Review for Maryland Solar Solutions

09/04/2015
Anonymous MD

If purchasing, don't go with anyone else

This process started in early March 2015. I talked to 3 installation contractors that I had vetted on Solar Reviews, two in person and one through email. Fortunately, the first one I met with was Colette Hayward from Maryland Solar Solutions. She spent two hours in my kitchen, gave me all the specifics, showed me the reasons why she uses the equipment she uses/recommends, and what I could get within the budget I had provided. I am an engineer and I was highly impressed by her knowledge and presentation.<br /><br />The next day I met with a competitor. They sent a salesman (which is fine), and I got a pitch for a system to provide full electrical power for my home that was well outside my budget. They did not propose the quality of equipment that MSSI proposed, nor did they listen to my original budget. It felt like a bill of goods. I did spend a little time with the other contractor by email, but by now I knew that the professionals at MSSI were the real deal.<br /><br />I won't go into detail here, but the time to get the system installed was greatly extended due to my home owners association. We lost 1.5 months of power generation because the HOA panicked when I was the first to install in the neighborhood (they put us off for 60 days to evaluate "rules"). Colette Hayward was very patient and flexible regarding this situation even though I was extremely frustrated myself. We were finally able to install at the end of May 2015.<br /><br />I was provided all installation information ahead of time and Colette was there early the first 2 days to make sure everything was moving forward correctly. The installation was professional and done on time (fortunately the weather cooperated), and installation exceeded any and all parameters the HOA assigned to it. The panels are on the rear roof and the wires connecting to the inverter in the basement cannot be seen from the front of the home. Except for the neighbors who saw the installation, I don't believe 90% of the community knows we have solar panels on our roof.<br /><br />MSSI took care of all permits and rebates from the state and county (I will have to take care of the federal tax break). They also registered my system on PJM-GATS so I will get credit for my SRECS. In addition, I have peace of mind for the next 5 years as they will monitor the system for any anomalies (ask other installers if they will do this!).<br /><br />We have 2 months under our belt of solar generation. So far, generation has exceeded the conservative estimates that MSSI provided. In fact, I would have expected July's generation to exceed August's, but the opposite was true. Obviously, the weather plays a role in this, but that implies given less clouds in July, we could have generated an even higher total.<br /><br />If you are going to purchase a PV system (and I highly recommend this over leasing, as you lose all the benefits of the incentives and rebates), then you should only talk to MSSI. They pull no punches, they do not sell you a bill of goods, and they give you professional service from top to bottom. Colette Hayward and her team provide straight talk and they conservatively estimate the output of your system (which they should) so that you will have confidence in what you are getting (they even provided a chart of costs and ROI that showed a dip in return in year 15 when you will need to replace the inverter). Now that we are generating more power than estimated, I'm even happier with the system.<br /><br />I wanted to install a PV system starting 8 years ago. We moved into a new home over a year ago and realized our rear roof was 8 degrees off true south. That made our decision to install a solar PV system. The fact that we worked with MSSI to make that dream come true has made the experience even more fulfilling.