Part 2: Going Solar
Choosing a solar panel installer.
When we decided to go solar, we used an independent energy marketplace called EnergySage. Solar installers are vetted by EnergySage before they are allowed to offer quotes to EnergySage’s customers. Signing up with EnergySage is free. The vetted installers pay a membership fee to be part of the network. I went to the EnergySage website and provided the necessary information. Once our information was on EnergySage, interested installers contacted us through EnergySage. Your contact information is not shared, and all communication is through EnergySage. You decide when you are ready to contact installers directly.
We received multiple quotes based on the information we provided. After examining the quotes we focussed on three companies that looked the most promising in terms of reputation, price, and expertise. All the quotes we received offered a cash price as well as a solar loan option through a bank or financing company.
Through these quotes, we discovered that some solar loans do not require high upfront costs. These quotes also introduced us to various solar panels available, and we familiarized ourselves with different panel manufacturers and their products.
We decided to go with a solar loan with no prepayment penalty. We anticipate paying off the loan in about six years — well before the 30-year loan period. Because the loan company works directly with the installer, payments to the installer are only released after certain completion phases. The bank we decided to work with was Climate First Bank, a green bank with a vision and mission aligned with our own. The online application was seamless and we temporarily unlocked the freeze on our credit for the bank to do a credit check.
There are many excellent solar panels on the market. Based on our situation and needs we decided to go with Meyer Burger panels. These durable panels are very efficient and even produce electricity in low-light situations. They are also resistant to the high heat conditions prevalent in Florida.
When it came to choosing an installer, we checked EnergySage as well as Google reviews. One or two bad reviews among many excellent ones would not disqualify an installer for us. We understand that bad reviews are sometimes unfounded and reading them carefully will allow you to distinguish between a genuine bad review and one that is either fake or unfair.
We had Zoom interviews with three installers. One key factor for us was the age of our roof. Although it is only 10 years old and has 30-year shingles, we anticipate having to replace them in 10 to fifteen years. Some solar panel installers are also roof installers. This is a double plus for us as (1) they would know how to penetrate a roof properly, and (2) should we need to reshingle in the future, they provide a promise that if you hire them to reshingle your roof they will remove and re-install your panels without an additional charge.
Lastly, we asked two of the installers to provide three references each — names of customers that we could call and confer with. We took the trouble to call up the references to ascertain their experience with the installer when it came to installation and post-installation service.
After confirming the installer’s reputation with the referees, we made our choice and informed Energysage of our decision. Energysage then informed the unsuccessful bidders and marked our project as closed. We were then ready to sign our contract with the installer and the final loan documents with the bank.
As I post further updates on our solar experience I shall focus on the actual installation and any problems that surfaced during our journey to go solar.
