This will be long but worth the read. I had a SunPower system installed in 2008 and at the time there was no real time monitoring or battery options as there is today. The system worked fine, but over the last couple years my bills started increasing drastically. I checked the system and everything showed operational, however 1 of my 2 inverters showed no production even though all lights indicated things were OK. In April of 2023 I contacted SunPower for service as I was still under their warranty. I was told that the inverters were no longer in warranty and that the panels were subject to a 30% degradation and would only be replaced if under that number. I fought with them and they finally came out, inspected the inverters and determined they were fine and there were no issues. A second inspection would now be needed and that took several more months for unknown reasons that I know now was because they went bankrupt. The second inspection found I had 1 fried panel and SunPower agreed to replace that IF they could find a replacement since they no longer make the panels. As for the inverter, they found the one was actually defective and clearly fried inside. Why the status light was still green and not red, no one could give me an answer or how this was missed on the first inspection. SunPower no longer produced the inverter and if they had a used one, it was $3500 with a 1 year warranty. I found a used one locally and installed it myself and the system now worked. As for the panel, they got me a larger one that would still fit in my mounting system. The system was working, but was not producing anything near what it used to. In order to have the below 30% degradation checked, it would be at my expense, having each panel tested or sent to an off site location for a true test. No one would do the onsite test that SunPower would recognize.
It was at this time I decided to look into a replacement system. I called a few local installers and getting pricing or a return call was a challenge. I did find a local installer who told me that he would just replace the system and put on a larger size array using Enphase equipment. He would not pull permits and said that Southern California Edison would never know as I was still on NEM 1.0 with about 5 years left. He was also using pressure tactics to get me to do the system now as prices would increase in days or product was running low. The red flags were raised so I did additional bids for the same equipment. Take in mind it was for a 7kwh system with no batteries. I found ParagonSun as an authorized Enphase installer and called. I spoke with Cori, explained my SunPower situation and what I would like to do and asked her what my options were. Cori took the time to give me several options with replacement only as my system was old technology and virtually no one supports it any longer. The other issue was how much time was really left before it would fail again and again. Cori took the time and was patient with no pressure tactics at all. What I was most impressed with her was when I called, and I called a lot, she answered the phone. When she didn't, I would send a text and she would call me back that same day. There were times when she would call the next day, but I would always get a call back. It took some time and I went from panels only, to panels and batteries to finally the whole system with panels, batteries and battery backup. When all said and done, the price that we came to for the complete system was the same as the initial quote for panels only from the local installer. Needless to say I was being ripped off by the initial installer and I went with Cori. Cori kept me up to date with the process and permits needed. She handled it all with little involvement from me other than signatures and confirmation of what was going to be done.
The system went in smoothly with a couple of minor Enphase issues that were resolved. The next hurdle was SCE and keeping my NEM 1.0 as promised since we followed the guidelines as laid out. Cori was a stickler to following the rules with SCE and I agreed with her. Even with doing everything with SCE, it took months for SCE to finally grant me permission to operate under NEM 1.0. If it was not for Cori and her team doing everything asked, especially on the backend after being paid in full for the system, I would never have been granted my NEM1.0 authorization. SCE has made the system difficult to say the least to file the appropriate paperwork. Time after time they said we needed to make corrections and Cori made those corrections. After several months of the back and forths and being denied, I was told that we should have filed the paperwork this way. I called Cori while on the phone with SCE and she once again answered my unexpected call. We did a three way and Cori explained that everything I was just told was how she originally filed the paperwork and all changes after were at read more