Sungevity

I looked at a couple of different things and one was the difference between Trinity Solar Company, Vivint and Sungevity. I went into the customer testimonials, their replies and what they had to say about the companies. When I looked at the ratings, Sungevity was up at 8.9. while the other ones were down at 6.2 and 6.8 and they had some real horror stories in there. I also went online and saw Sungevity's website. They talked about mounting the systems, just kind of showing off a lot, whereas the other ones just talked about how they were the biggest company and installer. There was no fine tune. I like to take a look and see how things are being worked, and that was well-explained in Sungevity.

Plus when I asked the other company what kind their panels were, they said that the panels just come out of China and that everybody uses the same thing. But no, they don't. This was after I had done a little bit of research and found Sungevity's is German-engineered and Korean-built. I like the idea of that aspect of it as well. Christina and Alex were the two main people that I was dealing with at Sungevity and they were very good to work with. When I left a message, they called me back as long as Alex wasn’t on vacation and Christina was pretty good.

The company whose people did the install was Solar Mate and I had to leave them a little bit of a nastygram. But the owner of the company called me back and did an awful lot of reassurance that they were gonna get a particular item taken care of and they did so rapidly. So that was dealt with pretty well. They said they were gonna be here at 7:30 in the morning, and they were. They did what they said they were gonna do.

The federal tax deal, the 30% back, was good although it could have been explained a little bit better. But I was lucky because I got into the 15-year deal just before our Governor changed it to 10. The way that works is that although you do get a 30% credit on the cost of your system, they use the tax credit to offset whatever taxes you would pay for the year. For this particular year, my personal taxes came out to be about $7,000. What they do is they use a tax credit to offset that $7,000 then from there, they cover the liability. That means the federal government would refund me back money and the other eight or seven and a half, that's hold on to for the next year or the year after that. So the credit is there. It just deteriorates. So you don’t get that back in one year. It takes a couple of years more to do it.

The other thing about signing up for SREC is that in terms of the company for trading them, it seems like there are multiple companies that you sign up on for those. You sign up for one but you can pick one. But I still haven’t done that. I’m still kinda lost on it in terms of what I’m supposed to do and who I’m supposed to sign up with. Sungevity told me I had to get signed up but they can't tell me with whom. I gotta shop around and figure out who does what.

My energy bill normally was at about $225 to 250 a month, and it's down to $2.38 right now. The panels went online the first of November. That was going right into the winter season. We had an extremely wet and damp couple of months, and my November bill was $35. December bill was something like $50. Right now, I have over 2,200 kilowatt hours banked in the system. The other thing that’s pretty cool is that because I’m on the solar, I also watch how much electricity I’m burning. That helps out an awful lot. So it’s doing exceptionally well and I’ve told a lot of people about Sungevity's deal.

The installation was as best as possible. It rained unexpectedly here that we normally don't get rain. They had to push the installation off. They started it then they had to come back a week later to finish it. But once they came, they knocked it out quickly. There's one guy that was pretty knowledgeable. He was the lead of the project. The only thing was after the inspectors approved it and we got the right to turn on from the electric company, the guy that left the installation had the breaker off. So for 3 days, it literally wasn't running. We went out and looked at it. The system was off so I turned the breaker on and it booted up, then it was working. They gotta make sure that the customer knows. They should tell the customer if the system is working, and then look at the system and make sure everything is running. Had I not checked it, I might have been off for a month.

We were negative 23,000 kilowatt hours from the electric company's point-of-view. It seems it's producing like it should. So as long as that number keeps going negative, we're good. I knew we were under from what we were using before with the same amount of people but we added the hot tub so I was more concerned about how that would come into play with the electric bill. So far, it seems to be okay so I don't think we'd have to add any more systems. But I'll keep an eye on as well. I have the tools to do so, which is good. I like having tools to look at my system and know what it's producing. I can cross-check that with what the electric company thinks that I owe or bill. If I ever see a positive, then I have a concern.

I had gotten a form from the company where they bought the solar cells. They put a lien on the house because it's $15,000 for the cost of the solar cells that they used to put the system in. They said after 15 days, they should have paid for that. They should let me know that that's been removed but I haven't heard about that at all. So if somebody from Horizon could feedback and let the company know that everything's clear and there are no outstanding liens on the property, that would be great.

The sales portion was very easy, very helpful, and very clear as to what the system was capable of doing. And they gave me options for the payment, either a loan or cash. The enrollment went smooth but there was a little bit of hiccup with the schedule for the install. The first day that they were supposed to come out, we were waiting for them to show up. I thought we were still on and then that was when I found out that it had to be rescheduled. I had to make the initial call versus them calling me and telling me that they were gonna have to reschedule. So, had I not called, I’m not sure how much longer I would have to wait to find out that they were not gonna show up that day.

Then, there was a rebate that was supposed to be sent. I kinda reached out to the project manager and there was no return call or email or anything. So, I went back to the original salesperson that I worked with and he immediately resolved the issue. I imagine the check is in the mail, as they say. I’m not sure how much longer that’s gonna take. There were just a couple of hiccups in the communication, that could’ve been better during the installation process. Aside from that, the outfit that they used to install was very quick. It was a clean installation and they had it done in one day. Also, the project manager was in-charge in doing the permits and that went smooth.

I've been very satisfied with going solar, so far. I have the app and it’s nice to be able to keep tabs. A couple of times I’m questioning why it can produce much on Mondays as it did the other days even though the weather kinda went the same during that timeframe. So, I’m just gonna keep an eye on that thing and see how that all pans out, but so far, so good. It’s nice to tap into that sun and use it better. I’m glad I picked Solar Spectrum.

I went out to bid for three companies, and Solar Spectrum was one of those three companies.They were large and I felt like they would have the greatest likelihood of being in business 20 years from now, when I need to replace my converters. However, their initial bid was the highest and they had all the same hardware that I was familiar with and wanted. The price was too high, so I tried to negotiate with them. They negotiated and it got to where they were a fraction low. Having the hardware that I recognized and felt like I wanted to put on the house, having good warranties, being large, and finally giving me a good price, I felt like I got what I wanted.

The enrollment process was very similar to my other solar experience and they took care of the paperwork fairly well. They sent me documents to sign up for the funding and offered me a good interest rate. Paperwork seemed to be typical for what solar is but their contract was much longer than the other one that I had on my Concord house, and I thought it was a little contradictory. So, I spent a lot of time on the phone with someone from Sungevity getting comfortable with the contract and I did, so I signed it. Financing was straightforward and easy. Then, the rest was them working with the city permitting agency to get the permits approved, and with PG&E to get approval to turn it on. Both did not take very long and they were the front man on all that, which went well.

I live out in the country and their subcontractor showed up with no identification. The truck wasn’t marked, he wouldn’t show me his driver’s license, he wouldn’t give me his full name, he didn’t have a business card and he didn’t have any proof that he was a subcontractor for Sungevity. It’s like you’re 99% sure that they’re there to do the work because they show up with all the equipment, but still, you expect them to be able to identify themselves. I almost told him to go away. I was really upset with him but he had the project manager’s phone number on his cellphone, and he called them, and I knew who that was. So, she confirmed that he was their subcontractor. I told her that the guy should come prepared and he should be able to identify himself and demonstrate that he works for Sungevity.

Once Sungevity got started, they were very effective. I’m an old roofing contractor and I saw a ladder leaning up against the house which wasn’t tied off. They weren’t on it yet and so, I reminded them to tie it off and they did. They were very efficient, safe and they did a good job. They also cleaned up. They did all of the things I would expect them to do. The only issue I had with the whole experience was that they were a little impersonal. Sungevity does everything over the phone. If you wanna see a body, or if you wanted to have a feel-good feeling, you don’t get that. It’s kind of very corporate, very internet-oriented. I would recommend Sungevity. I would suggest to anyone to make sure that they’re getting a good price. So, they have to do their research. I had to do some negotiating but it was a fair price, and it’s producing.

However, their installers were behind. They had so many projects that they weren't keeping up. The project manager at that point was who I was dealing with was calling and pushing them. But they could only do what they could do. I had hoped of getting it started, installed, and up and running last year so I could put it on my taxes this year. That didn't happen. It actually didn't get put into service until January 18th. But we were dealing with the holidays too.

Once they came, they installed quickly. It took them two days 'cause it's a pretty big system. Everybody was really polite. We had to get the inspectors to come out and then we got to get the approval. They failed to notify me that a hedge that I had that was in front of where the main box is, had to be cut back like three feet. I got like an email thing saying that I needed to do it. I said that it was the first time hearing it and the guy said that I was supposed to have been notified a little while back, and I wasn't. So then I cut that, which then opened up the back area. From the street, one could then see the pipes through the water system and so there was a reason why that hedge was there, but for safety reasons, it had to be done because the County wouldn't approve it otherwise.

When Sungevity first hooked me up, they gave me a website to go to. I thought they actually had an app because the other companies do so I wasn't happy with that. I didn't want to go in and sign up. Sometimes it wouldn't work properly so I complained about that and this other guy called me and gave me an app. He gave me the link and told me to follow it. I could put the app on all my devices and it would show me everything. So that was another little misstep on their part. They also mentioned that they were gonna send me a gift card of some kind, which they never did. Alex said that he'd talk to them as I had some inconveniences, and see if he could get them to send me a gift card. There were definitely bumps in the road but nothing that horrible. Their customer service is really nice and I would recommend them.