Energy Service Partners (ESP)

Good experience turned to horror story

Everything was going well and installation process was so great. The main issue started, when company started submitting the permission to operate. There was an error in title and pge asked us to update on the account and resubmit the form. I emailed pge and updated it in 2 days, but ESP PTO team did not reply to any query to resubmit the form. I called numerous times, chatted, emailed everyone i could, not a single response. At this point, I have panels on top of my roof just sitting and I can only hope that ESP team will resubmit when they want to.

Disappointed to say the least...

I am sorry to report my negative experiences with Energy Service Partners. The entire process with this company has been exceedingly frustrating and time-consuming. If I could I would give it zero stars... The project took an unreasonably long 14 months to complete, with each stage of the process dragging on for weeks due to scheduling and delivery issues. The lack of efficient communication was evident in the fact that you had to deal with 4 or 5 project managers, none of whom responded to my calls or texts in a timely manner, if at all. Attempts to escalate concerns to supervisors were met with silence, leaving you me in the dark. One of the most concerning aspects of my experience was ESP's apparent reluctance to fulfill their contractual obligations. They attempted to dissuade me from a panel upgrade that was clearly outlined in my contract, even going as far as trying to install a different panel than what was specified. This obstruction took approximately 2 months to resolve. Furthermore, the use of unlicensed contractors raises significant safety and quality concerns. It is disconcerting to learn that ESP employs unlicensed contractors, as indicated by one of the main installers. Another point of contention is the promise of a reimbursement for solar payments in the contract if the project isn't completed before payments are due. Despite making numerous solar loan payments and facing high electricity bills, I have received no response or reimbursement from ESP. This lack of follow-through on their "courtesy" gesture is inexcusable. It appears that the only bright spot in my experience with Energy Service Partners has been the customer service representatives who dutifully take down my requests, though they seem to fall on deaf ears. In light of these numerous issues and disappointments, it is evident that ESP's services do not meet the standards of professionalism and reliability that customers like me should expect from a company in the energy industry.

Stay Away From ESP

My solar project started in March 2022. I was told my project would be completed by Sep 2022. It is now almost November 2023, 19 months later, and I am still waiting for ESP to finish the project and fix basic mistakes. Here are the numerous issues I faced: - I was told I would need to upgrade my electrical panel, which pushed installation to August 2022. No big deal. However, I was told they would install the solar panels and upgrade the electrical panel on the same day, followed by a final inspection only 2 weeks later. Instead, they "connected" the solar panels to an empty electical panel box connected t...nothing. That did not stop ESP from telling me my project was complete and taking full payment before becoming unresponsive. - I finally learn weeks later that the panel needs to be installed by outside electricians. Why this wasn't understood or communicated before is never made clear to me. It takes 6 weeks to finally schedule this upgrade for December, which is 4 months after my already delayed installation. - On the day of the scheduled panel upgrade NO ONE SHOWS UP. I come to find out this was the fault of ESP canceling the job due to some permit issue, but this was never communicated to me. My project coordinator, Kasey, is again unresponsive. Any information I discover is communicated through the outside electricians hired by ESP instead. - After little communication, Kasey finally updates me and blames SDGE (which I discover is a recurring pattern for ESP). But I get no updates as to when the panel will be upgraded. Any updates she promises me are instead met with silence. Within a couple weeks, Kasey's phone is disconnected. No one from ESP reaches out to me about my project. I have to keep calling, and eventually discover I have a new project coordinator Esther. It is now late December. - Esther finally gets the project moving. Apparently we are still waiting on permits, which don't come through until Jan 2023. However, now I have to wait for the electric work to be rescheduled, which is now set for late February 2023. - The electricity panel is finally upgraded. But again, the panel is not connected to the solar panels. I am now told that a line transfer needs to happen before an inspection, which was at no point explained to me. As before, the electricians are providing me significantly more communication and explanation than ESP. - My inspection is scheduled for mid March. The inspection passes. I am told I am on the home stretch and that I just need to wait for the Permission To Operate, which takes a couple weeks. - Turns out "a couple weeks" means months. I keep waiting and being told by ESP that SDGE is to blame. However, ESP does little to investigate why there is a delay. By June, I have finally connected the right people from SDGE, ESP and the city inspectors, work that ESP should have been doing. It turns out that SDGE says they haven't recieved the inspection report, which the inspectors say they have sent multiple times. SDGE and the city are extremely responsive in contrast to ESP. At this point, I have lost faith in Esther and am now working with her manager Sam, who promises me some financial restitution and to resolve the issue. (I was originally offered a $20 gift card for the significant delays, which I found insulting). - Sam is no better. A few weeks go by and he also keeps telling me SDGE is still to blame. He also never delivers the promised reimbursement. Eventually, he becomes unresponsive and his number disconnects, again with no word or follow up from ESP. I again have to track down who at ESP is managing my project. I am eventually connected to Elena. - Turns out that ESP PUT THE WRONG ADDRESS ON THE APPLICATION! I discover this on my own through SDGE and the inspectors, with no help from ESP. It is now August. No wonder they could not find the inspection reports. SDGE says the entire application needs to be resubmitted. Elena is no more responsive than anyone else has been, but at least makes good on the promised reimbursement. - Eventually, I am connected to Adriana, who is the utilities coordinator. She resubmits the application and gives me instructions for fast tracking the application with SDGE. It is now mid September. - The photos are rejected by SDGE, because of a safety placard placement. Adriana tells me SDGE is has never rejected an application over the placard, but I have heard EDP blame SDGE for their mistakes too many times before. I instead suspect that ESP simply did not place the placard properly. ESP now has to send a tech to replace, which takes nearly 2 weeks. - Adriana tells me she would resend the photos once the panel has been moved, then PTO will come in 1-3 business days. Over a week goes by and I hear nothing. After reaching out yet again, she now tells me the photos the tech took are not good enough because the placard text cannot be read, so I have to take another photo. After close inspection, I determine that SDGE has a point, as the text is printed so poorly that it is barely readable up close let alone in a photo. Again, this seems like sloppy work from ESP. However, I am able to get a close enough photo with some slight photo editing to make the text more readable. - SDGE finally grants the permission to operate on Oct 26. My solar panels, unused on my roof for 14 months, are finally turned on! So I can finally be rid of ESP now? Were that I so fortunate. The solar panels are supposed to power two separate homes. But looking at the usage, the solar only applies to one. I call SDGE, and I am told that ESP should have filed a net metering aggregation application. They never did. So now the solar energy is not being aggregated correctly, complicating the billing and usage across the two homes. - Over the next 2 days, I call ESP and am told that it will be dealt with urgently. Instead, I receive no updates at all and am ignored. I am told I will receive a call back by EOD, I don't. I call back and am now told I'll receive a call tomorrow. So I have no idea if and when ESP will fix the issue, So 19 months later and I am at least receiving some of the benefit of solar, but my project is still incomplete. At literally every single step of the process ESP managed to screw up. They were sloppy, mismanaged, and unresponsive, and consistently blamed SDGE and outside contractors for their own failures. I had to be my own staunch advocate to get ANYONE at this company to take any action at all. Do not make the same mistake I did, look elsewhere for your solar project.

While the benefits of having solar panels are good the sub-contractor they hire to install them are horrible… they came to my house stole my some property after reporting it there was no follow up or items returned or refunded what I lost!!!! GET ANOTHER SOLAR PANELS COMPANY

Poor communication

Don’t do business with this company poor customer service they want me to contact SCE to have the system turned on been making payments for roof ornaments customers should file a class action lawsuit against this bogus company

Very poor customer service

We had solar panels installed in July 2022. The installers had to change the design because they wouldn’t fit the way that ESP submitted them. That caused a long delay getting the inspection so that we could have them activated. Then they submitted the wrong new design to Riverside to get the permit for the inspection which caused another long delay. We were promised several dates that would come and go and nothing. When we finally got the inspection scheduled it didn’t pass the inspection, which caused another delay. When I would call my project coordinator she would take up to 2 Weeks after several messages sometimes to calm me back. She promised me that we would be reimbursed for the 8 months that we were paying both the solar bill and our power bill. I even have this via text messages as proof. Our panels were finally activated in March of 2023. When I tried to contact out project coordinator she wouldn’t return my calls so I asked to talk to the manager Scott. I was also told several times that he would call me back , which he never bothered to call me either. Finally in April he emailed me saying that they would offer me way less than what I had to pay extra and what I was promised. I replied back and let him know the exact amount that I paid toward the panels during this time which was &1,733.80 and that it’s only fair that they at least cover this amount since we weren’t able to have the panels activated due to their errors. He never responded. I have called several times, and I’m always told that he will call me back. I have never heard from him and it has now been more than a year since we had the panels installed. We also have and pay for a 15.4 kWh system that maxes out at 11.4 kWh. I’m not able to talk to anyone about this because no one calls me back. BTW we are paying $80,000 for the panels, but aren’t worthy enough customers to do the right thing.

Bad company (Beware)

We have had nothing but problems. We were told it would cost 1 price out the door. But after the high financing it was $15,000 more. They still never gave us a itemized bill of what we bought. And the installers couldn't even speak English. I doubt they were licenced. We were suppose to have enough panels to not have a up bill, last year our up bill was $900. We had so many delays with installation. We were paying both solar and electric bill. In the beginning of May our invertor stopped working. They were suppose to finally come out today July 21st, but they cancelled. They want to reschedule for mid August. We are back to paying solar bill $257 plus electric bill. We live in Ridgecrest CA, it's gonna be 114 today. We should be making electricity not double paying. And of course no one cares. E.S.P. is not going to reimburse us for our payments. So if your thinking about E.S.P. Run go with a different company. And do your licensed. GOOD LUCK

Solar

Terrible customer service. No communication what so ever. No one knows anything. Mix information provided. Not satisfy at all

Horrible Customer Service - Stay away from this company

I was very excited about getting solar at my home after I spoke with the sales rep and the planning department. The installation was completed very quickly and the panels/install look great. Fast forward 8 months after the system was turned on: I was seeing that each and every day I had hours on end that my solar production was plateauing and never reached above 3.8Kw even though I was sold a 5.72Kw System. I called numerous times and the Customer Service Reps are polite but are not taught to do anything more then take notes and have someone else call you back. I've emailed and called for over a week now with no reply from the staff or management that I have escalated to. Through my own research I found that they installed a 3800W Inverter to support my 5.72Kw of panels and hence why my solar production is maxing at 3.8Kw for hours each day. I've asked for them to either upgrade my inverter to support the panels they sold me or either credit me for the overage in panels they had me buy. Again, no response after several phone calls to the company. I am highly disappointed in my choice with them as my solar provider if this is the customer service we get for spending thousands of dollars on a system. Update: The warranty dept for the solar company txt me and said my system was sized for xxxx of Kw production for the year and unless I can prove it will not produce that, they will do nothing. ***CAUTION to any potential buyers*** I would highly recommend against using ESP as your Solar Company as they appear to just want your money and not want to offer any assistance if/when you need.

Non communicative and really does not know how to do the job.

Took just a week or so short of a year to install a ground mounted solar array. 65 panels and I have yet to get a credit from SCE. First solar year SCE costs 3000 + on top of paying 200 a month, second year 3500+ with also paying monthly amounts to SCE. This year the panels are not working enough and SCE estimates I will owe 8600+ at the end of my solar year. I am paying more than when I did not have solar panels. Call warranty is a waste of time, they promise the world and then ignore you. I am looking to go to the BBB and sue them as the panels are obviously not working correctly or something is terribly wrong with the set up. I am in a single family residence and keep shutting off more and more items and the bill keeps going up with SCE. It should be going down. I do not have any heavy equipment such as welding the only thing that is on 220 is my well and I have let all of my trees and most of my plants die. We have lights and TV with refrigerator and normal things so something is wrong and they are not willing to help. I have been calling off and on for three years and still no one helps

Estimated 3 mos, now onto month 6

They have no clue what they’re doing. Signed contract in February, estimated completion 4/29/2023. One panel was damaged and not installed, project manger has no record of it EVERY time I call, even though they’ve been on every correspondence for 3 months about the issue. ESP refuses to give dates for final tie in, install of defective panel, and final inspection….very dissatisfied

Terrible Customer Service

We had a solar system outsourced to be installed by ESP in February 2020. Our system was an operational SolarEdge EV Inverter, meaning our inverter has built-in EV charging capabilities. This was working fine until about 8 months ago, when it suddenly stopped being able to charge our cars. Luckily, our cars are plug-in hybrids, so we don't have to rely on electricity only. If that was the case, we'd be out of luck. ESP has absolutely terrible customer service, and has not responded to any of my support tickets via email, call, or live chat. I contacted SolarEdge support, and was told that they would need to troubleshoot my system in conjunction with ESP support, as they are our register installer. Since January, I have attempted to talk to ESP to get support and could not get anyone to respond to us. If you are hoping that you'd be able to get support, then ESP is not the company for you. They are more than happy to sell you whatever you want, install it, collect your money, and then leave you out to dry. Any post-sale customer support is non-existent. They are not a customer-first business. All the talk about a 25-year warranty is useless at this point if ESP refuses to support it. So they'll happily sell you a warranty but refuse to support it. Take that as you will. I've never dealt with such poor customer support for a product. I've gotten better customer support for $30 items on Amazon... imagine paying $20k+ for a product to get zero customer support!

Still waiting

This is a continuation to my last review a few months ago. Program manager and project coordinator continue to not be aligned. Project is supposedly at its last step, but it’s still taking just shy of a week or two of 12 months to complete. Very dissatisfied.

Save yourself aggravation and use a different provider

The purpose of this review is to warn you to run, don't walk away from any deal with Energy Service Partners (ESP). Per my review in the listed categories,ESP performed adequately in the sales, planning, and installation schedulng of the solar panels. At least that is what I thought. As others have noted installation is neither efficient nor effective. The project manager did a good job of apprising of milestone dates, delays and rescheduling of which there were a number. ESP performance fails in their support and warranty category. If I could have rated them with zero stars I would have. Two installers arrived on the date specified with one doing the panel installation and the other doing the electrical work at the panel. They finished in about 6.5 hours. When they told me they were done they asked that I check light switches, electrical appliances etc. We had no power in the office family room and kitchen. I informed them and the electrician went back into the panel and unseated and re-seated numerous breakers and wires. I retested and every problem had cleared up. There was a significant time gap between the install and the final inspection by the city.During that time the electricity in the house functioned normally. On the day of the inspection, the ESP representative came to my door and announced she was waiting for the inspector to arrive and they would be finished within two hours. In about an hour she came to the door and said the inspection was finalized and they were done with their work. About an hour later my wife and I noticed that our microwave, dishwasher and garbage disposal had no power. I checked the electrical panel and did not see any issues. I contacted the project manager and asked her to contact the ESP representative who coordinated the final inspection to find out what if any activity had occured on the installation. She got back to me and informed me she could not id the person because a sub contractor had been used and she had no way of looking it up(!?). So instead she transferred me to the warranty department where I had the worst customer service experience of my life. After I explained the problem and requested ESP send an electrician or (the ESP representative who handled the final inspection) she interrupted me before I could say the part in parentheses and proceeded to: condescendingly ask if I checked the circut breakers, tell me I should hire a local electrician because ESP will charge me $250 to come out and inspect their own work! I couldn't get a word in edge wise until she stopped to take a breath and I told her she was being rude by interrupting me ( and not listening to my reasoning) again the words in parentheses never spoken because she boasted "there is no stronger customer advocate than me" and repeated her $250 charge quote to inspect their own work. I said goodbye. They say, there is a silver lining in every cloud. Because I had to use a local electrician to troubleshoot my issues I found out that my installation was out of code. There were multiple deficiencies including: not using spacers between circuit breakers creating a safety issue; removing but not re-installing the interlock device between the main utility panel and the stand by generator sub panel; leaving both the main and sub panel active creating a possible fire hazard, also, the wrong type of circuit breakers were used for the solar panel circuits creating a safety issue. It cost $900.00 plus to bring everything within code specifications. BTW the issues after the inspection were resolved when the local electrician notice two circuit breakers turned off. My suspicion is that the inspector/ESP representative threw the switches based on the remnants of the original interlock device being in the adjacent bank and powered off my microwave, dishwasher and garbage disposal. My electrician identified the correct circuit breakers for the generator sub panel and turned them off until needed. My problem is that I cannot get anyone in the warranty department to 1) aknowledge I have a legitmate issue 2) acknowledge my request for reimbursment 3) Approve/Deny the request . All this after forwarding the request and documentation to the warranty department multiple times through multiple project managers. Opening a support ticket with ESP and requesting the Warranty department manager's email address so I could communicate my issue directly. The manager responded and I forward the email thread with the supporting documentation to the EDP Support email address and the manager's email address; and, I am still waiting to hear back from the warranty department. As other reviews on this site note, this company does one thing well and that is - ghost people. This has been going on since the beginning of the fourth quarter of last year.

No Contact After Submitting a Warranty Claim For a Leaky Roof

I have contacted ESP multiple times in regards to water damage to my roof which is directly under my solar. I had a roofer give me an estimate who provided photos of my roof which confirmed that the leak is directly under my solar and most likely due to faulty installation. I was told it was covered under my 25 year warranty. I still have received NO response after being told, each time, that somebody would contact me within 3-5 days. It's been well over a month, multiple phone calls, multiple emails and nobody has contacted me. I'm seriously considering a lawsuit for breach of contract. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!

Been 3 months and ghosted me

So I originally signed paperwork over 3 months ago now. There were some design issues for awhile with the sales person and design team going back and forth. Now it’s been 3 months of delays. My project coordinator does not even respond anymore! My next door neighbors signed their paperwork after I did. Now they have had their solar for 2 months. I had a quote from Semper Solaris that had a little higher interest rate but I’m thinking I should have gone with them instead.

Liars

What a shady group of people. I canceled my contract and was told by Trason Jackson that he canceled it and days later I get a text saying I have a site inspection. YA RIGHT. Time to file a complaint with the ca state license contractors board. I hate LIARS. Now I think everything this kid said was a lie. I think this is a scam big time. Especially because the day after he was in my house my email account was locked because someone was trying to get into my account. CROOKS. DO NOT TRUST THESE PEOPLE OR LET THEM IN YOUR HOME. This is total scum doing this. Liars. SLAM the door in thier face if you see them. Jade came to my door. They address shady.

Worst company I have ever felt with

We have been waiting over a year to have our solar up and operating. Signed contract in April 2022, panels installed in June 2022 and permission to operate was granted in December 2022 (very long wait and tons of excuses!). It does not work! We keep getting the run around and have had to pay on the loan since September of last year for solar panels we can’t even use. We also were given the wrong inverter and they did not upgrade the main panel as discussed. Several ongoing issues. We are about to take legal action against this company. They have been non responsive and have passed blamed to different departments. They have cancelled appointments with us numerous times. Most recently as of today. Do not use this company.

Terrible

Half fast Job with the Wall after installation, Never had the Inspection Permits approved and after 6 months still waiting for Inspection. When you call no one knows who is in charge of the Project. Terrible, DO NOT USE THEM!!!

Horrible customer service

My solar panels were supposed to be turned on in January and it is now almost may and still nothing. The contractor is supposed to meet with the city and they still do not stay true to their word. I call almost daily because I need my power!

Paying electric bill and solar system loan

I was approved for the loan Oct/Nov 2021. The solar system didn't get approval to operate until Nov 2022. During this time, I was paying the electric bill as well as the loan for the solar system. I was informed by their sales representative I would be reimbursed for the payments I made to the loan while the system was still being installed. I made 8 months worth of payments to the loan while the system was not operational. Their so called manager now is only giving me a fraction of the 8 months payments I made. When your company employees says one thing and then another employee says another, it's BS. I'll find another company to install the battery and solar system on my other homes. This is not acceptable practice!!!

Not a good businesd

According to the agreement, the system was supposed to be installed by 10/30/22. It was not installed until the end of December 2022. Today is 4/7/23. The solar is still not working. Here’s what has happened. I received a notification that my solar was active on 2/27/23. This date was delayed because they did not submit the correct paperwork to LA County. It was further delayed because they didn’t submit the proper permit to SCE. On 3/3/23, at the height of the rain storms, they sent me 10 pages of instructions to have me restart the system. I did it. They sent me a notification that it was active on 3/6. It was not. I asked them to send someone out to activate the system. Adonay Barahona said he noted the request. I then proceeded to call during most of March. No response. I spoke with Naomi who gave me a directors who never called back. I received a call from a company called Energy Aid to schedule a visit on 4/3, but I told them I didn’t know who they are so ESP should call me directly. I do not trust ESP so I want to make sure the third party vendor does not void the warranty. I sent an email today. I have not heard back.

company doesnt stand behind warranty

After 3 years a component of the communication device of the solar monitoring device became obsolete and couldn't communicate with the app. ESP refused to replace the device under warranty. after multiple attempts to get this resolved the service rep took a message with the response I'll get back to you ASAP. 2 months later still no response. Bob J.

terrible customer service

the team and their manager Sam have bad communication. they lied about in being contact with PG&E. they stopped calling after we finished our payments. overall, they are very unhelpful. i would not recommend this company to anybody. don't believe anything their salesman Hunter Dale says

Horrible

This was one of the worst experiences I've ever had with any company I've ever worked with. Communication was absolutely horrible. I would call my project manager, and I'd either never get a call back or days would go by before they returned my call. My solar plans sat for 3 weeks without anyone getting them updated and sent back to me. The installation team did a good job when it was all complete but they couldn't complete the job in one day. At the end of the first day of instal, they left the panels that hadn't been installed in my back yard propped up against the wall. They didn't come to the door and let me know they'd have to finish later, or when they'd be back. I had to call to find out when the next installation date would be scheduled. Then, when it came to making the payment that was another fiasco. I was given the wrong information which delayed the project at least another 3 weeks.