Solar Energy World

I am not happy with the solar energy. I agreed to pay $ 58 but I agin paid for pico company around $ 19 . I should not pay two times. Reach me out for more details

Initial estimates not close to final cost

It felt like a bait and switch when the initial estimate numbers were changed 15% higher once contract was signed. Make sure you have some buffer for that.

Great install, terrible customer service

The installation process with these folks was terrific. There was one hiccup where they destroyed part of my bedroom ceiling but they were able to fix that before they completed the work. In the four years I have had the array, though, I have had many equipment failures. i am on my second inverter and it broke almost a month ago. It has taken nearly a month so far for Solar Energy World to not fix it, make excuses, reschedule appointments and in the end do nothing. If I had to choose again, I would have selected a different solar company.

Good Company but need upgrades to Inverter and Software

I am writing this review after 8 months of my solar installation. I choose them as it was highly recommended by my friend. I was impressed at the beginning of how they took care of the installation process with all approvals from townships and how the job got done professionally. They were able to get the installation job done on time with no glitches. Things went smooth until we hit the summer. However, after 6 months in summer during my vacation, the solar edge inverter broke down and the app on phone did not have any notification mechanism. I was under the assumption that the grid gets monitored by the company but no one notified from SEW. I noticed this only after 2 weeks that I had no power generation the whole month of July. When I made my first complaint, a technical person informed that he will have 2 replace the chip of the inverter. I had to wait for 3 weeks and finally the day came, the chip replacement did not work and they had replace the whole inverter. Finally I had it replaced after 4-5 weeks. The installed a newer version of Inverter. During this whole process I had to pay my PSEG bills of about $550(peak summer) and lost about 2 SRECs of about $450. When I reached out on this to SEW they did not compensate in any manner and blamed the inverter company and they had no ownership. This made me very upset going back and forth on this issue with no result. My another biggest problem is the Software App on the phone, which does not alert you on any failures and you need to monitor it regulary. Prior to this I made referals to my friends on this company but this situation left me with low confidence now on this company. My strong suggestion to this company is to step up on Service aspects and perform the App upgrades.

Helping the Earth

The cost of solar energy is higher than currently available fossil fuel energy. Based on the "expected" rise in the cost of fossil fuel energy the increase in cost (monthly) is high. I believe that in the end (20 yrs) I will have paid more for solar than I would have paid for fossil fuel energy. However, the added taxes and line charges for fossil fuel may make the solar worth the expense. So while I am happy with the solar I am still cautious about saying that you will save money in the end.

7.95kW Solar Install

The installation was excellent. The electrician on the job, Connor, was excellent at explaining all the steps. They ran the conduit along the base of the house and up next to the downspout, and color matched it to the house, to be aesthetically pleasing. Probably one of the best group of contractors I've worked with. I had communications issues in the design phase. We went back and forth on the design, but once we approved it, they submitted incorrect paperwork for the permits and interconnection. This delayed the project by a couple weeks. The issues were not correctly communicated and I felt I had to be more hands on to make sure things were done correctly.

The Process

All the employees at the Solar Energy World are very helpful. I have worked with one sales rep that is very responsive. I have worked with SEW office personnel and they too are responsive. The problem comes at follow through with the customer. 1. I agreed to solar energy on my home earlier this summer and also bought down the rate to where I was satisfied with the proposal. Then, the SEW model for my home's output of solar energy was changed and the rate increased. Still a good value I decided to accept the company's proposal but it was higher. 2. Next, the tax credit promised by the organization for my particular county was not completed by SEW until I asked for the results. Follow-up thereafter was completed. 3. Finally, once the panels were installed by SEW, the company wanted the monies for the rate buy-down. It was an immediate request since it is stated on the paperwork in the fine print. I was not made aware that it was demanded once the panels were installed. My error was assuming that once the panels were installed they would also be working. Not so fast, there were inspections that should have been immediate since payment for the rate buy-down is required so quickly. The inspections took too damn long and the start up of the system was months after installation. So this process should run smoother or the company should be patient about getting paid until the system is up and WORKING. A summer agreement and installation should be a summer running system. Too long between panel installation and system producing. NOT GOOD.

Great at first, problems at end. Hopeful for future

Their seminar, plant tour, sales and installation were excellent. Everyone who we met was top notch. Then it all fell apart. Took 3 weeks/3 calls from us to get an inspection scheduled. Thank goodness for Summer in the office; she is professional and does her best to explain and inform. She is the perfect "face" of this company. Once our system was installed there was NO follow up. If this company instituted a follow up policy they could avoid what happened to us (not being able to get inspection scheduled) and figure out where there are weaknesses in their company and maybe most importantly, make the customer feel like they care. We paid for our system up front, and between the inspection issue and Pepco's timeline we waited 2 months to have it turned on. Solar Energy World needs to explain to customers that there could be a timeframe during which they are still paying in full for their utility and also paying for the solar system. They were great at the paperwork and the administrative stuff. We have online access to our metering info and also to the SREC system. I really liked this company and hope to be able to recommend them in the future. Our system has been operational for two months (during the shortest days of the year) and has been generating power, but it's too early to assess. (Unfortunately the net meter was installed by Pepco December 11 and today is February 20 and we have not yet seen a bill. Pepco is a whole other story of probems...) I am optimistic that it will all work out!