07/17/2015
Anonymous
Will Solar City save you money over what you currently pay to your utility company? Most likely yes. HOWEVER, shop around! I did much research and negotiated with six different solar providers and found that not only was Solar City the most costly, I found their business practices to be intentionally deceptive. Their shenanigans are a class action suit waiting to happen. I opted for an outright purchase rather than a lease or PPA in order to maximize savings. In every proposal (except for Solar City), I was given a clear bottom line figure of the cost. The proposal I initially received from Solar City was pretty much in line (I thought) with the others. However, they then sent me an electronic contract that they wanted me to sign before they would even do a site survey. They said it was just a formality and the contract was not binding (then why require me to sign it???) Obviously, I did not sign it. I did however read through it. When I added up the costs from their payment schedule, I found that the total cost was nearly $13,000 MORE than the proposal they sent to me. I called my sales rep to ask about it. After the "run around" and spin tactics, I learned that the price in their original proposal "assumed" SREC income from the state for five years, so they deducted that from the proposed cost, saying that "if" I applied that "assumed" income (that they have nothing to do with) toward the purchase of the system, that it would bring my "out of pocket" cost down to the figure in the original proposal. That had to be one of the most deceitful, deliberately misleading sales tactics I have ever seen. Imagine going to a car dealer and agreeing to buy a Prius for a sticker price of $25,000. Then, when you go to sign the papers with the finance department, learn that you are actually paying $30,000 because the sticker price you agreed to "assumes" that you will eventually save $5,000 in gasoline because it is a hybrid vehicle. That is basically what Solar City did. And to clarify, NONE of the other companies pulled tried to pull this tactic. In the end, if I went with them, I would have ended up paying $15,000 MORE than I ended up paying with Direct Energy Solar. If that weren't bad enough, Solar City's far more expensive system was decidedly inferior (no micro-inverters, cheap panels made in china, etc), a substandard warranty, no production guarantee, and no guarantee for installation time. Lesson: Please shop around. Don't jump at the first offer because it may save you money over what you currently pay. For long term investments like these, aim to save the MOST you can by doing homework and picking the right company.