EnergySage

I requested solar quotes in the Phoenix Arizona area for 8.8 Kw of panels. I supplied my address and selected my rooftop from a satellite image. The various companies could determine if there were roof or sun obstructions and confirm there was an adequate amount of space and the approximate azimuth to determine the solar exposure. Using my current electric bill, my energy usage could be calculated. Energy Sage provides the option to prevent the bidding companies from contacting me directly while I waited for 4 bids to come in ranging from $2.20 to $2.25 per watt, about what I expected. I studied the offered equipment and company feedback and selected the best company. I contacted the company and signed an installation contract. I am very pleased with the process. Right after signing the contract, Energy Sage sent me an email to inform me that there was a rebate on the panels, and I signed up for the rebate offer.

I thought the idea of this service was good until I found out they are essentially lying to all of their customers by intentionally withholding the actual cost of a solar installation. Their system is designed to present hypothetical "savings" and "tax credit" costs for each proposal, but when you dig into the proposal, you'll find the cost is insanely excessive (and IMO absurd). As such, they force their customers to waste hours communicating with numerous companies that obfuscate the actual cost until you finally crawl through all of the "savings" and "tax credit" garbage only to find a basic system costs around $40,000 out of pocket (when it's presented in a misleading fashion to think it's only $22,000). They intentionally do this because the cost of Solar is "insane" for what you get unless you are projecting use of more than 20 years. Regardless of anyone's opinion on the validity of solar, the fact they hide the actual cost is a red flag in and of itself.

EnergySage made the entire process of going solar incredibly easy and user friendly, from inputting basic property details to getting multiple quotes from reputable contractors for reasonable prices. The first solar company I contacted before learning about EnergySage was going to charge over $18k for a small 2.5 kW system. Ended up at $6.6k through EnergySage. Highly recommend!