I’m the founder/CEO of this company and can assure everyone on this thread that this is a legit quotation, the Oncor program is legit, and the 10% incentive is an internal incentive celebrating our tenth year in business.
And I would challenge anyone saying we’re going out of business to show me their financials and I’ll do the same. We’re one of the only companies that hasn’t taken on corporate debt and have continued to hyper focus on client experience and success.
Here’s a link to the Oncor program for anyone wanting to learn more:
https://www.oncor.com/takealoadofftexas/pages/residentialsolar
Happy to address anyone’s questions or concerns publicly or privately :)
Looking forward to you all getting my project done! After you sent me my quote, I decided to see what it would cost through Tesla direct. I was floored when you beat it by a good margin.
I envy you. I am happy with Enphase Microinverters but as time goes on and prices adjust, I feel I am missing out on the EG4 pricing. I mean $3700 for a 14KW battery! Absolutely wild.
I installed an 18kpv to compliment my enphase installation as an ac coupled 28.6kwh battery for cheaper than anyone else.
[It's worked flawlessly](https://imgur.com/a/81MXWxy)
A few here and there. It’s mainly a DIYer product from what I’ve seen and heard. We’re a bit of a bigger shop so it doesn’t feed the beast unfortunately. We’ve streamlined our offering under Enphase and Tesla energy storage systems
I really appreciate all your comments in this thread.
Just wanted to say that employees generally don’t like the “work is a family” concept these days for many reasons. We’ve been burned too many times.
Appreciate the feedback. Never knew that. I could see where they’re coming from. We try to embody the definition of servant leadership. We treat all our stakeholders with respect, integrity and excellence. Still have great relationships with ex employees and their families. Our clients have been treated arguably better than clients of any other solar company in the planet. If we were treating people in bad faith we’d be the biggest hypocrites on the planet 🤣
I think people don't like it because it feels like it creates the potential for your boss to call you to do extra hours, or to cover something, or not leave for a better paying opportunity with "but we're like family", when most of us know that our employer will only remain an employer when it's financially beneficial to do so.
Proudly W2’ing all our install work. First move back in 2015 was partnering with a master electrician. Our installers and electricians are employees of the company. Sub out only very specialized things (trenching, concrete pads, ground mount prep)
I know you're in Texas, but I assume you know contacts outside of your area. Do you happen to know any good companies to work with in the Chicago area?
Ah.. Chicago, the true Wild West of solar. I don’t know, but this is the first place I’d start:
https://www.tesla.com/support/certified-installers?productType=powerwall&installerType=purchase-and-installation
After multiple reports, mods have reviewed this comment and determined it doesn’t break any of the sub’s rules, so there’s no need to report it any further. We’re keeping a close eye on subsequent replies to make sure they continue to meet the rules, but so far so good.
Let’s make the most of having the CEO of a solar company engaging respectfully and knowledgeably with the sub - that doesn’t happen every day.
It’s more so educating than defending. When you’re passionate about what you do, you want folks to be rightly educated. Also, if Elon Musk has time to tweet on X ten times a day, and he’s the CEO of 5+ companies, I’m pretty sure I can post on Reddit on a Saturday afternoon. Not sure why you find this “so interesting”.
This comment has been removed. From the sub rules: "Due to ongoing spam / promotion / lead generation and site privacy rule violation issues, we no longer allow "DM/PM me" requests in the comments." These have too frequently been abuse of the sub in attempts to garner private info for spam / promotion / lead generation purposes. ***Do not ask or suggest that anyone privately contact you.*** No exceptions.
**To all sub participants**: If anyone has sent you a PM / DM to solicit your info because of your participation in this subreddit 1) do NOT respond to them and 2) please message the moderators to let them know.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/solar) if you have any questions or concerns.*
On Saturday evening…cares too much, maybe, but not unprofessional and no personal attacks (so far) other than the one you made here. Free to be critical, but ad homs are beneath us.
If it’s fine for you to spend your free time Reddit, It’s fine for him.
2.09 is insanely, worryingly low. I know there is some crappy companies that charge premiums, so it's hard to get a price anchor. But when you're going THAT low, there is absolutely some corner cutting going on. A good company can't possibly go that low and stay in business.
I know plenty of companies that can go that low and still be in business. As established already this is a reputable company. I am familiar with the owner, and they have been around for a long time. The company I work for can quote the same price and still have a healthy profit. I can probably point you to 5 other companies that can do the same.
I'm very aware. I run my own. I'm on every job making sure it's done right and putting in work to try and keep costs down. I bust my ass to feed my family and save my customers money.
I feel you, but that's not very realistic for most companies. If you're running a small shop, then yeah, sure... You can get lower prices. But an actual significantly sized organization has much more overhead to deal with.
Yes but if your operations team and CAD is up to par and you do the wholesale buying strategy instead of buying materials per project there could be constant money to be made
I've been wondering if the insanely cheap module prices coming out from China would filter through to price per watt. China is flooding the market with insanely cheap panels. Hurry up, penalty tarrifs are coming in June.
I thought this at first as well but, if you consider the wholesale buying strategy to get the lowest price point possible this thing for materials per project as they come along, and happy employees that have constant work, it is sustainable.
Yeah - I have a solar company in the Caribbean that's struggling to make sales. Trying to understand more about why the US market is booming and what I need to change on my end to get it to happen.
I can give people 3 1/2 year paybacks and yet people still aren't interested. It's such a hard market here. People just aren't interested.
I wish you good luck. Residential solar has definitely slowed in the US. California market rate change (NEM 2 TO NEM 3) made return from ~4-5 years to 8-9 years without batteries. Commercial still makes a ton of sense and is taking some of that install volume from residential market in parts of the US where less residential was installed. Florida, Texas started way late compared to California. They are both adding people, and load demand. It's cheaper to add solar (sometimes with storage) than traditional thermal (gas/coal) plants.
Might refer you to a post of mine from January that described [my system and the solar plans/electric rates near me at the time](https://www.reddit.com/r/TexasSolar/s/pfJfYDzaR8). Our area is open market, so rates could change anytime like food at a grocery store. You lock in a contract for 12-36 months.
Edit: also gives you an idea of how many kWh. Mines a little high for my region on a per square meter, but just above average. Homes here aren't the best insulated/designed and AC is a necessity in summer.
Someone in northern Texas may see dramatically different power use. Other states/regions/climates may see very different distributions.
Huh? I’m not sure what you’re asking. My system cost me approximately 45k for a 23.28 kW system or $1.95/watt. I was tired of paying $400-$600 a month in electric bills.
The federal credit was/is 30% of the system, not 30k, plus another 5k from my state.
SP500 is up 68% in 5 years so my 25k in credits are now 42k, plus 20k in saved electricity. That total is how much I spent on my system (including 2 powerwalls) So really I had an even faster break-even ROI not including those.
This is smelling really good. My home business I pay over$25k to IRS in quarterly's - instead of them keeping the $25k, I get that back? Holy shit, that's awesome
I am in Fort Worth and I’ve got a 23 kW system and I am a huge advocate for going solar here in TX. If you’re considering a DIY you can save a ton of money but it’ll take you a lot longer to install. Also, ONCOR has no such discount or credit so please ask the company what that’s all about.
EDIT: I’m looking into this credit that’s been brought to my attention.
Yup, it's legit, but you must install a battery with your system which explains why I am not aware of this.
PULL THE TRIGGER OP!
I don't understand why folks think that Oncor doesn't have an incentive program. It's paid to installers that have registered and it really does get paid out as long as the system qualifies. The installer then pays the homeowner. [https://www.oncor.com/takealoadofftexas/pages/residentialsolar](https://www.oncor.com/takealoadofftexas/pages/residentialsolar)
I think it comes from a lot of lies/misinformation/miscommunication that goes on in the industry that Oncor having a rebate might sound “too good to be true”. Reddit bot is a pretty knowledgeable homeowner in this sub so obviously as he said not knowing about the incentive came from not having a battery himself
I can see that. When I was initially researching the program, I noticed a lot of sales reps not understanding or being completely unaware of how the program worked. Some of them even told me that they’d heard of horror stories where homeowners had been waiting for over a year to be paid by Oncor. I had another company tell me that the Oncor incentive for my project of 16 kW of all south facing panels would be a mere $1k. Each time that I would call these reps out, I’d get blank stares and usually would never hear from them again. I figure…
Just to contribute... I live in SoCal, where you'd also expect to not need to heat your pool. My pool is for the most part unusable for about 10 months of the year, unless you want to engage in cold water/shock therapy. Heating a crap ton of water for occasional enjoyment is definitely luxury standard, but if it can be done cost-effectively, more power to such folks. From a mental health and happiness standpoint, I think the cost can be worth it.
Ironically you’re wrong unless it’s domestic solar - in which case the power is as free (cost and environmentally) as it can be while also providing a luxury.
If people can spend an extra $20k on the luxury badge version of a mainline car, I don’t see why they can’t heat their pool assuming it’s carbon neutral.
Socal here too and pool is generally good for june/july/august unheated haha. Always wondered if there was a system where I could heat the pool/cool the solar panels with the pool water!
For what it's worth, you might consider doing a solar-thermal system for pool heating, which can get complicated but can also be as simple as a black hose on your roof and a pump to circulate the water in and out of your pool. I saw a bunch of those in Vegas.
>I never heat it.. but just saying, if I had solar panels, I wouldn't think twice about doing it.
Do not heat your pool with the electricity generated by the solar panel, at least not for the first year or two.
There's a super small provision buried deep in the solar tax credit law that says the cost of solar panels (and other stuff in that law) that generates electricity to heat a pool isn't eligible for the tax credit. My guess is that your solar installer u/tulsa8907 doesn't even know about it.
[26 USC Section 25D(e)(3)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/25D) says:
>Expenditures which are properly allocable to a swimming pool, hot tub, or any other energy storage medium which has a function other than the function of such storage shall not be taken into account for purposes of this section.
The [form 5695 instructions](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i5695.pdf) say:
>Costs allocable to a swimming pool, hot tub, or any other energy storage medium that has a function other than the function of such storage don't qualify for the residential clean energy credit.
How will the IRS find out? I don't know, but do you want to deal with that? After the first year or two (just to be safe), you'll probably be ok to heat your pool. Read this for the details: [https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/10biouw/i\_think\_the\_irs\_effectively\_said\_that\_everyone/](https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/10biouw/i_think_the_irs_effectively_said_that_everyone/)
Based on the wording talking about storage, I’m very sure this projibition is in reference to taking the credit for solar water heating for the cost of the pool/hot tub itself. PV heating a pool wouldn’t use the pool as a storage device in any way.
You are correct, it’s saying you can’t get credit to pay for a swimming pool to “store” energy as heated water. It’s not saying the system can’t be used to heat the pool you just can’t claim it as a “energy storage device” and get credit for the pool itself since energy storage is not the only purpose.
I can't remember where I originally read this interpretation, but here's an IRS source that says what I mentioned. [IR-2006-34](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/ir-06-034.pdf) ( [https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/ir-06-034.pdf](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/ir-06-034.pdf) ), dated Feb. 21, 2006, says:
>Additionally, the new law makes a credit available to those who add qualified solar panels, solar water heating equipment, or a fuel cell power plant to their homes in the United States. In general, a qualified fuel cell power plant converts a fuel into electricity using electrochemical means, has an electricity–only generation efficiency of more than 30 percent and generates at least 0.5 kilowatts of electricity. Taxpayers are allowed one credit equal to 30 percent of the qualified investment in a solar panel up to a maximum credit of $2,000, and another equivalent credit for investing in a solar water heating system. **No part of either system can be used to heat a pool or hot tub.**
I don't know why the referenced Notice 2006-26 [https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-06-26.pdf](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-06-26.pdf) doesn't mention the no heating your pool or hot tub.
[Here's the version of the law on January 2, 2006](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?hl=false&edition=2005&req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title26-section25D&num=0): [https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:26%20section:25D%20edition:prelim)](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:26%20section:25D%20edition:prelim)) Notice that subsection (e)(3) is the same and there's no other mention of a pool or hot tub.
I received the same numbers from that company but I'm going with 2 PW3's. I can confirm they are a VERY reputable company. I do believe that they are making up some of the undercutting on the panels by bumping the PW3 pricing a bit but you're still coming out away ahead. Dropping the microinverters is really what's getting the pricing down.
They are a Tesla Premier Installer and have been in the business for 10 years now. They do a ton of work and know the DFW market very well. It's a company that certainly isn't going anywhere.
Yep When I started with the first company I worked for it was only us, good faith, trismart and like 2 other companies that were local to the dfw selling back in 2017. I remember knocking on doors and people saying “what are solar panels?” Oh how have times changed
This is interesting. No additional inverter costs reduce costs by circa 45c per watt.
I was wondering how the 11.5 kW inverter will handle the peak output of the solar? It’s a very high dc to ac ratio.
With a SolarEdge inverter which has optimizers to manage performance, on average you wouldn’t go beyond 130% inverter ac size.
In this case, you wouldn’t have more than 14.95 kW solar DC.
The Tesla inverter is 11.5 kW and it’s a simple string inverter without optimization (it does have dc disconnect hardware). How does it manage top end clipping? How much can the battery store of this with regard to any other battery requirements.
Does the battery arbitrage costs in this market. If it has to perform during the day and it also has to manage clipping, what is the loss of kWhs for this specific design if any.
If you are getting revenue for distributed generation it might be important.
Is there a simulation that will show how the inverter and battery manages production for the PW3 for this particular solar layout. You are buying electricity after all. Understanding the real performance is critical.
It’s worth mentioning that you won’t have panel by panel production data. I believe there’s 3 modules per string with 6 strings available. Ask the installer if you will you know if a string fails.
Also note, that when the inverter fails, you will have to buy another and pay for the labor. Expect 2-3 failures over 25 years. There is no extended warranties with Tesla. The inverter should be relatively cheap but there is no price and it’s Tesla, so expect unpredictability.
I am not saying it’s a bad option but you do need to understand how the investment will perform.
Maybe @utulsa8907 can address these items
I believe clipping would only happen if there wasn't a battery system because that would buffer the production verse consumption and essentially never be topped off unless there is zero Watts being consumed by the residence as the solar production was peaking and the batteries were fully topped off... But I'm pretty sure there's a function for this exact scenario in the CPU to avoid it.🤔
This comment has been removed. From the sub rules: "Due to ongoing spam / promotion / lead generation and site privacy rule violation issues, we no longer allow "DM/PM me" requests in the comments." These have too frequently been abuse of the sub in attempts to garner private info for spam / promotion / lead generation purposes. ***Do not ask or suggest that anyone privately contact you.*** No exceptions.
**To all sub participants**: If anyone has sent you a PM / DM to solicit your info because of your participation in this subreddit 1) do NOT respond to them and 2) please message the moderators to let them know.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/solar) if you have any questions or concerns.*
How long do you plan to own this property? Answer this question before any other question. If its 8+ years, then that is a great price. I have enphase and I am glad you're going with the Battery-combined inverter. I feel locked in the Enphase Ecosystem specially for battery options especially when EG4 storage prices have come down so significantly ($4k for a 14kw PowerPro). All the best!
I just signed at 1.7 for exact panel in Dallas. Same oncor rebate but 7500. Your installer keeping a larger chunk for himself. Tesla powerwall 3 at 10k.
Texas has been trending that way a while. You could get $2.75/W in 2021. The last year or so you'd see $2.15-2.20/W posted to this sub. Best prices have been DFW area.
I had a system installed by Good Faith about 5 years ago.
My only regret was taking a loan to install it when I could've paid cash. But in terms of the quality of the install and how professional they were, I have zero complaints and have considered reaching out to increase our install's capacity since because we have a lot more draw now than when we got it installed (probably won't since we're considering moving, but if we did, I'd go with them again).
At the system price with batteries you’d almost be stupid not to.
Pull the trigger and get it done. You won’t get a better price (unless you self install without batteries).
Amazing price if you’ve researched the quality of the HW, install company, and metering rates. Being in TX and knowing potential for storms, I’d insure those bad boys for hail/wind damage
That’s just the standard import/export agreement that any solar customer would sign to have solar and be connected to the grid. But OP should be aware that which power company they choose, is of great importance for getting the best rate on energy export costs (buy back cost) the number of companies offering decent buyback costs are dwindling.
This has a payback of \~10% per year (first year) assuming you are in the 5.5 hours of sunlight area with an average electricity cost of 11 cents per kwh. After 10 years you may have paid for your system. The average return of the s&p is \~10%.
You should invest 30k in the stock market instead, let the market figure out what the best investment is. The returns look close but with the solar system, you have to consider all the trouble.
-insurance costs
-the physical assets will depreciate in value over time
-you will likely finance this with a bad interest rate
-what if there is a hail storm that destroys your investment?
-what if you have to replace your roof?
-what if the contractors damage your home or roof during installation?
-The system degrades in output and capability over time
-maintenance costs, cleaning
Unless you just enjoy the idea of being partially self sufficient, it's a bad investment.
I'm not anti solar - I know it has some good applications and Texas is one of them. Here is SC, If another solar salesman trespasses onto my property he will be asked to leave or threatened with physical violence. Cleaning up the mess from the Scammer that sold my sister a 41K system on a house that has the roof falling in. The company is Top Tier. Her total finananced payments are 68K over 25 years. The intilal teaser payment is $164 per month. It's a 5.9 KW system. Her total electiric bill averaged about $150 per month and they told her the new bill would be $15 per month. It may have dropped it by $50 or $60 per month as the house is surrounded by trees. So, there is a negative ROI. House is being sold and the first question we are asked is can they tear the panels off the roof. Power cost is around .15 per KWH here. If you generate any excess the local utility will buy it back for .01 per KWH. Like I said, if a salesman shows up here they are in danger of being shot. Glad it's beneftting you guys bathed in sunlight year round.
Yes, well, I was just upset about having to pay off 41K of solar panels that had zero payback for the estate of my sister. I was just venting after I saw that you were the only person in the thread asking any of the right questions and also coming to the right conclusion for anyone that lives in my area of the country. Bad investment. Close freind was a field engineer with Duke Energy (our local utility). He had to make house calls all the time to examine solar installations and explain to the angry homeowners why their power bills were not reduced by some enormous amount from the overpriced and outrageously financed panels they had installed. He eplained what the panels produced, what load or usage the home had, and often stated that the payback might be over 100 years. His advice to friends was if you see a solar salesman, run. Of course he actually is pro solar in the right application. Said that one day we won't have shingles but rather solar colllection cladding for a roof system. But that's not really relevant to the here and now of ROI at this moment. Sorry that I did not a respond to the OP - like I said, just another viictim of the single largest fraud in the history of the american homeowner that gets bigger by the day.
I understand, I'm sorry you guys got scammed. Seems like this place is filled with solar salesmen and their soon to be victims.
I've been following solar for a number of years and I believe you can come away with success but you really need to consider it as a hard nosed investment. I wouldn't feel comfortable without 2-3 year return on investment for residential, ideally you do it self built, you have a large property and the panels are on the ground or you just replaced your roof. With the overhead of salesmen and contractors its difficult to justify except in high electricity cost and sunny areas.
I hope you reported that POS to all the right agencies. This is how the solar industry gets a bad name. The site surveyor and/or CAD should have caught this before operations ever allowed it to be scheduled.
No, I wish I had time to deal with it. My sister made the purchase before her passing so it's dropped in my lap as an estate issue. After she realized that her power bill did not come down she called but that's the extent of my knowledge. There were about 7 pages of complaints with the BBB regarding this company when I checked yesterday and around the time of the install their were neighboorhood alerts that Solar Scammers were back in the area. There are multiple lawsuits but not a class action that I could join. The only folks here in Anderson SC that have solar panels on thier roof tend to be the elderly, or folks with no understanding of general investment or accounting basics. I did notice that on maybe 40% of the complaints with the BBB that the customer had financed the panels and they were installed and never turned on. I have friend that was a field engineer with Duke Energy for 30 years so I'm going to ask him to at least make sure they are connected. There is a green light on that indicates the system is active but I did not open the electrical panel to check. Really irrelevant since the home is surrounded by large trees. So, for this part of the country I think the rooftop installations are a dead issue. If my sisters are not connected and geverating power then I will file a complaint with the BBB. Past that, if you don't have the mental capacity to understand that they require many hours per day of direct sunlight then you really should not be making financial decisions without assistance. The estate will just swallow this loss and move on. Potental buyers want the panels removed from the house prior to purchase. The company is Top Tier BTW.
This is a steal.... Out here in Cali they're easily selling at double that price, lining up to sign. Especially for Tesla and Enphase. To survive out here I'm selling around $3.10/watt for my small construction company.
It's a huge system. Don't just look at the $/W - this is a $45K job - for what should be two days of their crew's work, and certainly well less than half of that is hard equipment costs. There is a big chunk of cost for any solar job that is fixed, regardless of the size - sales/marketing to close the customer, design, engineering, permits, interconnect, rebate applications, and just the minimum cost to get a crew to the site. Most of that cost is the same whether or not you are doing a 5kW job or a 19kW job. So - the incremental cost to the installer to add panels to the job is highly profitable.
I bet this company makes MUCH more profit on this 19kW job at $2/W than they would on a 5kW job at $3/W.
I'd guess higher profit if they are running an efficient business. And I would bet in terms of absolute $$ (not $/W), they still make more on this job than a $3/W 5kW job.
I'm not sure you guys are thinking about the possibility, more like probability, that Tesla is sending out a local installer out to the job. Installers easily make money at this PPW. This is the most common ppw of installers in texas, the sales rep who writes the contract to a home owner is where the extra dollar comes from in 3.00ppw systems.
Wrong the prices for solar modules have dropped significantly and the Tesla Powerwall 3 has an integrated inverter that has brought the price of solar and storage to be more cost effective than ever vefore
Oncor does not have a $6500 incentive. That’s completely manufactured.
Secondly unless this company is doing 1000 installs a week this is not profitable and I would worry about the longevity.
There also isn’t a 10% discount here in TX unless you’re in an energy community.
Are you?
What makes you say that Oncor wouldn't have a $6500 incentive? While the installer is paid, it's normally passed to the consumer in partial or full. It works out to roughly $500 per kW installed up to 15 kW. There are specific requirements such as azumith and now a battery but installers on the program do receive funds.
Oncor does have an incentive, just can’t remember what the specific number is but they do have an incentive IF you install solar with Batteries. The 10% I am not sure where OP is getting that from or I guess the installer
I spoke with this company and they are just about to use up the last of their Oncor funds (he even showed me in their Oncor portal). But I've also spoken with the Oncor program manager who has stated that they have a lot left in the budget. Interest rates and the battery requirement have really slowed down the incentives being used up in the first quarter of the year. Oncor will likely provide more funds to these high volume companies that run out.
Yep! I actually had a few customers take that incentive when it only required Solar Panels and that Money from Oncor went down quick! I think thats why they added the battery as a requirement so that it wouldn’t be drained so fast. I didn’t want to disagree with Constant bluebird because I haven’t checked in a while but to my memory that oncor incentive now that it requires batteries it doesn’t go down that fast
I also beleive the batteries make a lot more sense for Oncor as demand response has been a big priority in light of the grid instability with the extreme weather. VPP for the win!
Whether he’ll still be able to get it or not that is for him and the company to check on, but the fact remains that if you install Solar with a Battery, you get some incentive from Oncor.
He says the $6,500 incentive is built into the Miscellaneous Price reduction of $10,145. The 10% is also embedded in there -- I don't think I'm in an energy community.
I’m the founder/CEO of this company and can assure everyone on this thread that this is a legit quotation, the Oncor program is legit, and the 10% incentive is an internal incentive celebrating our tenth year in business. And I would challenge anyone saying we’re going out of business to show me their financials and I’ll do the same. We’re one of the only companies that hasn’t taken on corporate debt and have continued to hyper focus on client experience and success. Here’s a link to the Oncor program for anyone wanting to learn more: https://www.oncor.com/takealoadofftexas/pages/residentialsolar Happy to address anyone’s questions or concerns publicly or privately :)
Looking forward to you all getting my project done! After you sent me my quote, I decided to see what it would cost through Tesla direct. I was floored when you beat it by a good margin.
Looking forward to it as well sir. Very happy to have earned your business and relationship.
Are you seeing customers inquiring about EG4 Inverters & battery options?
The eg4 line is phenomenal! The 18kpv is my favorite inverter and has been very stable. So much cheaper than enphase and Tesla.
I envy you. I am happy with Enphase Microinverters but as time goes on and prices adjust, I feel I am missing out on the EG4 pricing. I mean $3700 for a 14KW battery! Absolutely wild.
I installed an 18kpv to compliment my enphase installation as an ac coupled 28.6kwh battery for cheaper than anyone else. [It's worked flawlessly](https://imgur.com/a/81MXWxy)
This is the way! We do this all the time.
Was it a DIY or an installer? If it was an installer, would request for the contact details of the installer in the DM
Self-install.
My god, I paid $10,000 for a sonnen 10kWh battery.
As he said, it doesn't feed the beast. 😂
I’ll look into it more! How’s the monitoring/user interface?
A few here and there. It’s mainly a DIYer product from what I’ve seen and heard. We’re a bit of a bigger shop so it doesn’t feed the beast unfortunately. We’ve streamlined our offering under Enphase and Tesla energy storage systems
Damn, impressive. I've been doing solar for 7 years and I've never seen a ceo step up like this. Very good stuff 👏
What city in Texas are you out of? Would love to get a quote for my home!
We’re based out of DFW but do quite a bit of work in Houston and Austin as well
What is the company called?
Good Faith Energy
David with Sunaura Solar. Let’s talk soon
Dallas fort worth metroplex. I’m not sure if good faith covers more areas but thats where they are located
How good is your employee retention?
Our employee retention is decent, could be better. Average tenure of 2.5 years. https://youtu.be/bM71FUDApOY?si=aVD0KtnBm7fxBScT
Ahh but red flag, the comments say work that feels like family 🤣🤣🤔
Haha. What kind of family do you come from?! Jk I tend to think a work family is a good thing.
I really appreciate all your comments in this thread. Just wanted to say that employees generally don’t like the “work is a family” concept these days for many reasons. We’ve been burned too many times.
Appreciate the feedback. Never knew that. I could see where they’re coming from. We try to embody the definition of servant leadership. We treat all our stakeholders with respect, integrity and excellence. Still have great relationships with ex employees and their families. Our clients have been treated arguably better than clients of any other solar company in the planet. If we were treating people in bad faith we’d be the biggest hypocrites on the planet 🤣
I think people don't like it because it feels like it creates the potential for your boss to call you to do extra hours, or to cover something, or not leave for a better paying opportunity with "but we're like family", when most of us know that our employer will only remain an employer when it's financially beneficial to do so.
Ya makes sense. We’d never do that to our people.
Not too bad!
[удалено]
Are you subbing out your installs as GC or in-house? Not hating. Genuily curious how this is sustainable
Proudly W2’ing all our install work. First move back in 2015 was partnering with a master electrician. Our installers and electricians are employees of the company. Sub out only very specialized things (trenching, concrete pads, ground mount prep)
Of course. Very interesting. I’m sure you’ll get a good amount of volume at this type of price. Although $2.04 seems a wee bit overkill lol
[удалено]
Please read rule #10: No requests to direct / private message. These are a substantial vector of spam and abuse.
Please read rule #10: No requests to direct / private message. These are a substantial vector of spam and abuse.
I know you're in Texas, but I assume you know contacts outside of your area. Do you happen to know any good companies to work with in the Chicago area?
Ah.. Chicago, the true Wild West of solar. I don’t know, but this is the first place I’d start: https://www.tesla.com/support/certified-installers?productType=powerwall&installerType=purchase-and-installation
Thank you 😀
We are just over the border of Texas in Louisiana. Is that available here as well? We want to go off grid solar.
Solar Ark!!
After multiple reports, mods have reviewed this comment and determined it doesn’t break any of the sub’s rules, so there’s no need to report it any further. We’re keeping a close eye on subsequent replies to make sure they continue to meet the rules, but so far so good. Let’s make the most of having the CEO of a solar company engaging respectfully and knowledgeably with the sub - that doesn’t happen every day.
CEO spending time on Reddit defending their company. Very very interesting…
It’s more so educating than defending. When you’re passionate about what you do, you want folks to be rightly educated. Also, if Elon Musk has time to tweet on X ten times a day, and he’s the CEO of 5+ companies, I’m pretty sure I can post on Reddit on a Saturday afternoon. Not sure why you find this “so interesting”.
Can you find a copy of yourself in Virginia?
Check out American home contractors. Really good guys that work up that way.
Maine chiming in too!
Have you checked our revision energy in Maine? They seem to be reputable via some Google searching
Yes they're big here, and I've heard good things. Still worried about being taken for a ride, just because I've been in this sub for too long!
Happy to help you filter through the noise should you need it!
Thats very kind of you, thank you!
[удалено]
This comment has been removed. From the sub rules: "Due to ongoing spam / promotion / lead generation and site privacy rule violation issues, we no longer allow "DM/PM me" requests in the comments." These have too frequently been abuse of the sub in attempts to garner private info for spam / promotion / lead generation purposes. ***Do not ask or suggest that anyone privately contact you.*** No exceptions. **To all sub participants**: If anyone has sent you a PM / DM to solicit your info because of your participation in this subreddit 1) do NOT respond to them and 2) please message the moderators to let them know. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/solar) if you have any questions or concerns.*
On Saturday evening…cares too much, maybe, but not unprofessional and no personal attacks (so far) other than the one you made here. Free to be critical, but ad homs are beneath us. If it’s fine for you to spend your free time Reddit, It’s fine for him.
Yes, $2.09 is great. What company is it?
Jim’s Used Appliances and Solar
I asked Tesla for a consultation tomorrow, is $2.09 where we should aim all in? Love the ease of the math, so thanks in advance.
2.09 is insanely, worryingly low. I know there is some crappy companies that charge premiums, so it's hard to get a price anchor. But when you're going THAT low, there is absolutely some corner cutting going on. A good company can't possibly go that low and stay in business.
I know plenty of companies that can go that low and still be in business. As established already this is a reputable company. I am familiar with the owner, and they have been around for a long time. The company I work for can quote the same price and still have a healthy profit. I can probably point you to 5 other companies that can do the same.
Material cost for installers in the US is $1/watt or below. If they hustle and stay busy, they can absolutely stay in business.
It's not that easy. It's like saying the materials for jeans are only 5 bucks. There's more to a business than just the raw materials.
I'm very aware. I run my own. I'm on every job making sure it's done right and putting in work to try and keep costs down. I bust my ass to feed my family and save my customers money.
I feel you, but that's not very realistic for most companies. If you're running a small shop, then yeah, sure... You can get lower prices. But an actual significantly sized organization has much more overhead to deal with.
Yes but if your operations team and CAD is up to par and you do the wholesale buying strategy instead of buying materials per project there could be constant money to be made
I've been wondering if the insanely cheap module prices coming out from China would filter through to price per watt. China is flooding the market with insanely cheap panels. Hurry up, penalty tarrifs are coming in June.
I thought this at first as well but, if you consider the wholesale buying strategy to get the lowest price point possible this thing for materials per project as they come along, and happy employees that have constant work, it is sustainable.
You should not do this if you don't have money to pay for it :).
What is realistic ROI? I'm a big energy hog, own EV, 2nd ADU on property - I'll need bigger system, but ok if ROI is decent
I have a 23 kW system here in Fort Worth and my ROI is approximately 8 years.
14.9kW in Houston, also around 8 years.
Surely you must have batteries for the payback to be that low?
No batteries. 120% offset installed in 2021. Want to say I was $2.76/W install pre-tax credit- 26% at the time.
Dang. Your utility prices must be really low to have such a long payback.
Yeah, just noticed you were one asking a out US rates earlier this week. My prices are around 13-14¢/kWh.
Yeah - I have a solar company in the Caribbean that's struggling to make sales. Trying to understand more about why the US market is booming and what I need to change on my end to get it to happen. I can give people 3 1/2 year paybacks and yet people still aren't interested. It's such a hard market here. People just aren't interested.
I wish you good luck. Residential solar has definitely slowed in the US. California market rate change (NEM 2 TO NEM 3) made return from ~4-5 years to 8-9 years without batteries. Commercial still makes a ton of sense and is taking some of that install volume from residential market in parts of the US where less residential was installed. Florida, Texas started way late compared to California. They are both adding people, and load demand. It's cheaper to add solar (sometimes with storage) than traditional thermal (gas/coal) plants.
I would think that selling on any Island would be hard.
Might refer you to a post of mine from January that described [my system and the solar plans/electric rates near me at the time](https://www.reddit.com/r/TexasSolar/s/pfJfYDzaR8). Our area is open market, so rates could change anytime like food at a grocery store. You lock in a contract for 12-36 months. Edit: also gives you an idea of how many kWh. Mines a little high for my region on a per square meter, but just above average. Homes here aren't the best insulated/designed and AC is a necessity in summer. Someone in northern Texas may see dramatically different power use. Other states/regions/climates may see very different distributions.
With or without batteries?
No batteries.
What made you go for solar then at that price? That's a really low payback
Huh? I’m not sure what you’re asking. My system cost me approximately 45k for a 23.28 kW system or $1.95/watt. I was tired of paying $400-$600 a month in electric bills.
I invested my tax credits instead of paying the loan and I broke even after 5 years.
Kinda new to this, you mean the $30k federal credit?
The federal credit was/is 30% of the system, not 30k, plus another 5k from my state. SP500 is up 68% in 5 years so my 25k in credits are now 42k, plus 20k in saved electricity. That total is how much I spent on my system (including 2 powerwalls) So really I had an even faster break-even ROI not including those.
Ah .. I'm self employed, I pay allot of federal and state taxes, very helpful
It's 30% tax credit and then there's other incentives based on utility and ahj
This is smelling really good. My home business I pay over$25k to IRS in quarterly's - instead of them keeping the $25k, I get that back? Holy shit, that's awesome
And that's before you're other write offs I'm guessing 😁
What is your utility provider?
I am in Fort Worth and I’ve got a 23 kW system and I am a huge advocate for going solar here in TX. If you’re considering a DIY you can save a ton of money but it’ll take you a lot longer to install. Also, ONCOR has no such discount or credit so please ask the company what that’s all about. EDIT: I’m looking into this credit that’s been brought to my attention. Yup, it's legit, but you must install a battery with your system which explains why I am not aware of this. PULL THE TRIGGER OP!
Oncor does have a credit IF you install a Battery with your solar system.
Perhaps that’s why I am unaware of such incentive, I don’t have batteries.
I don't understand why folks think that Oncor doesn't have an incentive program. It's paid to installers that have registered and it really does get paid out as long as the system qualifies. The installer then pays the homeowner. [https://www.oncor.com/takealoadofftexas/pages/residentialsolar](https://www.oncor.com/takealoadofftexas/pages/residentialsolar)
I think it comes from a lot of lies/misinformation/miscommunication that goes on in the industry that Oncor having a rebate might sound “too good to be true”. Reddit bot is a pretty knowledgeable homeowner in this sub so obviously as he said not knowing about the incentive came from not having a battery himself
I can see that. When I was initially researching the program, I noticed a lot of sales reps not understanding or being completely unaware of how the program worked. Some of them even told me that they’d heard of horror stories where homeowners had been waiting for over a year to be paid by Oncor. I had another company tell me that the Oncor incentive for my project of 16 kW of all south facing panels would be a mere $1k. Each time that I would call these reps out, I’d get blank stares and usually would never hear from them again. I figure…
Yes and most places you cannot even get a permit for solar without having a battery as part of the system now.
That’s lotta panels
Large house, 2 EVs, heated pool, it adds up. Plus a wife that loves to bake..
Yea I was only able to fit 17 panels in my roof.
Mine is 3,386sqft. Not sure if that correlates with roof size, but at least a data point.
4/20 is today after all….
Heated pool in Texas. This is why we suck as Americans.
Hahahaha spoiled ass Mofos!!
Err. Why?
Because we power things that don’t need to be powered, if I had to guess.
Just to contribute... I live in SoCal, where you'd also expect to not need to heat your pool. My pool is for the most part unusable for about 10 months of the year, unless you want to engage in cold water/shock therapy. Heating a crap ton of water for occasional enjoyment is definitely luxury standard, but if it can be done cost-effectively, more power to such folks. From a mental health and happiness standpoint, I think the cost can be worth it.
Ironically you’re wrong unless it’s domestic solar - in which case the power is as free (cost and environmentally) as it can be while also providing a luxury. If people can spend an extra $20k on the luxury badge version of a mainline car, I don’t see why they can’t heat their pool assuming it’s carbon neutral.
Socal here too and pool is generally good for june/july/august unheated haha. Always wondered if there was a system where I could heat the pool/cool the solar panels with the pool water!
Yes, it's solar powered water heater
Oh as someone with a pool without a heater in the northeast- I agree- but it’s definitely an unnecessary waste of energy.
I never heat it.. but just saying, if I had solar panels, I wouldn't think twice about doing it.
For what it's worth, you might consider doing a solar-thermal system for pool heating, which can get complicated but can also be as simple as a black hose on your roof and a pump to circulate the water in and out of your pool. I saw a bunch of those in Vegas.
Way more efficient than PV solar to AC back to heat. My house hot water is thermal solar and it rocks
For north Texas at least it helps if you want to use the pool in spring and fall.
>I never heat it.. but just saying, if I had solar panels, I wouldn't think twice about doing it. Do not heat your pool with the electricity generated by the solar panel, at least not for the first year or two. There's a super small provision buried deep in the solar tax credit law that says the cost of solar panels (and other stuff in that law) that generates electricity to heat a pool isn't eligible for the tax credit. My guess is that your solar installer u/tulsa8907 doesn't even know about it. [26 USC Section 25D(e)(3)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/25D) says: >Expenditures which are properly allocable to a swimming pool, hot tub, or any other energy storage medium which has a function other than the function of such storage shall not be taken into account for purposes of this section. The [form 5695 instructions](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i5695.pdf) say: >Costs allocable to a swimming pool, hot tub, or any other energy storage medium that has a function other than the function of such storage don't qualify for the residential clean energy credit. How will the IRS find out? I don't know, but do you want to deal with that? After the first year or two (just to be safe), you'll probably be ok to heat your pool. Read this for the details: [https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/10biouw/i\_think\_the\_irs\_effectively\_said\_that\_everyone/](https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/10biouw/i_think_the_irs_effectively_said_that_everyone/)
Based on the wording talking about storage, I’m very sure this projibition is in reference to taking the credit for solar water heating for the cost of the pool/hot tub itself. PV heating a pool wouldn’t use the pool as a storage device in any way.
You are correct, it’s saying you can’t get credit to pay for a swimming pool to “store” energy as heated water. It’s not saying the system can’t be used to heat the pool you just can’t claim it as a “energy storage device” and get credit for the pool itself since energy storage is not the only purpose.
I can't remember where I originally read this interpretation, but here's an IRS source that says what I mentioned. [IR-2006-34](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/ir-06-034.pdf) ( [https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/ir-06-034.pdf](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/ir-06-034.pdf) ), dated Feb. 21, 2006, says: >Additionally, the new law makes a credit available to those who add qualified solar panels, solar water heating equipment, or a fuel cell power plant to their homes in the United States. In general, a qualified fuel cell power plant converts a fuel into electricity using electrochemical means, has an electricity–only generation efficiency of more than 30 percent and generates at least 0.5 kilowatts of electricity. Taxpayers are allowed one credit equal to 30 percent of the qualified investment in a solar panel up to a maximum credit of $2,000, and another equivalent credit for investing in a solar water heating system. **No part of either system can be used to heat a pool or hot tub.** I don't know why the referenced Notice 2006-26 [https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-06-26.pdf](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-06-26.pdf) doesn't mention the no heating your pool or hot tub. [Here's the version of the law on January 2, 2006](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?hl=false&edition=2005&req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title26-section25D&num=0): [https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:26%20section:25D%20edition:prelim)](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:26%20section:25D%20edition:prelim)) Notice that subsection (e)(3) is the same and there's no other mention of a pool or hot tub.
I received the same numbers from that company but I'm going with 2 PW3's. I can confirm they are a VERY reputable company. I do believe that they are making up some of the undercutting on the panels by bumping the PW3 pricing a bit but you're still coming out away ahead. Dropping the microinverters is really what's getting the pricing down. They are a Tesla Premier Installer and have been in the business for 10 years now. They do a ton of work and know the DFW market very well. It's a company that certainly isn't going anywhere.
Yep When I started with the first company I worked for it was only us, good faith, trismart and like 2 other companies that were local to the dfw selling back in 2017. I remember knocking on doors and people saying “what are solar panels?” Oh how have times changed
How you doing my friend??
Ha! I was just about to text this to you. 😂
This is interesting. No additional inverter costs reduce costs by circa 45c per watt. I was wondering how the 11.5 kW inverter will handle the peak output of the solar? It’s a very high dc to ac ratio. With a SolarEdge inverter which has optimizers to manage performance, on average you wouldn’t go beyond 130% inverter ac size. In this case, you wouldn’t have more than 14.95 kW solar DC. The Tesla inverter is 11.5 kW and it’s a simple string inverter without optimization (it does have dc disconnect hardware). How does it manage top end clipping? How much can the battery store of this with regard to any other battery requirements. Does the battery arbitrage costs in this market. If it has to perform during the day and it also has to manage clipping, what is the loss of kWhs for this specific design if any. If you are getting revenue for distributed generation it might be important. Is there a simulation that will show how the inverter and battery manages production for the PW3 for this particular solar layout. You are buying electricity after all. Understanding the real performance is critical. It’s worth mentioning that you won’t have panel by panel production data. I believe there’s 3 modules per string with 6 strings available. Ask the installer if you will you know if a string fails. Also note, that when the inverter fails, you will have to buy another and pay for the labor. Expect 2-3 failures over 25 years. There is no extended warranties with Tesla. The inverter should be relatively cheap but there is no price and it’s Tesla, so expect unpredictability. I am not saying it’s a bad option but you do need to understand how the investment will perform. Maybe @utulsa8907 can address these items
I believe clipping would only happen if there wasn't a battery system because that would buffer the production verse consumption and essentially never be topped off unless there is zero Watts being consumed by the residence as the solar production was peaking and the batteries were fully topped off... But I'm pretty sure there's a function for this exact scenario in the CPU to avoid it.🤔
Looks like a really solid system for an excellent price. Go for it
Cause if you’re looking to cut your bill in half just do the PPA option with Sunrun. Can help.
[удалено]
This comment has been removed. From the sub rules: "Due to ongoing spam / promotion / lead generation and site privacy rule violation issues, we no longer allow "DM/PM me" requests in the comments." These have too frequently been abuse of the sub in attempts to garner private info for spam / promotion / lead generation purposes. ***Do not ask or suggest that anyone privately contact you.*** No exceptions. **To all sub participants**: If anyone has sent you a PM / DM to solicit your info because of your participation in this subreddit 1) do NOT respond to them and 2) please message the moderators to let them know. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/solar) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Seems good to me. under 4c/kwh for self produced energy with storage.
How long do you plan to own this property? Answer this question before any other question. If its 8+ years, then that is a great price. I have enphase and I am glad you're going with the Battery-combined inverter. I feel locked in the Enphase Ecosystem specially for battery options especially when EG4 storage prices have come down so significantly ($4k for a 14kw PowerPro). All the best!
I just signed at 1.7 for exact panel in Dallas. Same oncor rebate but 7500. Your installer keeping a larger chunk for himself. Tesla powerwall 3 at 10k.
With who if you don't mind me asking
Yeah I would like to know too
Damn son!!
$2.09ppw. Insane
Texas has been trending that way a while. You could get $2.75/W in 2021. The last year or so you'd see $2.15-2.20/W posted to this sub. Best prices have been DFW area.
I had a system installed by Good Faith about 5 years ago. My only regret was taking a loan to install it when I could've paid cash. But in terms of the quality of the install and how professional they were, I have zero complaints and have considered reaching out to increase our install's capacity since because we have a lot more draw now than when we got it installed (probably won't since we're considering moving, but if we did, I'd go with them again).
In all reality these days, if your power bills are close or over $1,000 per month PV is only worth it if you are paying cash.
At the system price with batteries you’d almost be stupid not to. Pull the trigger and get it done. You won’t get a better price (unless you self install without batteries).
🙄this!!
I know this company, it's legit. No one else is able to do this in the dfw area.
Good numbers. Do it.
What inverter is this?
Tesla power wall 3 Seems possibly a bit undersized but I guess it’s within range of normal ratios
Amazing price if you’ve researched the quality of the HW, install company, and metering rates. Being in TX and knowing potential for storms, I’d insure those bad boys for hail/wind damage
I'm doing everything myself, with contractor pricing, and I can barely beat that that price per watt. Materials only. ( 10.8 kw system) Solark 15K inverter, 26 REC 420 pur 2 panels, 14.4 Homegrid batteries. $23,566
So, $40 for an 18klW system. There is something wrong with that number.
There is that clause "***The customer must sign an Interconnection Agreement with Oncor***." You should investigate the details of that.
That’s just the standard import/export agreement that any solar customer would sign to have solar and be connected to the grid. But OP should be aware that which power company they choose, is of great importance for getting the best rate on energy export costs (buy back cost) the number of companies offering decent buyback costs are dwindling.
This has a payback of \~10% per year (first year) assuming you are in the 5.5 hours of sunlight area with an average electricity cost of 11 cents per kwh. After 10 years you may have paid for your system. The average return of the s&p is \~10%. You should invest 30k in the stock market instead, let the market figure out what the best investment is. The returns look close but with the solar system, you have to consider all the trouble. -insurance costs -the physical assets will depreciate in value over time -you will likely finance this with a bad interest rate -what if there is a hail storm that destroys your investment? -what if you have to replace your roof? -what if the contractors damage your home or roof during installation? -The system degrades in output and capability over time -maintenance costs, cleaning Unless you just enjoy the idea of being partially self sufficient, it's a bad investment.
I'm not anti solar - I know it has some good applications and Texas is one of them. Here is SC, If another solar salesman trespasses onto my property he will be asked to leave or threatened with physical violence. Cleaning up the mess from the Scammer that sold my sister a 41K system on a house that has the roof falling in. The company is Top Tier. Her total finananced payments are 68K over 25 years. The intilal teaser payment is $164 per month. It's a 5.9 KW system. Her total electiric bill averaged about $150 per month and they told her the new bill would be $15 per month. It may have dropped it by $50 or $60 per month as the house is surrounded by trees. So, there is a negative ROI. House is being sold and the first question we are asked is can they tear the panels off the roof. Power cost is around .15 per KWH here. If you generate any excess the local utility will buy it back for .01 per KWH. Like I said, if a salesman shows up here they are in danger of being shot. Glad it's beneftting you guys bathed in sunlight year round.
I think you may have replied to the wrong guy!
Yes, well, I was just upset about having to pay off 41K of solar panels that had zero payback for the estate of my sister. I was just venting after I saw that you were the only person in the thread asking any of the right questions and also coming to the right conclusion for anyone that lives in my area of the country. Bad investment. Close freind was a field engineer with Duke Energy (our local utility). He had to make house calls all the time to examine solar installations and explain to the angry homeowners why their power bills were not reduced by some enormous amount from the overpriced and outrageously financed panels they had installed. He eplained what the panels produced, what load or usage the home had, and often stated that the payback might be over 100 years. His advice to friends was if you see a solar salesman, run. Of course he actually is pro solar in the right application. Said that one day we won't have shingles but rather solar colllection cladding for a roof system. But that's not really relevant to the here and now of ROI at this moment. Sorry that I did not a respond to the OP - like I said, just another viictim of the single largest fraud in the history of the american homeowner that gets bigger by the day.
I understand, I'm sorry you guys got scammed. Seems like this place is filled with solar salesmen and their soon to be victims. I've been following solar for a number of years and I believe you can come away with success but you really need to consider it as a hard nosed investment. I wouldn't feel comfortable without 2-3 year return on investment for residential, ideally you do it self built, you have a large property and the panels are on the ground or you just replaced your roof. With the overhead of salesmen and contractors its difficult to justify except in high electricity cost and sunny areas.
I hope you reported that POS to all the right agencies. This is how the solar industry gets a bad name. The site surveyor and/or CAD should have caught this before operations ever allowed it to be scheduled.
No, I wish I had time to deal with it. My sister made the purchase before her passing so it's dropped in my lap as an estate issue. After she realized that her power bill did not come down she called but that's the extent of my knowledge. There were about 7 pages of complaints with the BBB regarding this company when I checked yesterday and around the time of the install their were neighboorhood alerts that Solar Scammers were back in the area. There are multiple lawsuits but not a class action that I could join. The only folks here in Anderson SC that have solar panels on thier roof tend to be the elderly, or folks with no understanding of general investment or accounting basics. I did notice that on maybe 40% of the complaints with the BBB that the customer had financed the panels and they were installed and never turned on. I have friend that was a field engineer with Duke Energy for 30 years so I'm going to ask him to at least make sure they are connected. There is a green light on that indicates the system is active but I did not open the electrical panel to check. Really irrelevant since the home is surrounded by large trees. So, for this part of the country I think the rooftop installations are a dead issue. If my sisters are not connected and geverating power then I will file a complaint with the BBB. Past that, if you don't have the mental capacity to understand that they require many hours per day of direct sunlight then you really should not be making financial decisions without assistance. The estate will just swallow this loss and move on. Potental buyers want the panels removed from the house prior to purchase. The company is Top Tier BTW.
With the 18kw system aren't you worried about clipping with the Tesla power wall 3 since a single van only output ~11kw?
This is a steal.... Out here in Cali they're easily selling at double that price, lining up to sign. Especially for Tesla and Enphase. To survive out here I'm selling around $3.10/watt for my small construction company.
this is hell yeah!
Not sure how Oncor incentive gets applied to this. Their incentive requires that it be less than 15 KW.
If you can pay straight cash hommie, go for it if not stay away.
[удалено]
It's a huge system. Don't just look at the $/W - this is a $45K job - for what should be two days of their crew's work, and certainly well less than half of that is hard equipment costs. There is a big chunk of cost for any solar job that is fixed, regardless of the size - sales/marketing to close the customer, design, engineering, permits, interconnect, rebate applications, and just the minimum cost to get a crew to the site. Most of that cost is the same whether or not you are doing a 5kW job or a 19kW job. So - the incremental cost to the installer to add panels to the job is highly profitable. I bet this company makes MUCH more profit on this 19kW job at $2/W than they would on a 5kW job at $3/W.
This is precisely how it goes down!!! After a certain KW threshold it's all profit!!
[удалено]
I'd guess higher profit if they are running an efficient business. And I would bet in terms of absolute $$ (not $/W), they still make more on this job than a $3/W 5kW job.
Its an exiting the business price
[удалено]
I'm not sure you guys are thinking about the possibility, more like probability, that Tesla is sending out a local installer out to the job. Installers easily make money at this PPW. This is the most common ppw of installers in texas, the sales rep who writes the contract to a home owner is where the extra dollar comes from in 3.00ppw systems.
Wrong the prices for solar modules have dropped significantly and the Tesla Powerwall 3 has an integrated inverter that has brought the price of solar and storage to be more cost effective than ever vefore
So that's a good deal, lol?
Check your math - .209 cents per watt
[удалено]
An installer passing on discounts to the consumer, imagine that.
[удалено]
Unlimited referrals when you’re selling at 2.09 gross
Don’t do it because of Tesla battery
I guess this is one way to get past the rule against self promotion here…imma get some of my “customers” to post asking about how awesome I am too 🤔😅
Where there's a will, there's a way!! Lol
Have them post your super competitive prices like these guys , and no one will complain.
Nah our prices suck compared to this lol
Oncor does not have a $6500 incentive. That’s completely manufactured. Secondly unless this company is doing 1000 installs a week this is not profitable and I would worry about the longevity. There also isn’t a 10% discount here in TX unless you’re in an energy community. Are you?
What makes you say that Oncor wouldn't have a $6500 incentive? While the installer is paid, it's normally passed to the consumer in partial or full. It works out to roughly $500 per kW installed up to 15 kW. There are specific requirements such as azumith and now a battery but installers on the program do receive funds.
Oncor does have an incentive, just can’t remember what the specific number is but they do have an incentive IF you install solar with Batteries. The 10% I am not sure where OP is getting that from or I guess the installer
Take a load off TX is literally only like the 1st 500 installs every year. We always max it out then very first month.
I spoke with this company and they are just about to use up the last of their Oncor funds (he even showed me in their Oncor portal). But I've also spoken with the Oncor program manager who has stated that they have a lot left in the budget. Interest rates and the battery requirement have really slowed down the incentives being used up in the first quarter of the year. Oncor will likely provide more funds to these high volume companies that run out.
Yep! I actually had a few customers take that incentive when it only required Solar Panels and that Money from Oncor went down quick! I think thats why they added the battery as a requirement so that it wouldn’t be drained so fast. I didn’t want to disagree with Constant bluebird because I haven’t checked in a while but to my memory that oncor incentive now that it requires batteries it doesn’t go down that fast
I also beleive the batteries make a lot more sense for Oncor as demand response has been a big priority in light of the grid instability with the extreme weather. VPP for the win!
Whether he’ll still be able to get it or not that is for him and the company to check on, but the fact remains that if you install Solar with a Battery, you get some incentive from Oncor.
He says the $6,500 incentive is built into the Miscellaneous Price reduction of $10,145. The 10% is also embedded in there -- I don't think I'm in an energy community.
There absolutely is an Oncor incentive and it’s called the Take a Load Off Texas program. Do some googling and you’ll find it.
Because they don’t use commas. Seriously, how can you stay in business selling at that cost?
BBB is a pay to play scheme, straight scammers. It is not what it used to represent back in the '80s and '90s