That’s awesome, glad everything worked out. Local can be great if your main goal is price, my only concern with local companies is like you said liquidity/solvency issues, newer or no track records, generally they’re companies that were roofers or electricians before trying to get into the solar industry as they see $ signs. Otherwise, sometimes locals can be a decent route to go.
Sadly EnergySage is only averages and even then Energysage doesn’t have all the data, they do their best to put it together. I find when I check their averages compared to all the loans we had every financier pull, they’re usually within 0.15-0.20 cents of accuracy. I still use EnergySage to show customers for more comfort and because solar can be a bit convoluted at times.
It’s not as accurate as say going to Edmunds forums and requesting MF, incentives and what not. It’s a good start though
the BEST way to get a pricing idea for your area is to get a proposal and shop it around to the top competitors (like cars). Just like in car sales they will push the price down to make a deal, end of month is a great time to push sales through too . Solar has incentives from companies too, sometimes there will be a “we will cover your first 6-12 months” offer they hold on to for the tough buyers .
Yeah, I went through Energy Sage for actual quotes rather than just an estimate. My guy was an ex-foreman for a big national solar installer and is contracted by Enphase to do battery installs and array maintenance. He was very knowledgeable and I’m happy with the result and the price (just not the delay).
I did actually negotiate, I got him to come very close to the Tesla price but ended up getting an IQ7+ microinverter system while Tesla was not guaranteeing optimizers for the string array inverter install.
That’s awesome, makes me glad to hear those kind of stories cause sometimes they can go the opposite direction, at the end of the day if everything works and you’re happy with the service that’s ultimately what matters.
Solar right now is solar kind of a “perfect storm” situation going on with all the federal mandates, federal and state incentives, battery incentives from local utilities. Surprisingly solar has increased more from a price per watt standpoint, but has become more affordable and accessible; just not a luxury item anymore like it used to be.
Added 2 PDF’s the California Consumers protection guide and the SCE net metering PDF - for anyone curious how the process of net metering works with broken down explanations.
Net metering is generally the same theoretically, what varies is how much your utility company offers/pays per kWh generated.
Also when reading through the guide please remember all pricing when referring to PPW is gross and not net PPW. When you’re looking online they tend to do a lot of net totals after tax credit.
I’ve had several customers call me that were on the fence and waiting to hear back from Tesla, let’s just say they changed their minds rather quick .
Sadly Tesla vastly underestimated that each roof is so different; since Tesla has switched to this cookie cutter strategy with all solar (they no longer offer custom proposals either all solar systems only come in 4,8,12,16 kW I believe now too…).
This seems to be the theme song EVERYWHERE right now… they’re increasing prices by 20-60% (article claims 70%) these prices are insanity; almost triple mine lol. Everyone’s being quoted the equivalent of $1000/month Palisades lol
Also: this is a petition for CA solar and I know this is leasehackr but it can affect a lot, I’m not sure if some are aware but Newsom and his cronies at the utility companies are trying to remove net metering so future residents can’t have a chance to access to it. Why on earth they’re doing this I’m not sure it’s California, they like power grabs? If you’re a CA resident or not, worth 60 seconds of your time. They should be expanding the program not stripping it. Thanks for coming to my TED talk
Sad to hear that Tesla raised prices. I had a quote for a 6kW system late last year, haven’t repriced it. The only thing Tesla was the battery brick at $6K. Me thinks that the quote will have gone up, at least for the battery. Dang
Honestly battery prices have remained the same, for example we pay the same for a power wall that Tesla charges so it’s all relative. There’s a Powerwall+ that the specs just dropped for too that look interesting
I am pretty sure you can’t even get a 6kw system from Tesla anymore, which is a bummer they turned to this cookie cutter formula… if you need more or less than multiples of 4 you’re SOL now .
My coworker had a 6kW system installed after the 4/8/12 pricing. If you have a tweener situation, especially with the utility which won’t allow more than 100% generation then they’ll price you for a midpoint between the 4kW increments.
@cyak just wanted to say thank you very much for taking the time out to educate the LH community. I did not seriously consider going solar until I read (and re-read x5) your post, now I’m approaching it ferociously just like I would a lease hack.
So this has inadvertently turned into a lot of people looking for help with their Solar so I decided to make it more official.
With my promotion I control sales prices for most the regions so I will be offering “unicorn/hacker” worthy solar deals for anyone that would like (this has to be within reason please don’t reach out asking for me to move mountains I don’t have the time or patience lol). I’ll price it as low as I’m able to our redline for the market area; like most high volume companies I can get away with low pricing. With the 11,000+ installations Freedom Forever has done its earned them nationally ranked #6 in the US for residential solar contractor/installers.
I’ll be donating $250 to any charity of your choice too as a fun thank you for going with us if you’re from LH. I’ll also more than likely fly out for your installation day as I prefer to be pretty hands on. (Plus my gf and I love to travel and I can write it off as work barring any schedule conflicts).
So if you’re in one of the following states and would like a proposal/an easy utility switch and process with solar without the headache with an A+ BBB company…feel free to DM I’ve already begun to help some community members and admins. We will see what’s possible for your home :).
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Nevada
Delaware
South Carolina
Illinois
Idaho
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New Mexico
New Jersey
North Carolina
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Washington
Those Island
Texas
Utah
Wisconsin
Vermont
New rankings came out, we jumped up from 6th to 4th for residential.
It’s been a lot of fun meeting some amazing people from this website and helping them make the switch to solar, looking forward to helping others boost the value of their homes and eliminate that utility bill.
Not to make this a review thread, but just chiming in that Corbin came over a couple months ago to talk thru a solar quote. We are planning on getting panels later this year but just have a few projects in front of it. But Corbin’s been pretty transparent as far as pricing and knowledgeable talking thru panels and all the technical stuff.
Appreciate the kind words, I just remember my mother being in this spot 4+ years ago and it can be daunting so if it can help anyone that’s all that really matters.
In other news we have access to Tesla’s new 425 watt panels, could be beneficial for some peoples roofs but they’re somewhat bigger .
Just got back in town so I’ll get back to everyone’s DMs
Pretty proud of this, we’ve been working on this partnership for quite some time, it’s cool to finally see it come to fruition.
Just rolled out officially 9/9/21 in Southern California, Southern Nevada, and all of Arizona; coming to all 23 states soon (I believe we will be rolling it out in zones gradually over the US).
Haven’t seen any company offer such a massive package at no additional cost to the customer, 3 year service and a full Vivint home security package included with their solar.
. Solar has incentives from companies too, sometimes there will be a “we will cover your first 6-12 months” offer they hold on to for the tough buyers 
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If you’re a CA resident or not, worth 60 seconds of your time. They should be expanding the program not stripping it. Thanks for coming to my TED talk
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barring any schedule conflicts).
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sending you a dm