Cedar Creek Energy

Despite some significant problems, I do appreciate that Cedar Creek Energy did help me install solar paneling on my roof. I also liked many of the staff. The challenges however were significant, and after some consideration, I think it's worth offering forewarning to potential customers. First, I encountered inaccurate/unreliable marketing information and poor contracting practices: I worked with Nate Pingel. He was very enthusiastic about touting Cedar Creek Energy as the best in the business, and assured me I would have an outstanding experience. He gave me a "bid" for my solar installation, and indicated that the price included the cost of a potential meter upgrade, which he shared that I might not need. He indicated that if it was not needed, then the price would be dropped by "over $2000". I believed him, and signed the contract without carefully checking whether it specified that I would receive a reduction in cost if the upgrade was not in fact needed. I then paid a $1000 required down payment, which was "non-refundable". Afterwards, I inquired, and was told that the meter upgrade was not needed. So I asked for the price reduction, and was then told that a mistake was somehow made, and the bid I was given did not include the cost of the upgrade. Nate did seem to be suggesting that since there was a "mistake", nothing could be done about the $2000+ promised reduction. I explained that I had been considering other contractors, and had relied on the accuracy of the bid when provided. Eventually we compromised, and the price was reduced by $1000. It was livable, but didn't leave me feeling great about the company's ethics. There were also some other incorrect statements. For instance, I expressed interest in a solar battery, both for emergency backup during outages, and to help power my home at night. Nate claimed that I was misunderstanding what the battery could do, and that it would only kick in during an outage, and wouldn't otherwise do anything for my home. I was surprised, but I assumed he must know more about solar technology than I do, and I believed him. It turns out now however, that the battery *does* in fact help power my home as needed, which in itself is great. But because I received inaccurate information from Nate, I didn't ask for a second battery, and would otherwise almost certainly have wanted one. Since I didn't find out the correct information until after the installation was complete, I will now have to separately add the battery, and didn't include the cost of it in my solar loan, so it will have to wait. I communicated next with my project manager. After the initial contracting issues, he assured me that he was committed to making sure that the rest of my installation went very well. I believed that he meant it (and still do). However, on the third of four days of work I went out of my home to my backyard to ask a few questions of the electrician. To my shock, I found the workers sitting and standing in a circle, drinking beers with one of my upstairs neighbors (on my property). It was incredibly awkward, and got me worried about safety, because of course the workers are sometimes operating on the roof. It was close to the end of the work day (I'd been told 8am-4:30pm, and it was a bit before 4:30pm), so my hope was that they were done climbing, and that did prove true. But there are still liability issues for me, as a homeowner, if workers are drinking alcohol on my property. It put me in a risky position, and was unexpectedly stressful during an already full week. It was definitely not what I wanted out of the installation, and I noted later after re-reviewing the contract that the contract does promise "workmenlike" performance. That is, I believe that Cedar Creek workers drinking alcohol on my property without my knowledge or permission, during the work hours the company had provided, was likely a breach of contract. I wrote to my project manager that night, and spoke verbally with the electrician the next morning. I was friendly, and initially hoped that my concerns were taken seriously. Last week, I wrote to my project manager again, raised the contractual obligations in question, and asked him to consider reducing the remaining cost in compensation. I did not ask for a specific amount, and it was mostly, for me -- about looking for some accountability. The project manager passed my request on to the company executives. Yesterday, the manager wrote back to me, and copied the company's CEO, Rob Appelhof. The response was certainly civil, but the content was troubling. Basically, he did seem to be relaying excuses, claiming that the workers were just trying to be polite to my neighbor, and that they were "off the clock" (which was odd). None of this helped reconcile the fact that that Cedar Creek staff were drinking beer in my backyard, that I am bound to this company if I want them to honor any warranty issues, and am paying full price despite the breach.

Since our previous attempt last year ended with the out-of-state business going bankrupt, we were extra cautious this time around, asking for bids from three solar companies. I asked for and received accommodation that the last payment would not be made until the system was fully operational. One of the coldest springs in many years delayed our install. Then Xcel energy, two weeks wait, then a problem with our system (IQ8's are relatively new) added up to a month. Now that our system's been up for 18 days, we can say so far so good. Our 9.5 KW system -- in round numbers -- has produced 780 kw hrs, we consumed 79 kw hrs, and exported 682 kw hrs. Information instantly available on the Enlighten App. Obviously this is the time of year with peak production and few cloudy, rained out days. Annie Hendrix and Patrick Farnham answered questions and kept us in the communication loop throughout the process. Xcel energy had required paperwork that they walked us through. Also showed us through the Enlighten App the day power came from the solar system. The installers, solar panel mechanical, and electrical, were respectful of property and communicative in their respective efforts --we did NOT have to clean up after them. During sales, at the last ditch, we decided to add battery storage, this accounts for approximately 1/3 of the overall price!

My experience working with Cedar Creek Energy was seamless from start to finish. The project developer I was working with, Max Corner, did a great job with his consultative approach. He took the time to learn about our business and where our needs were in order to deliver on a quality solution that was financially feasible for us. The whole team at Cedar Creek went above and beyond on the back end. My project managers, Annie Hendrick & Patrick Farnham, always stayed on top of communication with different progress points throughout the project so I was never in the dark when it came to my install and status. The installers were exceptional, enjoyable to be around and clearly professional in their mannerisms and craftsmanship. I now have a system up and running that is completely offsetting my electrical usage on an annual basis. They even took on monitoring and servicing my residential system, even though they didn’t install it. They truly want the best experience possible for their customers and if you choose Cedar Creek Energy, I know you will be thankful for choosing them as your solar installer.

IF YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT PUTTING IN SOLAR PANESL, YOU'VE COME TO THE RIGHT COMPANY! Three months ago, we decided that solar panels would be a very good idea with all the concerns about global warming and consumption of oil and gas. We also knew it would be a cost-saving project for us because of the Federal and Dakota Electric incentives as well as generating our own electricity. Then, the "fun" started as I tried to figure out which of many solar companies to choose. I ended up with a spread sheet of SIX proposals from other companies ranging in price from $17,000 to $36,000! Trying to sort out the technical aspects of these plans was challenging and unfortunately there isn't a "neutral advisor" group out there to give me some objective advice. I also found there is plenty of misin-formation about the rebates and pay-outs by Xcel and Dakota Electric, so it was difficult at best to decide on the best plan. By the "grace of the Solar Gods" or someone, I happened to click on the link to Cedar Creek Energy and the rest, as they say, was "Wonderful"! A team came to our house, explained how the system works and where the best places would be to install panels, used a drone to determine the maximum sun levels during the day and compiled a thorough report on the best plan for us. I was particularly impressed with their willingness to answer questions, talk about options, explain how the system works and other concerns that we had, not only in the early stages but also during the whole process. Cedar Creek has their own crews so you aren't faced with dealing with a sub-contractor who may not be the same person who worked on something earlier in the job. They did excellent work from the initial inspections through actual installation of the panels, wiring of the systems and finally "throwing the switch"! We would not hesitate to highly recommend Cedar Creek as a great company to work with in setting up a solar panel system: their team is top-notch, they are knowledgeable and up-to-date and certainly gave us a fine end product at a VERY COMPETITIVE price You can't go wrong!

We hired Cedar Creek Energy to engineer and install solar panels on our home. Every person we dealt with throughout the process was client-focused and extremely responsive. Our solar array has already cut our electric bill by over 80%. We highly, strongly recommend you talk to Cedar Creek Energy if you are looking at going solar. They are a top-notch company!