Shine Solar, LLC

Probably not a good idea

I signed my contract back in May 2021. It took over 6 months. Closer to a year to get my system operational. I cant say Shine Solar is 100% at fault, but because I live in TN rules and regulations are different so all the permitting from the state didn't want to help SS out since they were an out of state contractor. I had to do a lot of the connecting leg work between my utility company and SS. Neither party wanted to do the leg work. Shine Solar's install team did a good job. I found a few "what the F**k were they thinking?" install issues, but it didn't hinder the operation of my system. My system went live in Jan/Feb 2022 just in time for a winter storm so my solar production sucked at first. I do have a complaint with sales tactics. Shine Solar should have done more research on the TN market before selling me a system I helped overengineer for feeding back into the grid for credit. TN stopped giving credit for solar generation back in 2019 before I bought my system. So I use zero grid power all day and end up using about 7-10KW at night/morning when my battery runs dead. I still have a utility bill of anywhere from $60-$80 on top of the $200/mo solar bill. Yes, its offset some usage, but the payment plus utilities cost more than I was paying. I averaged around $160/mo without solar. I also give back over double what I use back into the grid and get ZERO dollars for it. so I have setup home automation to intentionally waste electricity during the day just so I don't continue giving the utility company free power. Shine Solar also forgot to mention that with the Enphase IQ6 inverters they installed on my system that when the grid goes down, I can't operate my system. If its a bright and sunny day, oh well..I'm dead in the water. I cant even use backup battery reserve. They did tell me they could "upgrade" my system to do what I want, but for the price I paid ($55k) I think it should have been already there.. I was also sold some add on for my HVAC system that cleaned the air. It was a big push for them with the whole couf scare. Well, its now 2023 and that still hasn't been installed. I gave up on hounding them. I pretty much knew I was screwed when the guys were there blowing my attic (shine air) and had no idea what I was talking about with the inline cleaner. I've contacted Enphase about upgrading my system, but they keep referring me back to Shine Solar. The people I have talked to at SS during the install seem to help all they can, but overall it hasn't been a good experience. I almost forgot. The "tax incentives" is a joke. I was told I would get back around $14k on my system. It was more like $11K. I also had 10 new windows installed so that got me back up to around $14k. When I filed my taxes I expected to get $14k back to send to them to help pay this massive bill off. Well, the US government decided I was only going to get $5k back per year till that has been absorbed. During the panel install I think they tried pulling something shady. All of my panels had been installed for around a week and one day the install crew shows back up saying they need to replace one that was broke during transport. I agreed and they hopped up on the roof. I noticed more than one panel came down and I never did see a broken one. I found this strange, but didn't think nothing about it. Days later they bring me back new panels and install them. A day or so later I was in the back yard and could clearly see which panels they replaced. They looked dirtier than the panels that were already on the roof! They also didn't align them correctly so those few aren't uniform like the rest. I didn't notice any difference in power output once they got my system going so I don't know if they robbed my panels for another site since I was close and the home office was over an hour away and then brought me more later since my system wasn't operational yet, but it seemed strange and not really a good business practice if that is in fact what happened. If I had to do it all over again. I wouldn't go with them. I like the Enphase equipment, but I would have just continued piecing and parting my system together like I had been doing and made it an off grid system for a 3rd of the price. After the install, I haven't heard a word from them. Not a Christmas card or nothing. Any service issues the Enphase system picks up, it notifies me through the app and Enphase and one of their service techs will come out to fix it.