06/16/2015
Anonymous
My wife and I bought a house this past December, and like many, got a bit of sticker shock when we saw our first electric bill. We consider ourselves to be efficient with our electricity, but with a much larger house and heated tile floors in our basement, we had an enormous bill on our first month of electricity. We instantly looked at solar. The first place I looked was Solar City, a company that advertises everywhere, including our local Home Depot. I called them, got a quote, and it sounded pretty cool. Then I did the research. Sure, it would cost me nothing to get them installed on my house, but I wouldn't benefit other than about 10 bucks off my bill every month and in the future when xcel raises their price. In a nutshell, I would be paying Solar City for the energy produced off my own roof, instead of paying Xcel Energy for the energy that they provide. Not much of a benefit. <br /><br />I looked up places and found Namaste. They had great reviews, great references, and they were incredibly quick to respond to me. They have a fantastic financing option that had me sold. They do a 12 year low interest rate loan on a majority of the cost of the solar panels. Then, they do a 1 year, same as cash loan that is "floated" until I get the federal rebate next year to the tune of 8k. When I get that, I give it to them, with no interest. Takes a huge chunk out of the cost of the panels. I got a 7.92 KW system that is slated to produce about 12,000 Kwh of electricity a year. This will cover all (most likely more) than we will need. It banks up, so whatever I don't use, I can use in the coming months. (Particularly useful in the winter when I want to use those forbidden heated tile floors). <br /><br />I started this process in February. They aren't a HUGE company so they don't have the people to install the panels right away, but it gave us time to do all the research and get all of our ducks in a row. Namaste took care of the permits, inspections, and drew up all the plans. We really didn't have to do anything. It was originally supposed to be installed in late July, but they are continually hiring new "Co-Owners" (Their company is owned by employees) and the panels ended up being installed last week, early June. It only took them 2 days to install and it was inspected and approved the following day. Now we just have to wait for Xcel to come by and install the net meter, which, apparently takes around 2 weeks. I can't wait to turn them on! I will update my review as soon as they are on and functioning. So far, Namaste has 5 star service all the way.