and everything went right along. The installation went well. There was a lot of people here. The roofing project had to happen first, cut the trees first, and the installation of the panels went well.

All the people who worked here were super nice. However, the electrician had an attitude at the end. He switched everything over and said, “Okay, I'm on here.” He had a long day. I understand, he was alone, which is fine, but I didn't have power on a certain area at my house. I have a transfer switch downstairs for a portable generator, and he said, "No, I'm out of here. All my stuff is working.” I called my electrician that night. He came in the morning, and there was one wire that he didn't connect. My electrician traced it, and didn't take long. It might have been $150, but I got reimbursed by Sunrun. That took a while, going back and forth with the office. The office is out of California. It took some chasing, but they eventually came through.

The only delay I had was when that was all said and done, they didn't switch over, after all the inspections. You got electrical inspections that have to happen, and permitting. I said, “When am I actually going on?” Sunrun called me and said, “Everything's up and running. How come it's not running?” I said, “I don't know. Talk to you guys.” It was just a matter of going out and flipping the switch. They said, “Can you go out there and look at the switch to shut it off? Tell me if it's on or off.” I went out there and said, “It's off.” He said, “Can you turn it on for us, please?” That was the only delay, which was a month. It started in August, and we finished in November.

The rep spent a bit of time explaining how the whole system works. He looked at my electric bill. I noticed the electric bill within the last few years have been going crazy, but it's not so much electricity we have been getting, it's all the fees that they keep adding on. But it worked out. And when he said that the rates were going up a certain percentage, and they did, prior to me signing off, they knew this stuff. They worked hard. They knew what they were talking about. It helped that my neighbor has been on that system for a few years, and he has added more solar panels on the back a year ago. But so far, it's working. I would recommend it.

Not everybody qualifies for the simple reason. My neighbor was thinking of doing it, but he has some trees that are in the way. They can measure the sunlight and see if it's worth investing. The trees are big pine trees, and they're not on his property. My other neighbors up there said, “Maybe we'll get solar.” I said, “It may be worth it. It may not be worth it.” It would benefit somebody who uses the average electricity versus an elderly person who is always conserving. So, it depends on the situation. At least investigate it and see if it's right for you.

Originally, I didn't like the idea of the way the solar panels look, but they were able to put it on the west side of our house. We're on a corner, so you don't really see them from the street. John did all the follow-ups, then step by step, a representative from Sunrun called and arranged for an installation date, and everything was on time. The installers did a great job and they even put the extra netting around the edges to prevent pigeons from going underneath. We got the panels at the end of January and for the first month or two, we had a regular bill. Then, from March, April, May, June, July, August, and September, our Nevada Energy bill was only about $19 because they just have the basic flat rate. Then we're leasing Sunrun, so the cost for us was $107 a month. Since it's one year now, it just went up a few dollars. It goes up 2% each year and now it's $112 a month.

Everything was coordinated well even when there were a couple of representatives and they contacted Nevada Energy because something had to be done first with the connection. So all the appointments and the arrangements were coordinated with Nevada Energy. It's just sort of carefree and we don't even have to worry about it. In fact, I was trying to think of who I could recommend it to, but so many of the people in our area rent. One neighbor who has our model house noticed the panels a couple of weeks ago, and she was thinking about it, so I gave the contact number of Nora, our Sunrun rep. If we recommend someone who eventually qualifies for it and gets it, that person and ourselves would get $500 for referral.

Other than that, John sends occasional texts and mentioning that if we have any questions, to let him know. He's always available to either come over or call. We haven't had any questions or problems, but we know that he's always available for us. So we're happy with it, and we figured, even though our house is almost 25 years old and we're getting older too, so we didn't want to buy the panels, renting it seems like a good idea. We also receive the monthly email which tells about what our bill is and it has information about how it works and so forth, so it's a constant communication each month with the bill.

The way that the contract with the Sunrun works makes it a lot cheaper going with solar than it was working with Nevada Energy. With the weather in Las Vegas where I live, I'm able to generate a lot of credit that I can use during the summertime. Sunrun keeps my bill way down to more than half. In fact, I'm saving 80% on what it was before I got Sunrun. Also, in the state of Nevada, we have very few blackouts, so there's no need for an expensive battery storage. So far, we haven't had any problems with Sunrun and we also haven't had them to come out. According to them, they monitor everything, so if they see any difference or anything in the amount of energy that we're not only consuming, but creating, then they take care of it on their end or they come out and take care of whatever adjustments they need to do.

We're very satisfied with our decision to go solar, and I've recommended Sunrun to a lot of my friends and to anyone who has ever talked about going to solar. It's a very good investment because of the cost of energy, especially coming from California then coming to Nevada. The difference is great. I like my air conditioner in the summertime and in Nevada, that's from early June to late September and my bill is still half of what I was paying without solar. So I'm extremely happy. Sunrun's customer Service has been great as well. The young lady who came out and gave us the proposal was very professional and had a lot of knowledge, though not as much as my son-in-law. The crew and the foreman who came out were very professional, too. They were courteous and the installation was done in a minimum amount of time.

A few times, I said, “I have no idea what you're doing.” Every time I threatened to cancel the contract, he would show up. He finally said, “I'm having difficulty finding someone that's going to do the roof at a price that I thought I could get done.” I said, “I have three leads for you.” He ended up using one of the leads I gave him. I tried to be proactive. They came in. As soon as the roof got done, the rep disappeared.

I started dealing with customer service. They're in California, and very nice folks, and one rep said, “Your sales rep is no longer representing our company.” She provided some contacts because the folks who were going to install the panels were out of Worcester, Massachusetts, which is 45 minutes east of us. That took a long time for it to happen, but we started the process in April when I signed my contract. The panels got turned on two Octobers ago, on October 22nd. That's what my bill is due on October 22nd. It has been wonderful.

I've run into different folks at Lowe's. Sunrun hangs out there. I've had some bad experiences. National Grid is the electric company I use. There's a litigation going on between Sunrun and National Grid. I have lots of credit, and we live on the second ridge of a mountain, so there are a lot of blackouts. I figured it would be a great opportunity for me to charge the batteries. Sunrun never told me that they have a problem and they can't do any business with customers with National Grid, but they could do with Eversource, which is the other electric company in town close by. One day, I ran into a nice guy who represents this area. I expressed my frustration. He said, “I need to explain to you what's going on. These folks that you see in Lowe's are new hires. They don't know a lot. We're just kind of trying and training them while we're going through a process."

I was content with that answer, but out of nowhere, I got a phone call because I had expressed to him that I was interested in batteries. They told me that they've worked out an arrangement where the battery would be a separate installation that could not be attached to the current installation that I have. This young lady called up and we're having a very nice conversation, and she said, “Would you be interested in an appointment?” I said, “Absolutely, I'd be interested in an appointment” because I had received offers from the National Grid to provide batteries. I said, “Now I have two choices. I'll figure out which one works best for my finances and we'll go from there.”

I asked for an appointment. I had to provide my Social Security. A credit run was run to me. I was talking to her. I got this text from Sunrun saying, ”You've been approved for installation of your batteries.” I said, “I'm waiting for an appointment. I don't know how she did it or manipulated it. Now all of a sudden, they run a credit check on me and I've been approved for it.” I asked her, “Did you do this?” She said, “Yes. The only way we're gonna come out is that if you provide us with a credit card.” I said, “For what? I haven't bought anything yet. I'm already with an agreement contract with Sunrun and I didn't have to go through any of this stuff. She hung up on me.

The service is awesome. I am saving a ton of money on my electric bill, because I hear all my neighbors. We're the lowest usage in electricity, because I generate all the electricity that we use and providing credit, because typically, there's about $115 monthly charge for delivery of electricity. My credit absolves that. The local team just sucks. They're inexperienced, belligerent, angry, and very aggressive without any knowledge. I've been in sales for 45 years. I sold marketing. You don't have to be aggressive. You're trying to sell savings to the customer. That’s the easiest sale in the world.