We bought a residential rooftop photovoltaic solar system for our home in Dublin from Next Energy in early November 2009 after researching five solar installers (and a total of ten different systems of various sizes) in detail. Next Energy was willing to "walk the roof" of our home "up front" and do a site evaluation without any commitment on our part, something other installers were not inclined/willing to do, and also was willing to perform multiple numerical analyses of the predicted performance of various system sizes on our particular roof using different brands of solar panels.
Installation started a few days after we signed our contract, took two days, and went very smoothly. The permitting/inspection process was relatively easy and was entirely handled by Next Energy (Dublin was a better city than most re permits/inspections). A few days after our system was in place, PG&E's original installation of our solar-style electric meter (E-6 Tariff) was complete (A replacement solar-style smart meter on the E-6 tariff was installed in March 2013 by PG&E). Since going live in November 2009, our system (4.871 Kw CEC rated system with 9 south-facing and 18 west-facing Sunpower 210 panels [Our roof was area-limited on the South, but not on the West]) has produced 6.25% more KwH than Next Energy's somewhat conservative up-front estimate through the end of March 2013 (28,378 KwH actual production versus 26,708 KwH estimated per spec).
Next Energy worked carefully with us on the arrangement of the individual rooftop panels to maximize the annual solar energy output produced by our three arrays (one south-facing array of nine panels and two west-facing arrays of nine panels). Our Next Energy installation contract included a Sunpower wireless monitoring system tied to our home PC/LAN that provides all the solar statistical and performance data we need and has proven to be very reliable.
Our residential rooftop photovoltaic system has not needed any maintenance or repairs whatsoever since it was installed (unless you count a once-a-year rinsing of dust from our panels from the ground with a garden hose, something solar energy experts tell us is not that necessary in the Bay Area).
Our experience with our Next Energy salesperson and installers (including the personal involvement of President Randy Kauffman) was totally satisfactory.
Concurrent with "going solar," we replaced a very old fridge, reducing our gross (before solar offset) annual KwH usage by 10% (compared to our gross annual KwH usage in the 12 months prior to "going solar"). Since "going solar" we have been able to reduce our annual KwH usage (with no sacrifice in comfort/lifestyle) by another 15%, merely due to the additional awareness triggered by "going solar."
California and Federal rebates and tax credits reduced the net cost of our system by just under 50% of the gross contract price (The 30% Federal tax credit - not dollar-limited after 2008 - reduced our 2009 income tax (equaling 30% of our out-of-pocket cost for the system, net of the California rebate) even though the Alternative Minimum Tax applied to us that year.
Our solar 2009-vintage system is large enough to completely zero the dollar annual dollar amount that we otherwise would be paying PG&E for electrons (meaning that net charges for all five E-6 electric rates tiers, not just the higher rate tiers, are reduced to zero), but our net investment nonetheless is so far producing an after-tax/after inflation annual rate of return of about 10-11% over its estimated 30-year life [A solar system sized to eliminate only charges from the higher-rate tiers would have a significantly shorter payback period].
Like all solar systems, solar panel output is supposed to decline about 0.5% a year -- we have seen no evidence of that so far -- and we will need a new/rebuilt inverter in about 12 years or so. Independent of whatever its environmental benefits might be, given the California and Federal rebates/income tax credits available to us in 2009, the cash spent to buy our system appears (so far anyway!) to have been a wise investment (especially given the near zero interest rate T-Bills have been earning since 2009). I believe the size of the California rebate for a given solar system has decreased since 2009, but solar panels have decreased in cost and have become more efficient since then.
We rate our total experience with Next Energy very highly as you can see from the number of stars we have awarded! read more