04/30/2013
Anonymous
I like to save money, so anything that has the potential to save money, I'm all over it like white on rice. Unfortunately, for solar, the cost previously were cost prohibitive even with the tax incentive and Calfornia rebate. A few years ago, a 5kw system would have costed 40k before incentives. 15-20 year payback periods didn't make sense if your objective is to save money. Now that prices have sufficiently dropped (not coincidentally, PGE also ran out of their rebates), I've decided to finally take the plunge.<br /><br />I called the big players, Horizon, RealGoods, CleanSolar, Sunrun, SolarCity, and also a few smaller players including Highlight Solar. I told them all that I have a metal roof as I've heard that some companies do not even work on it. Quickly, Sunrun and SolarCity was eliminated. Neither of them work on metal roofs. <br /><br />Most quotes were pretty much in the same ballpark except for RealGoods which for some reason cost 2k more. Highlight Solar, however, blew them all away. Under $4 a watt fully installed in the Bay Area? That's crazy right? In my opinion, solar energy is now a commodity. It's no longer the playground for the rich and wealthy. Highlight Solar is really changing the game.<br /><br />The only downside was that the're a newer company with minimal reviews. Even with the current reviews they have, I was very suspicious of them. The saving grace for them was that Dean, the owner/head engineer/sales guy was extremely responsive and knowledgeable about the technology. He tells me that he has a master degree in Electrical Engineering and was a former executive of some Solar company. This is his new venture into residential solar. Being wary, I checked on his contractor license and insurance. We were in discussion for awhile back and forth and I learned quite a few things about my subpanel, the NEC 120% rule, back feed, etc. <br /><br />For most companies, low cost equal low service. With highlight, that wasn't true at all. I emailed Dean at 8AM, he replied. I emailed him at 10PM, he replied. The other guys would get back to me after a day or longer. Obviously, they're so busy that I'm just a blip on their radar. Why would they want to deal with me, someone who's out to save money rather than save the environment?<br /><br />My decision was finally between Clean Solar and Highlight. The difference in quotes between Highlight and Clean Solar was very significant. Yet, I had that nagging feeling. When things are too good to be true it must be, right? The cheaper smaller company or the more expensive bigger company? The decision was made after I compared the contracts with the two. Clean Solar tried to nickel and dime me in their contract. For example, if you're not home to allow them the use of your bathroom? That'll be extra. If you want conduits hidden inside your attic? That'll be extra. Permits? Oh yeah, that's extra too! Before you know it, that's another grand on top of the system quote. A few days aftering writing this review, it looks like Highlight has now changed their pricing structure where permits are now extra. <br /><br />I told Dean I may not be able to let his guys go inside the house for use of the bathroom when I'm away from home. No problem. I don't like conduits running all over my roof. He said he'll have it go straight from my roof through my attic to my sub panel. No charge. Dean is obviously out to make a name for his company and distant himself from the big players in the Solar installer industry. <br /><br />Doug and Pat were awesome. They were friendly to my dogs and kept them from running outside the gate. The install was a little difficult taking them twice as long as normal because of the way my roof is structured. The roof was not even and the old roof structure was hidden under the new roof. Another thing that was discovered was that our city require the lug panel to match the rating of my sub panel. This was an unaccounted for cost. I did not want unexpected cost to add to the install. Dean made it right by charging me only for the cost of the panel and permit and he covered the labor. This is more than reasonable. Most other companies would have submitted a change order and rake me over the coal to pay up to finish the job. The fact that he did not ask me to cover the labor tells me that he is trying extra hard to make sure I am completely happy with the job they performed.<br /><br />From signing the contract to final permit sign off was a little over a week! That is unheard of speed. <br /><br />Tip: Make sure you switch over to E6 rates once solar is installed. During peak hours, instead of paying $0.28 a kwhr, you'd sell back to PGE at that rate. At night when rates are $0.10, you buy back from PGE. Each kwhr that your system produce in excess during peak will allow you to buy an equivalent of 2.8 kwhr off peak.