Solar Power around the KC area ***MEGATHREAD!!!!***

[Mephistopheles Janx]

Wondering if anyone here had any first hand experience in getting solar panels installed onto their home, cost, upkeep, value (are you now independent of the energy co or supplemented by), and if there is anyone you would recommend here locally for that kind of work.

I have a beautifully pitched metal roof that looks east and west with nothing to keep the sun from pounding away at the panels on the roof other than clouds. I'd like a system with a battery bank that can handle about 1,500 kWh per month but can draw from the pole if needed.

TIA!

[Couch-Potato]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Do you work in the industry? What is your company's name? I'm a little confused if you just like helping folks on the side or if you actually work for a solar co.

Good question, and thank you for your interest! The answer is that I’m new to the industry.

At my “day job” I work as a Consultant for Healthcare & Life Sciences Organizations: Sales, Marketing, Management, Market Research, Data Analytics, and IT Solutions. I have 2 Bachelors degrees from KU and am working on my 6th & 7th Certifications from Harvard Business School. Go Jayhawks!!!

The Solar company is a close friend of mine’s, he’s been running the organization for almost 10 years out here in CA. Over the years he’s tried to get me involved, but it wasn’t until recently that I’ve had enough time to parter up.

I'm really impressed with how streamlined their unique program is. Since joining I’ve been helping a lot of people save a ton of money on their electrical bills, but my primary role is to scale the organization's customer centric model outside of CA.

[Couch-Potato]

Holy BS! You guys in KC area are getting screwed: https://sentinelksmo.org/evergy-elec...e-of-the-heat/


"Evergy, the largest for-profit electric company in Kansas, recently raised rates for nearly every customer in the state by more than 20% — without telling them.

On July 1, 2022, Evergy Kansas Central increased its fuel and purchased power costs by 52%, from $0.028918 to $0.043956 per kilowatt hour, and neither the Kansas Corporation Commission — the entity tasked with regulating energy companies in the state — nor Evergy advised Kansas retail ratepayers of the change.

An expert analysis conducted by Brubaker and Associates — an expert energy consulting company in St. Louis, Missouri — and commissioned by the Kansas Industrial Consumers Group found that the increase in fuel cost, without factoring in the recent heatwave, would cause the average monthly electric bill for July, August, and September 2022, to increase, on average for residential customers by 22.69%; from 12.44 cents per kWh, to 15.263 cents per kWh and for commercial customers by 28.25%. That will affect about 95% of Evergy’s 716,000 customers who have a fuel adjustment clause.

Worse still, according to Jim Zakoura of Kansas Industrial Consumers Group, the increase in fuel costs is not what Evergy actually spent but rather an estimate of what they think they might spend. Moreover, the most recent billing period for which customers will have bills ran from mid-June to mid-July, so August and September bills are likely to be higher yet. Zakura also noted: “These increases will be greatly exacerbated by the weeks of very high temperatures. It would be expected that electric bills in July 2022 would increase more than 50% compared to a year ago.”

The chart below from a 2020 study shows Kansans already paid the highest electric rates in the region by far, and that has now gotten worse."

[Couch-Potato]

That's a 22.69% increase from last MONTH, NOT last YEAR.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Dial down a few notches dude telemarketer vibes

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Anyone who installs in 2022 will get the full 30 percent. So you're good.

Ooohhh, I hope you're right. That will be nice.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by Couch-Potato

n July 1, 2022, Evergy Kansas Central increased its fuel and purchased power costs by 52%, from $0.028918 to $0.043956 per kilowatt hour

I was just looking over my recent bill and comparing to past bills. That is just the increase from May. It actually was $.018853 per kilowatt hour in September of last year and $.019007 the year before that. Man, this solar deal is looking better and better all the time. Glad I did it.

[Couch-Potato]

CP

Thank you for your previous interest, just wanted to post here that our Solar Brokerage is officially up and running in the KC area now + up to 200 miles outside the city! The website and advertising are still in development for our full launch in 2023.

As a reminder, KS has the highest energy costs in the MW AND Evergy just raised the local price of electrical by 22.69% this summer. KS and CO also have the highest amount of sunlight hours in the MW making KC a good fit for solar.


OFFERS:

Lease (25 yr)
-Save 30-50% off your Electric Bill
-$0 price increase year-to-year
-$0 down
-$0 installation
-0% interest
-No Hard Credit Check
-Transfers as easy as any utility bill

Loan (10 or 25 yr)
-Save 30-50% off your Electric Bill
-2.99% price increase year-to-year
-$0 down
-$0 installation
-Credit check required
-30% Federal Tax Rebate!!!
-$250 per kW (system size) = ~8 Avg = ~$2,000.00 Avg check from Evergy!
-Transfers easily: If they'll qualify to buy your house, they'll qualify to acquire the solar loan

Extras Included:
-100% bumper-to-bumper warranty during the contract
-We'll upgrade your electrical box complimentary if required
-We'll patch minor issues with your roof complimentary if required

Savings Notes:
-Typical savings are ~$50,000+
-After the contract terms you own the solar panels and they produce Free Electricity
-Solar panels will increase the value of your home, but will NOT increase your property taxes
-In the KC area we can typically only offset 70-90% of your electrical bill with solar

Timeline:
-Inspection 1 wk after signature
-Installation 4 wks after signature
-Conversion 8 wks after signature
-Cancel anytime up to 24 hours before installation

Who should consider Solar?
-If your bill is more than $200 per month avg

How to get started?
-Send me a copy of your Electric Bill to kcsolarsavings@gmail.com
-I'll produce a savings & system proposal complimentary (no credit check required)
-We'll schedule a call to review your savings potential and the solar contract


Super Easy Process, No Bullshit, Significant Savings!



.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

I have a rental that came with a Sunrun lease when I bought the house... it doesn't seem to save the renters much, as they still have to pay the electric company fees and what not every month. Seems like the electric company is in their pockets so they don't lose money.

Sunrun is also one of the worst companies I've ever worked with... it took them like 2 months to transfer the lease (and only 6 weeks to buy the house) because I'd have to call and sit on hold for at least 90 minutes each time just to get a "we'll let you know". Had the roof replaced and it took weeks and several calls for them to setup time to remove the panels and put them back.

They randomly credited the account like $4000 months later and it took them three weeks, several emails, and a few calls to figure out why THEY credited it.

They will also send like 10 emails for every interaction to remind you to to fill out surveys.... I mean, at least be self aware like Luxottica and simply don't give a shit, don't understaff to the point of 2 hour wait times and never answer email and then ask me 10 times how you did.

So, I'm not saying don't use solar nearly as much as **** Sunrun in particular.

Random follow up on SunRun being one of the worst ****ing companies to work with.... forgot to mention they actually sent the wrong contract when I first bought the house. Kind of my fault for not noticing the house number difference, but it was a difference of thinking the panels were purchased, just to find out later they were leased.

Sold the house in July and they just now got it transferred into their name in the past few weeks. Kept saying they needed a soft credit check (HTF would they not do that before closing?!) and they could potentially charge them $250 if they didn't agree to the soft credit check (ya think a month after closing is long enough... or two months... or FOUR MONTHS?!).

They kept trying to tell me that I was responsible for the bill until it was officially transferred, but I turned off auto pay a week after closing (which adds like $15/month to the bill) and wasn't terribly concerned... just called every few weeks to see where they were at.

A buddy suggested calling the title agency to see how the hell they were okay with closing, and they gave me whatever legal document they needed to show I no longer had an interest in the lease.... after that, I didn't worry about it as much and just randomly logged in every once in a while until I noticed the name/contact info had changed (yeah, I could still log into it, because why wouldn't I be able to ).

Never did hear back about it being officially transferred though, because of course I didn't.

I think the new owners are idiots and probably technically challenged, but again... **** Sunrun in particular.

[Couch-Potato]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Random follow up on SunRun being one of the worst ****ing companies to work with.... forgot to mention they actually sent the wrong contract when I first bought the house. Kind of my fault for not noticing the house number difference, but it was a difference of thinking the panels were purchased, just to find out later they were leased.

Sold the house in July and they just now got it transferred into their name in the past few weeks. Kept saying they needed a soft credit check (HTF would they not do that before closing?!) and they could potentially charge them $250 if they didn't agree to the soft credit check (ya think a month after closing is long enough... or two months... or FOUR MONTHS?!).

They kept trying to tell me that I was responsible for the bill until it was officially transferred, but I turned off auto pay a week after closing (which adds like $15/month to the bill) and wasn't terribly concerned... just called every few weeks to see where they were at.

A buddy suggested calling the title agency to see how the hell they were okay with closing, and they gave me whatever legal document they needed to show I no longer had an interest in the lease.... after that, I didn't worry about it as much and just randomly logged in every once in a while until I noticed the name/contact info had changed (yeah, I could still log into it, because why wouldn't I be able to ).

Never did hear back about it being officially transferred though, because of course I didn't.

I think the new owners are idiots and probably technically challenged, but again... **** Sunrun in particular.

Yes, Sunrun is pretty notorious. Sorry to hear about your trouble with them!

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Couch-Potato

Yes, Sunrun is pretty notorious. Sorry to hear about your trouble with them!

Yeah, I looked at BBB one day, and this is their customer complaint count...

3,654 complaints closed in last 3 years
1,745 complaints closed in last 12 months

Five people per day for the past 365 days are so fed up with them, they're taking it to the Better Business Bureau. (not that the BBB ever does anything, really)

[scho63]

Solar companies salesmen are worse than car salesmen.

[DenverChief]

Went with Cam Solar here in Denver. The final phase of install with the connection to Xcel was painful but have had it for almost a year now and am Loving it. Learning to hate cloudy days though.

[Couch-Potato]

Originally Posted by scho63

Solar companies salesmen are worse than car salesmen.

Fair statement, here’s a few thing’s I’ve learned that might help:


1. Early on solar sales people got a bad rap because they used to “help” customers acquire systems through Liens, against their homes, later on that caused difficulties when trying to sell the house, what a pain in the @$$, and folks felt like they were deceived. Rightfully so! This is no longer popular for obvious reasons.


2. People like the idea of being energy dependent but get scared by the terms “Lease” or “Loan” because it reminds them of a car purchase. A couple things to consider…

a. You’re essentially “Renting” your current energy, you will NEVER own it, and the price will NEVER go down
b. Your car purchase doesn’t typically save you $25k-$50k+ / 25 yrs, this is a savings investment, not a common purchase.
c. Once you fully own the solar panels, they produce 100% Free Energy!


3. When you buy Solar, you’re buying from a “Solar Network,” not a single Solar Company like you might imagine which can be confusing. The salespeople are the ones calling you on the phone constantly, they could be from India or wherever, or worse they knock on your door, but there’s typically a…

a. Sales Company, that contacts you initially
b. Manufacturer, provider of the panels
c. Fund, that finances the contract
d. Installer, that performs the actual work
e. Local gov & utility company with their own individual rebates, policies, and programs
f. Broker that identifies best combo of funding, manufacturer, installer, & rebate offers specific to your local area

The broker, and in some states the local gov, protect the consumer from being “up-sold” along each step of the network by bad apples. Brokers are incentivized by how much they save local customers, not how much they “upsell” a customer, ensuring a system of checks and balances. Brokers have access to all possible pricing within the above mentioned solar network, they will give you the best price to ensure they get the highest Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSAT), which will result in more leads for them and better pricing for their customers. The brokerage I work with is one of the largest in CA, and we’re now expanding our network to KC because it’s my home town. *Pro-tip: Some brokers are able to bypass paying a sales person all together.

[Lzen]

Just wanted to show you all this. This is the energy produced by my panels and how much used from Evergy. This goes all the way back to when I got panels up and running last year about July 18th. I took this screen cap off my solar monitoring app the other day. I have 27 panels for a 2400 square foot home. Now we just started using the AC again. Also, just plugged in the above ground pool filter. So, the daily will go up. Still, that's found exactly what I wanted it to do.

If anyone is interested, I can give more details about the price I paid and even show you my Evergy bill(s).

[Lzen]

Here's a current daily screen cap. Pool filter is running and so is AC. Home usage isn't much because nobody is home right now.