RGS Energy (Out of Business)

Love my RGS Solar System!

I'm very happy with the performance of my RGS system. I have 25 modules, with micro inverters, that have been operating in California without a hitch since they were installed 10 months ago. The micro inverters allow monitoring of each module on 15 minute intervals, and both energy and power can be tracked hourly, daily, and monthly on my desktop. The software is easy to access and use. I am net positive on energy for the 10 month period, and will probably be able to sell back enough at the end of my first year to have a positive cash flow. The salesman was very helpful and did not pressure me for the sale. I checked out several companies carefully, and I'm glad I chose RGS.

Solar, the way to go!

I highly recommend going solar for electricity. My last month's bill was $5.79...for the meter rental and taxes. Jim Morretti was my sales person and he was professional and a concerned advisor. The install took longer because of the demand in this area but quick when the work was started. The RGS staff were very professional and cleaned up all the areas they worked in. I highly recommend RGS as a great solar company.

Win Win Win situation

We've enjoyed our solar system since 2012. We saved money immediately by qualifying for a nice rebate. Since we went online with SC Edison we've saved $1200-$1400 per year while keeping our house cooler in the summer than we did before we has solar.

My RGS system work well

I can recommend RGS, but I have to say they have been overwhelmed by demand in my area, so it took a lot longer than I was told to get my system installed. The one issue I had was that the final layout I signed off on was not the layout they actually put up. I would recommend you keep an eye out at every stage of the project

RGS Is Real Good

I actually had been trying to get another company to do an install but they ere not at all responsive and someone suggested RGS. The initial contact as promising but then that person became more engaged in personal matters and did not fully appreciated the deadlines approaching for approvals and qualifications for rebates and net metering. During the process there as a manager (very nice young lady) who stayed on top of the project and kept me fully informed. Winter finally gave way to Spring and the ability to work on the roof brought on final design and then the install. Again, I was always kept in the loop. The only to issues were they informed me that the 255 Trina panels were not available and they would use 250 instead. Checking around I found that there were plenty of 255 panels available and their wholesaler did not have stock. Again, the manager of my project advocated very strongly for me and the 255's were now available. After the racks were installed the foreman indicated that the design was off and that it was not fully centered on my roof. Something to do with the panels. End result was a six inch shift to the right. I asked if it could be seen from the other side of the house (little funny here) and of course not so I said lets move on. Before you know it the panels are on and the hookups were all done and the wiring and conduits were all installed in a very neat manner. Inspection by City inspectors went very well. At 10:00 AM the system is producing but not fully hooked into the grid. At 2:00 PM the power Company came and inspected the system and pronounced it good and commented on how good the installation was done. I have seen a reduction of over 74% in my total electric bill. It would be more were it not for some tariffs that are unique to the power company. From start to finish the install was great, no trash left behind and follow up by company representatives to make sure all is well. Now if I could get them to turn on more sun ..........

RGS was great

from the low pressure salesperson to the technical staff great experience . Now paying $22.00 every 2 months for electric

Excellent all around

I was very satisfied with RGS all around. Their sales guy Jim Moretti was great to work with. There was no pressure at all. He was willing to meet after hours any day of the week. We had quite a few 8:00pm meetings fine tuning the system design and financing options with no hesitation from him at all. The only downside we found was the length of time it took to get the panels installed. We waited about 10 months after signing the contract until we had the panels on the roof. Although the wait was a disappointment, it was entirely out of the hands of RGS. Dealing with grant programs and government officials is slow and there's nothing RGS could have done about that. RGS was very upfront with us and told us that the wait could be up to a year. Installation was quick and easy and the guys were very respectful and clean. I was shocked how clean they were. They didn't trample all over our plants and cleaned up every step of the way. We were very impressed. The system is up and running and generating exactly what they estimated. I literally couldn't be happier.

solar installation

RGS kept me informed of the whole process. When there was an issue-it was quickly resolved. Everyone was respectful and efficient.

Great Experience in all areas!

RGS installed my system last year and everything in the process, including quote, design, permits, documentation, and installation were done in a professional fashion with very courteous Customer Service. No issues have happened so far and I have not paid a dime in electric bill ever since. Highly recommended!

Upstate New York Customer Dissatisfied Overall!

Had been shopping around for solar companies around for purchasing a roof-mounted photovoltaic system at home in Albany, NY beginning 2014. After extensive research, we had decided to choose RGS, a company with HQ based in Colorado. The system was completed only recently & PTO issued after 11 months from design stage. Designer I worked with was from Colorado and designed us a system over the computer & phone. Pretty knowledgeable but aggressive in earning your business. In fact, so much that when he had proposed me the price after rebates and tax credits, the calculations made were inaccurate and rather illegal. .... NYS has NYSERDA rebates and state tax credits (25% as of 2015) on top of federal tax credits (30% , as of 2015). Tax credits are based off of the total out of pocket expense cost to customer . i.e. Say system pre-rebate costs $20,000, after a $4,000 rebate, the tax credits are calculated based on the $16,000 cost. The designer proposed to me the final cost based on 25% of the pre-rebate cost, and not the post-rebate cost. Despite me telling him this is not how it is calculated, as a designer out in Colorado, he insisted he's seen this "many times" where homeowners would apply the tax credit his cheaper way. (1) This was rather unethical ; to file taxes illegally to save hundreds of dollars would not be worth it. During the design stage: (2) Because their closest office was 2 hours away in Westchester NY, their service in Albany NY had been poor and response time was long. Often times I got their voicemail, but did not hear back from them until 2+ days later via phone or email. (3) Response time too long resulted in RGS losing out on some NYSERDA rebate that had been based off of Watt-Blockage Structure, thus higher up-front cost incurred to us. (4) One too many design changes: When the final price was agreed upon, few months later RGS submitted a change order for a 280W panels as opposed to their 275W, resulting in price increase. Told initially by the designer this would not result in increase, I was shocked to find out when invoice price was contradictory to what the designer had claimed! (5) Having sought and received approval for an exemption from my town to have panel arrays arranged to override "3 feet fire set-back", RGS has refused to accept it and would do so at $1,000 addition for design changes. Install Stage: (6) RGS subcontracted their work out. D&M alternative was the contractor and they had previously done a few solar install jobs. (7) The subcontractors D&M Alternative Energy were knowledgeable, friendly, and relatively local ~ 1 hour away (Catskills, NY). Worked really hard. However, they had left a few trash behind, including pallets and packaging waste. (8) Wiring conduit job from panels to distribution box was OK. The panels alignment was needed. Upon pointing this out, D&M took action promptly to resolve this. Post-Install: (8) Enphase inverters 250W used. The MyEnlighten App that tracks the energy production is cool. However, the support to Enphase software team is poor as I have been waiting 5 days from them via email for their response. ... thought that each individual panel performance may be tracked via the app. (9) Who to contact if something goes wrong? Closest RGS office is 2+ hr away. Conclusion: 1.5 stars (-) Lies by designer & poor customer service & long wait all added up to the final score. (+) Finally getting the job done 11 months later! (+) Black SolarWorld panels are made in America and look awesome on the roof. Had I a second chance, I would have done more shopping and considered more of the local or bigger name companies - that work hand-in-hand with you and give you a sense of comforting peace of mind knowing people would be around to quick respond to your needs and service your solar system. Our RGS System: 4.2 kW , 15 280W SolarWorld Panels , 15 250W Enphase Micro-inverters

Great until you've given them the money

I found RGS helpful and responsive until I had handed over the final check. After that, customer service was terrible. They outsourced to a small company that was essentially non-responsive and when I talked to RGS about it, they said they'd be right on it and give me an update. They never got back to me (we're talking weeks here).

The customer service is horrible

Shortly after installation, we had an issue where our electrical conduit (connecting the solar array to the house) was dug up by outside work. Granted, in the contract it said damage caused by outside work is not covered by their warranty, HOWEVER, we were EXPLICITLY told the electrical conduit was buried at least 18 inches underground (California code dictates this), the damage occurred because RGS only buried conduit 12 inches down instead of the required 18. Thus we attempted to contact RGS to resolve this, and that's when the real nightmare began. Their customer service phone line is a permanent voicemail, thus you have to wait and pray for someone from RGS to call you back. We managed to get through to the sales department (thank you Amy), but the only thing they could do is let customer service know we called. We saw a brief glimpse of hope when we heard from Helio power, RGS's contractor who we are told are handling repairs. They said they will write up a quote and send it to RGS, but we never heard from them again. Finally, after 5 months of sending frequent voice mails and emails to their customer service, we heard from their manager, Matt S., who promptly informs us that according to the contract, damage by outside work is not covered under warranty. We then alerted him to the fact that the conduit was installed incorrectly (only 12 inches down) and his response was "I wouldn't say it was installed incorrectly." So, it took you 5 months to tell us "no", after making us jump through numerous hoops. This company needs to reevaluate their priorities, great sales process but zero support after their customers have paid them.

Customer Service is Lousy

Our system was installed in 2012. Since then we have had few issues ... Until now. The system went dead and after repeated calls to Vermont, Rhode Island and Colorado we still don't have resolution. One fellow in the Colo Tech Service Never called back as promised after I left 2 additional messages. Not sure where to turn Next!? Come on get your act together

Customer Service is VERY POOR

RGS had agreed to repair their installation. I have had roof leak problems for a while. Roof leaks now, concerned about mold in the attic. They don't answer their customer service line, don't return messages left on their service line and DO NOT return emails. This is after we agreed that they would make the repairs on the roof and I would make the repairs inside our house. Maybe the company is going downhill? Very disappointed. They used to be such a customer service oriented company and very responsive.

Waiting over a year and a half for installation!

I've been put thru the punches in dealing with Sunrun and RGS Energy. I've been waiting over a year and a half to get my solar panels installed and it still hasn't happened yet!

Not so pleased

Wow! My experience ended so differently that I expected. Last year we asked three local solar contractors to come to our house to provide quotes for a solar system. We selected RGS because we felt the salesman was honest and he gave us a lot of assurances that RGS was the trusted longtimer in an industry filled with upstarts. We made our decision because we believed him when he said they would be a partner. Well I'm guessing that, looking at my rating, you realized that didn't happen. RGS fired our salesperson because, according to him, they no longer allowed part time employees. Whatever the reason, everything fell apart after that. I have to admit that I am being a bit dramatic. After all, the system was installed and it is working - most of the time. We were assured that one way RGS excelled was in their customer service. They were going to provide one year of 24 hour monitoring of our system. That was to allow us to become accustomed to monitoring it ourselves. It's nice that they gave us a year, because no one ever showed us how to run the system. Again, to make sure I'm being completely upfront, we were shown a little bit of of this and a touch of that. Earlier this month our system went down for a couple of days. Turns out the controller popped a circuit breaker. We only realized this because we were showing the monitoring app to a friend. We didn't get a call from RGS, who is supposed to be monitoring, and we didn't get any sort of alarm or alert. Speaking of monitoring, one of the upgrades that our salesman strongly suggested was a controller that was capable of monitoring individual panels. I was a bit surprised that that wasn't standard, but we bought it. When the system was installed and we reported that the individual monitoring didn't work, we were informed that we needed to buy an additional piece of software. To their credit, RGS did eventually provide that software at their cost. That individual monitoring may have been a bad idea. Because through it we learned that some of our panels were generating at only a third of what others were. We have also been concerned with the placement of the panels. We requested that they include as many panels as possible in our system. After installation we noticed that there was a lot of unused space on our roof. We never received an explanation why. At this point you might be wondering why we haven't requested assistance. We have on several occasions. We contacted our salesperson's replacement repeatedly - yet we have received no response! We finally wrote to the installation contact, the person we believed to be the salesperson's manager, and a third contact, Clayton Pitts, whose email address we obtained sometime during the installation. We only heard back from the third person and I mention his name because his response was so perfect. In my email to them I try to be as friendly and even-tempered as a business email should be. In the email I suggest that much of this might be communication related and might be settled by them stopping by for lunch. Clayton replies, ".,. I could come for a visit to check the system, but unfortunately I cannot come to "have lunch". There is a charge of $110hr labor and $55hr for travel. Minimum of one hour for labor. ..." I replied to Clayton suggesting that charging a new customer to finish the installation was perhaps not the best of customer service and asked for a contact. I never heard back from him. The joke is on me though. Now I have received a bill from RGS for nearly $5000 for installation. The date on the bill is March 5, but the installation date is October 14. Is this because I'm trying to get someone to answer my calls? I telephoned the main office customer support. Certainly I'll hear back from them... eventually? Fortunately, shortly after the system was installed I received a call from Enerbank, who has the loan for the system. The very nice rep asked me how everything was progressing. At the time I told him we had some issues but that I thought RGS was addressing them. He said that if I continued to have problems I should contact them. I did so yesterday. I asked them to note my call in their file, but that I wanted to give RGS corporate a bit more time to respond to my call. That only seems fair since I called them both the same day - after receiving the $5000 bill. One more thing. If you do choose RGS for your system, stay on top of them for paperwork. I'm preparing my taxes this weekend and I have not a scrap of paper to support my tax credit. I'm hoping that if anything happens my documentation from Enerbank will be sufficient. Good luck to you, and after all that, I still think solar power is the direction we should be taking... perhaps just with a different partner.

Slow and refuses to communicate on follow ups

It's been almost a year and I had nothing but one of the worse customer services in my life. The company loves to say that are doing what they can and all they can. My question is if so, why hasn't one of the a do been installed yet. Why do I need to demand the answers except being give the answers without asking. I ready to give up. It is absolutely disgusting.

Top notch company

In a nutshell, I had a great experience with RGS and would highly recommend them. They've been doing solar since the 1970s, not just riding the incentive wave. PROS: Everyone I dealt with was professional and extremely competent. The installation crew was respectful and cleaned up afterward. Even my electrical inspector commented on how neatly everything was done. CONS: Took a bit longer than average to install my system, partly due to weather and partly because of their backlog. Communication could have been a little better at some stages, but they were always helpful when I called.

Miserable Experience

Our solar power system began running today, July 29, 2014. We signed our contract 9 months ago at the end of October 2013. The customer service has been absolutely horrible. The lack of communication from RGS unbelievable. We live in Silverthorne, CO at 9,000 feet. We knew that having the system installed during the winter was going to be highly unlikely, however when spring sprung we expected to be at the front of the line for installation. It turned out that they had forgotten all about us. It has been a comedy of errors. A miserable experience.

HORRIBLE! Don't use them at ALL!!!

I signed the contract and paid the down payment in Nov 2013. I still did not have any solar system yet!!!! First, they said the town did not give them permit. I went to the town hall by myself and found out they did not file for permit till Apr 2014. Finally , three weeks ago, they told me that they have material but no one available. Last week, they told me that they have people available but no more original material, if I agree to change to something else. I can have it next week. This week, they told me that since I change the material I need an amend permit from the building dept and they don't actually have the material on hand too. This is a BIG joke. I will not recommend anyone to use this company at all!!!!!!

Check for best quality and prices. These guys arn't cheap and ov

Watch your wallet, materials and your contract.

Outstanding

I have only wonderful things to say about Real Goods Solar and the process to get panels up and running. Heading into this I was unsure of the process and how it all worked, they answered all my questions and where there for me even after installation, to ensure everything was workign well!

great company

Fast, efficient, and professional install.

Solar a Blessing!

Real Goods Solar did exactly what they stated they would do. Our responsibility was minimal. They took care of everything except our application to the architectural committee--for which they furnished the plan. Unfortunately, California Edison is not as much on the ball. They took over a month to give us permission to turn it on and as of now, I can't access the amount of power they are furnishing. We expect to save over $300 the first year and then more each year after. We are leasing the panels and put nothing down.

Quality all the way through

Going solar is a process that requires the solar installer to accompany the client through the various stages. I found the experience with Real Goods Solar to be superb every step of the way. We were particularly impressed with the high-info, low pressure approach taken by the sales representative, and the friendly and competent way the designer worked with us to make sure we would be pleased with the result. We talked with two other installers and found their sales pitch and tactics to be insulting. Obviously solar has become an extremely competitive business, and Real Goods has delivered a quality product in a professional, dignified way that the others don't match. A great choice of installers for us in California.