Office location: 919 North Main Street, Mooresville NC, 28115
05/25/2021
Chris H
I have recently completed my homes solar instillation with PowerHome Solar. I can not yet fully speak to the benefit of the solar panels on my electric bill but I would offer some words of advice that are not freely given from PowerHome Solar. 1) Your tax credit is federal which means you can not get more back than you paid in federal taxes for the year in which you file your rebate (i.e. if you were told you would receive a $15,000 tax credit, you will only get that much if you paid more than $15,000 that year in federal taxes) 2) Be very cautious of your energy provider rebate. I was told I would receive a rebate from Duke Energy (my local provider), however I have found out that the wait list is incredibly long and they are now moving to a lottery to decide who gets the rebate. This means that I may or may not get the solar rebate (definitely no guarantee). 3) The miss-leading information I was given by the sales representative is most concerning because it factored heavily into my (and I would think most peoples) decision into if the whole package is within my budget. The 20 year loan that was approved relies on the borrower to pay a certain amount back within 18 months in order to keep the monthly payment at the quoted price (which is the big selling point to swap your power bill out for the solar payment bill). Mine was quoted $200/month which was close to my average power bill and was sold that this bill would end in 20 years where as my power bill will never end (sound familiar?). However if you do not pay the rather large amount towards the loan (which should be no problem with all those rebates and tax credits i just spoke about) in 18 months my bill would have then went up to over $300/month. 4) Specifically the instillation with PowerHome has been less than desirable. My panels were initially installed 3/9/21 and I am still awaiting repairs as of 5/25/21. The customer service was top notch before the install, but dropped significantly afterward when It came to addressing issues like my roof leaking, etc... (FYI, they did fix that rather quickly but other problems were discovered and still have not been addressed). I have asked to speak to a manger (preferably corporate level) to address my concerns with the situation but it would seem that the installers are the managers? In the end hopefully my concerns are unwarranted and the issues will all be resolved. The solar panels do appear to be working and are aesthetically pleasing. 5) My advice is this. If you can pay outright for your panels, do it. If you can refinance your home and pay outright for the panels, do it. They will add value to your home and if your lucky solar can save you on your monthly power bill. Do not let the sales person talk you into buying based on rebates and tax credits. They are not guaranteed and should not be a deciding factor in your solar panel purchase. 6) Hope this helps!