11/12/2017. A friend invited me to join him in attending an evening dinner presentation by Smart Energy Today, focused on solar panels and energy conservation suitable for the Portland area. The speaker, Michael, was the informational presenter to our group of 25-30 at a local restaurant. He reviewed the importance of first addressing energy loss by using adequate insulation at current building code levels, which have changed dramatically since our house was built in the early '90s. Others, had even older homes, making their energy challenges even more urgent. He also demonstrated the value of adding an additional reflective aluminum solar blanket on top of proper insulation to minimize temperature impact in extreme heat situations, as in summer. An audience member inserted thermometers similarly into insulation applications with & without a reflective solar blanket on top. The reflective solar blanket markedly minimized temperature change under the insulation when external heat-lamps were directed at two similar insulation situations. The last portion of the presentation reviewed currently available solar panel options for use in the Northwest to save electricity, if the roof size and orientation is appropriate. There was no pressure to purchase anything. As the meal was served, Michael offered to come to any of our homes to do a FREE on-site assessment of current energy and heat loss issues that might be affecting our individual home situations, if we requested that he do so. I chose to have him come to assess our home, as did most of the audience. Michael arrived at our home the next morning, right on time. He reiterated his purpose briefly for my wife who had not been at the dinner meeting. In short order he showed us that our current attic insulation had settled in most areas to only about five inches of "blown in" fiberglass. Sadly, there was a large areas in our attic where there had never been any insulation ever installed, particularly above the ceilings over our stairs and living room. Additionally, Michael went into the crawl space under our house, taking pictures of our floor insulation, much of which was dangling down from the flooring above or in many places the insulation was lying on the ground below. He also checked for standing water under the house and obvious structural problems. He also reviewed the orientation and size of our roof to see if it might be suitable for solar panels. When he finished his review, he sat down with my wife and I to suggest options for improving our current energy use, ranging from an urgent need to bring our entire attic insulation up to current building code levels throughout the attic, including use of reflective solar blankets on top of the recommended insulation. In addition, he recommended improving our under-floor insulation which was in very poor shape. This included again sealing our crawlspace with a solar blanket under the insulation. We agreed to having his company perform the two insulation upgrades, but not to pursue solar panels. The installation team was led by Matt who was a very pleasant, hard working and experienced professional. The attic insulation required more time and more fiberglass than anticipated, but was completed very satisfactorily in nearly a full day of work, including installation of a solar powered attic exhaust fan as well. The crawlspace insulation and solar blanket installation was completed the next day in a very professional manner, as well, requiring nearly another full day of work. We were very satisfied with the free assessment services by Michael and the installation by Matt and assistant. Both were very easy to work with. They were respectful and very careful to meet our needs. There was never pressure to sell or to do more than the work which we had agreed to have performed. I would recommend this company for help with energy use issues, assessment of needs and provision of materials and performing necessary work. Our house felt noticeably warmer immediately, which should be very helpful as we approach the winter weather season We are pleased to have addressed the longstanding, needed repairs of the insulation in our home in a very helpful and efficient manner. RA George read more

In October of 2018 my wife and I were invited to a free dinner event at McCormick Woods Clubhouse in Port Orchard, hosted by a company that was promoting solar panel energy systems in our area. I had wanted to learn more about the whole technology anyway because we have an electric front gate opener that's powered by a solar panel and I knew there was great potential and cost savings in solar. From prior research of this topic I learned that the latitude of Washington State was still close enough to the equator to capture an adequate amount of energy with solar panels, even with the clouds and overcast days we have. The speaker at the dinner was David Roberts from Smart Energy Today, a solar installer from Olympia. David explained how Washington State was a national leader in "green" technology and was very progressive with legislature helping the average homeowner to recapture a lot of the price of their systems. The Fed is also offers a very aggressive rebate for the whole solar systems. Two days after the seminar we made an appointment for David to visit us at our property. We have 22 acres and five buildings, all with a good selection of roofs to put panels on. In reviewing my last year's power bill I told David I'd like a system that would capture 100% of what we paid Puget Sound Energy last year, if that was possible? One of our buildings has an excellent southern exposure but David said it wasn't large enough to hold the size of the system I was asking for. Our second choice is a 30' x 40' shop I have, not with a southern exposure but I learned that either an eastern or western exposure works quite well too. After deciding on the building we'd use I signed a contract with Smart Energy Today in November 2018 for a 7 kilowatt system, which I learned later is a medium-to-large sized solar design. Right before the first of the year Smart Energy Today installed my system - 24 (4' X 6') panels, all the electrical components, the power converter and a new electrical service panel for all this to feed into. They even wired up a special plug for my wife's electric car so she could now charge it up with the power we'll be producing right on our property. The following February Puget Sound Energy came and installed our digital meters which capped off the whole system. PSE said they had been swamped by these requests and it took a month to put mine in, but while there they explained very nicely how the meters worked. One that's a production meter and the other that shows which way the power flows - either to my house or out to the grid. By the first of March my system had started producing power and by June I was awarded a zero dollar power bill from PSE. I say ZERO because it's sunny out and the solar panels are generating more power than I need for my house. The surplus power I produce is uploaded back to the PSE power grid and credited to me for later in the year when it's not so sunny and clear. Now that the system is working very nicely Smart Energy Today sent me the link for an app that charts my power production - called Solar Edge. With it I can view my generated production on a daily, weekly or yearly basis in real time. In review, from the first minute I met Smart Energy Today they were an excellent company to work with. I approached this whole subject as a novice but trusted them to educate me. They broke down all the costs and rebates showing me how the system would work. Having all this equipment installed on my property required a lot of permits from different organizations and Smart Energy Today took care of all of them for me. read more

Jim and I received an invitation to attend a free dinner/seminar in Corvallis, Oregon from Smart Energy Technology, Inc. on insulation and solar power. We are so glad that we accepted and attended. Not only was the dinner good but the presenter, Mike Davis, did a phenomenal job. He was friendly and very thorough in his presentation. His demonstrations of products were interactive for the audience and very informative. Mike put the audience at ease so asking questions was easy and not intimidating at all. His answers were complete and succinct and instructive. We were altogether impressed with Mike's knowledge and manner so we were happy to sign up to have him come and do an analysis on our home. Two days later he came to our home (right on time by the way), made friends with the dogs, saw our guitar and treated us to a little blues ditty right off the bat (did I mention that Mike is a friendly and humorous guy?). We knew from the seminar what to expect from the visit and had a clear understanding of what he would be looking for/at. He proceeded to do a thorough inspection of our attic and crawl space all the while showing us and explaining to us what he was seeing. He even spotted mold in our attic that could be taken care of at the same time. Mike wrote up an estimate for what we had talked about and we were pleasantly surprised at the reasonableness in price and the potential savings we could realize from heat loss and improvement in comfort levels, as well as getting rid of nasty mold. We signed a contract and in three days the guys will be here to do the job! Then.....we moved on to solar panel options. We were so pleased when Mike told us our roof is an excellent candidate for solar power. Once again he did a thorough inspection of our roof, electric panel, went over our electric bill history to make a quantitative analysis of what potential savings we might realize over time from adding solar power. He explained thoroughly the federal and state tax credits available as well as the incentives our power company gives for solar installation. Mike explained the process of installation, that SET takes care of the permitting and inspections with power company, etc. He wrote up an estimate and again we were pleased at the reasonableness in pricing. We signed a contract and are very excited to work with Mike and his crew in making our energy consumption less, our home more comfortable, and adding a valuable asset to the house. To top it off he sang and played a blues song on the guitar for us (yeah, he's good at that too) in celebration. Can't say enough about what a positive experience it has been meeting Mike and learning about SET. I hope his company knows what an asset Mike is. We look forward to recommending him to our friends and family who have been on the fence about seeing to their insulation needs and going solar! Jill Sherman read more

I had been contemplating a solar system for the last 3 yrs. I made the attempt with a consultation with Sunrun Solar mid-year of 2017 and was on the verge of a contract when the consultant failed to respond to complete a transaction. Towards the end of 2018, I happened to come across representatives, Rubia Daniels and Mike McLaughlin behind a Smartenergy sales table, at a local fundraiser in Brentwood, CA. We made an appointment for them to come over to my resident and for the next 3 hours, we discuss the pros and cons of a solar system. My decision to go for it was based on the final cost to me with the advent of a Federal solar credit of a 30% reduction in my taxes. The sales information was enticing as well. Rubia and Mike were well versed in solar energy aspects. Dates were set for initial inspection of the property, proposed time to deal with permits and installation. These were all taken care of by the Project Manager coordinator, Heidi Paschal - heidi.p@smartenergytoday.net, from the Smartenergy office in Washington. Pros: Heidi, when presented with any issues, she will be on it quickly. I had reservations in dealing with contacts that were not locally. My concern would be not having an actual one to one interaction. I have not met Heidi in person, but her handling of any concerns I may have had was very timely and I did not have to keep pursuing any issues. Her actions dispelled my concerns. Once the installation started, the installers obviously knew what they were doing. The owner/installer is based from a CA city area 70+ miles away from me with company employees throughout the state. Cons: A prerequisite was to have my electrical system inspected and review prior to installation. That failed because the electrician failed to show up on time hence he never accomplished that goal. A date was set for Thor Electric installer(s) to arrive and start the installation process. Normal circumstances, this would take a good day of work to complete. The fact that the initial electrical inspection was not done, the installers arrived and said the electrical system needed to be modified. This fact delayed the completion of the installation by a few days plus the installer had other solar clients to attend to during this period and were spread thin. Once county inspected and gave the green light, my system was cleared via Smartenergy interaction with PG&E to run in the grid. Overall, the installation was professionally done and completed. I have had the system up and running for a tad over a month and although it is winter with cloudy days most of the time, the system produces enough energy to lower my PG&E already by at least 30% or more during the first billing cycle. There is an internet app you can use to keep track of your system and the PG&E website will crunch your data and graph the energy usage comparison. read more

I usually don't write reviews, but here goes. Nancy and I attended a very informative seminar hosted by John Baxter, who told us all about Smart Energy Today and their amazing products. At no time did John try to sell us anything, instead he delivered an entertaining and enlightening presentation that opened our eyes to all the potential savings we could enjoy on our energy bills. At the end of the evening Nancy and I made an appointment with John for him to come to our home and talk about the specifics. John was on time and he had answers for every one of our questions. We decided to purchase two Smart Air Ventilation Solar Fans - one in the attic and one in the crawl space - and Sol-Blankets in the attic and crawl space as well. We also added three Solar Tubes to light up some very dark areas in our home. The only shock I had was when John told me the installation team could be there the next day, but luckily for me we had a prior appointment. I say luckily for me because I had so much stuff in the attic that there was no way I could be ready overnight. I spent a few hours clearing out the attic but I still didn't get it all. When the installation team showed up - on time - the supervisor, Brandon, introduced himself and his crew - Anthony, Jonny and Sebatian - and got right to work. I showed them the attic and all of the stuff I failed to move. Brandon assured me he'd seen worse and told me it was not an issue. He was right. Brandon's crew worked their tails off and were all extremely courteous. When they were finished, Brandon walked me through everything to be sure I was satisfied. Well, I am completely satisfied!! The attic and crawl space are, in a word, amazing! I am almost looking forward to a very nasty winter so I can enjoy the Sol-Blankets. I said almost. The immediate impact to our home is the Solar Tubes. We put one in the front bathroom and it is no longer a cave. The Solar Tubes are worth the price and once you put them in your home, you will agree. So in not so much of a nutshell, John Baxter, Brandon, Anthony, Jonny and Sebatian delivered everything they promised - Top quality products and professional service. In today's world, this is a refreshing change. Nancy and I thank you all!! Duane T. DeBruler read more

Had dinner on SMT at the RAM. Good thing I'm not reviewing the RAM, they need a new cook. We have gone to this kind of presentation before and they follow a predictable pattern. You sit an watch a video, more than once, while everyone else saunters in. We were served strawberry lemonade in abundance and then John started his presentation. John was straightforward, told me lots of stuff I already know, gave some more info on what I didn't, asked for our questions while he was presenting, didn't take himself too seriously, was funny, and REMEMBERED the names of all 20 + people in the room. We made an appointment for the next day. John arrived EARLY. He took all the measurements he needed and gave us a guaranteed estimate for the next six months and then offered us a discount if we signed up that evening. Once again, this is all standard practice for innumerable presentations I have been to. Nothing surprising except the price which did not seem out of line. We set an appointment for the following saturday, early. 8:30 rolled around, the phone rang, and Bo from SMT asked if it would be O.K. if they came by EARLY. How many contractors have you hired who want to start EARLY? " Sure come on by " which they did and their buddies with the second truck were right behind. The entire crew was there within the next ten minutes and started right in at 9:00. There were six to eight men who worked continually till 1:30 when they finished cleaning up. In that time they blew in insulation to bring our attic to R49, applied the solar blanket, put in a solar powered attic fan, and cleaned up. They were quick and professional in every aspect. What we didn't see or hear. There was no foul language, no smoking, no unruly banter or horseplay, no complaining about the work being too hard, in other words these young men handled and presented themselves very well. Our thanks to Jordan ( team leader ), Bo, Sebastion, Eric, John, and others who represented yourselves and your company very well. We would hire these guys back in a heartbeat. read more

Sales Representative Chad promised numerous things that were not completed during the installation. 1) Installation of fans promoted at the dinner (much smaller fans installed) 2) I was in the attic three times the fans were not working all three times (different days and times) 3) Installation of a border around attic access points. 4) Removal of all damaged/moldy insulation. 5) No installation of anything on the roof of the house. 6) Promised to send a copy of the signed contract within the 3 day "cooling off" period. Never received the contract. 7) Installation of the insulation and blanket over the entire attic space. There was some items not removed from the attic or moved to install blanket. 8) I circled the amount of the quote I was given and was told that was the FINAL price and the exact amount I would be charged. I was not told the price did not include sales tax. 9) I was told my card would not be charged until 30 days after the installation, but was charged the same month. When I contacted them, I requested removal of all items on the roof and the roof be repaired. Removal of the fans as they were not what was represented to me at the dinner. Refund of the fans. Correction of all other items. They put a boarder around the access points. They checked the fans and said "They are working now" nothing else was done. They did not have me sign the approval for the installation. THE PAPER THAT THEY PROVIDED TO ME SHOWING "INSTALLMENT COMPLETION CERTIFICATE" IS A FORGERY! Mark, the name printed on the paperwork - was never authorized to sign on my behalf but that really doesn't matter. THAT IS NOT HIS SIGNATURE OR HIS INITIALS! I arrived before the installers left. I asked them what they were doing as they were not authorized to be on the roof. They would not speak to me and left quickly not allowing me to speak with them. I have tried numerous times to call Chad to get this settled without results. A BBB claim has been filed. read more

Thank you SET Team for a fantastic job in installing my brand new solar system! My system is an 'efficient' 4.5 kW (16 panel x 280 W / panel) and started 'first light' in the fall (late October). The whole process took about 3 months but the Smart Energy Today team kept me well informed throughout the process and I couldn't be happier. I want to extend thanks to Joe for selling me the SET system in the first place, Tim for designing the system and doing a excellent split-panel design, Andrew for scheduling and being very flexible and effective communicator, and finally, Michael and Bruce for doing an excellent job with very professional installation of the solar system, micro-inverters, conduit runs and panels! The solar system is performing admirably and so great to see the new meters showing total production plus NET metering already starting to reduce my bills and pay me back, even in the low light of fall and winter months! From design to completion, the SET team worked as a team and with me with the final result not a single hitch and very satisfied with the level of service throughout. I highly recommend Smart Energy Today and could not be happier with the great job they have done in designing, delivering, and installing my new solar system. On another follow-up note to my earlier review, I wanted to express the great job Walter did with the installation of the solar blanket and tubes and add that we liked the first solar tube so much in our laundry room that we had Walter install a second one for our bathroom which we really are enjoying the added natural light! For those who might be skeptical about the solar blanket, I can tell you that it has made a tremendous difference to both the heat gain during warm days in August and now the heat loss during the cold fall and winter days. The temperature is much more stable and tends to change at a much lower rate so we are very happy with this further adding to the efficiency of our home. read more

Hi Tim, I wanted to thank you for your support in getting my Solar system up and running again.  Mike got here at 6:15PM Wednesday evening and worked until after 8:30PM.  He returned Thursday morning to finish up in the daylight. His professional and positive attitude from the beginning was very encouraging and gave me a lot of confidence that he was going to be able to find the cause and correct the problem.  Even after working all day on his Lakewood job, Mike was very thorough in quickly troubleshooting the system, identifying the root cause (arcing in the Disconnect switch) and then replacing it with an upgraded heavy duty switch.  He did not stop there.  He then proceeded to upgrade the entire system to "his standards" by replacing the Production Meter socket, wiring to the electrical panel and the three array junction boxes on the roof.   After all of this effort, the AP System and the Production Meter showed that the system was still not producing power.  Mike then hypothesized that the Micro Inverters were in "safe mode" due to previous system arcing. He then contacted Pat Mcquire at the office.  Pat then proceeded to remotely reset the Inverters which brought the system up again and it started producing. Thank you Pat!!  Again, I would like to thank everyone at Smart Energy Today that helped in getting my system up and running again.  This includes John Baxter who we called when I was getting frustrated and did not know who else to call.  I would also like to give a special thanks to Jay, who came out initially and spent a significant amount of time in the hot sun and even hotter attic troubleshooting/testing the system components and then replacing the fuse in the System Disconnect Switch.  This resulted in getting the system up and producing again but unfortunately it went down again the next day. I will be sure to recommend Smart Energy Today to friends and associates. Take care, Bob and Teresa Alessi read more

Smart Energy Today is based in Olympia WA, but has been running a campaign to install solar & insulation in the San Francisco Bay Area. My wife and I were tempted to a sales presentation in San Rafael by an offer of a free dinner at El Davide, a local upscale restaurant. We were very skeptical about being sold anything this way, but my wife likes the restaurant, and I was frankly interested in critiquing the presentation. (I am also involved with marketing through events.) The dinner was pretty good, but we were very impressed with the presenter Brad Mumm, who remembered the name of everyone in the room (about 30 people), really knew all aspects of his subject, and maintained a very high positive energy. In short, we were sold. We purchased the insulation package for our home, along with a solar powered vent fan. (The solar power generation was out of our reach, especially since we need a new roof.) We were hoping for, and were promised, cooler summers and warmer winters. The installation looked like a big project (I've done some home repair myself); but they came two days later with a crew of 4, and had the job done within a couple of hours. I was really impressed with the coordination between the workers and the overall efficiency. Even after the job was done, I was still rather apprehensive about how effective our purchase would be in achieving cooler summers and warmer winters. It was especially hard to evaluate since immediately we were blessed with a stretch of very balmy, temperate weather. However, we just had two days of 100 degree heat during the day, and our house felt like it was air-conditioned---a far cry from the sweltering inside temperatures we are accustomed to. I'm sure we'll be delighted with the effects of the job this coming winter. So I'd like to say that I heartily recommend Smart Energy Today for their expertise and their conscientious work. read more

When we first encountered Smart Energy Today, it was through one of their marketing dinners. I have to say that I was at best skeptical. But I was intrigued and interested in solar panels. After an in-home discussion and some research, we bought some solar panels and an insulation package. The insulation alone made a significant difference in our comfort. The solar panels work well and account for 57% offer energy since November 1st and that is saying something given the dark, cloudy and snowy weather we have had for the last 4 months. Smart Energy Today's installers were first rate, very professional and knowledgeable. They did an excellent installation job, cleaned up all evidence that they had been here (except of course the items installed). We could not have asked for nicer more professional people. Last week we had some work done in the crawl space and that Workman noticed that a few of the insulation panels Smart Energy Today had installed had come loose. To be honest, I do not know if it was due to the Workman himself or the weight of the product Smart Energy Today installed. It did not matter in terms of Smart Energy Today's customer service, I called them and made arrangements to fix the loose panels and two days later everything was reinstalled and I had pictures to prove it (before and after shots). Excellent customer service! Why did it take two days,because that is when I asked them to come, they would have been here the next day, but I had to put them off. We certainly have had and continue to have a wonderful experience in doing business with Smart Energy Today! I am certainly glad we hired them! John & Marianne Update: With the sunny weather the first 5 days of March we have had increased solar production of about 30 kWh per day, which is over 2.5 times what we use! Great investment. read more

Let me start by saying most people leave a review because they are disappointed with the service or product, I am guilty of this like most. However when expectations are exceeded that should deem a positive review. The dinner was a nice touch, but I have been researching solar for several years waiting for the price to drop, instead only seeing the tax incentives decrease. I went to the dinner wanting a way to put solar in, I did more than just solar but nothing was "pushed". The presentation was made at the dinner and when the salesman came to my house it was professional and the quotes I asked for weeds given, both cash or rice or financed. I was wanting my service panel upgraded and thus seemed like a great time to include it. The first assessment ensured I knew I did not "need" to upgrade my panel, instead tried to down sell me without something I didn't need to install the solar. I had other projects in mind and went ahead with the service panel, the electrician was great and the install went flawlessly, in fact I had a quote from a local electrician and Smart Energy beat their price, without me asking, their price was already lower! We did a whole house fan , again I had been looking for thus for a year and had trouble finding a way to get one! There were some delays due to permits (out of their control) and contractors on vacation, again out of their control. Communication was great throughout the entire process, both email and phone. We decided to install a new roof before the panels and have no regrets, it went up fast and the contractors were professional! I highly recommend Smart Energy Today. They know their products, awesome at getting you pointed toward financing options, overall a great experience! read more

TL:DR - free meal, helpful service, great product. For a couple years I'd been thinking about getting solar in the future. I received a few invitations to dinners in the past and thought they were too good to be true (free meal, no check book needed, learn about solar). My husband and I recently purchased a new home that has great sun, easy roof access and little to no trees near the roof to block the light. I decided it was time to check it out. We went to a dinner before we moved and weren't able to book an appointment (they need to see your home in person to help you find out what you need) so they invited us to go to another dinner a few months later and schedule then. Here we are, two free meals later (two each for both of us) and then we get to have David (who hosted both presentations and is great) come check out our brand new (to us) home. He went through the property and the options thoroughly and he was understanding when I had to dash out of our conversation several times to take work calls. He combed through the information with us and answered all of my questions fully and helped us to get the best deal for what our needs and current financial ability was. The next weekend we got our insulation blanket (lifetime of the structure warranty so no more insulation needed, yay!), mold/mildew treatment (which our inspector hadn't recommended when we bought), and a solar powered fan in the attic to help ventilate the area. Since we didn't have a back log of electricity bills to check against I cannot compare costs but this past week the temperature has risen dramatically and inside the house has stayed cooler than it did before we got the updates. Once we can afford it, we'll reach out again to get our solar panels! read more

I received an invitation to a free meal at a well known Everett Restaurant as long as I listened to their sales pitch. Honestly, I had no intentions of really giving in. But, I did have a certain amount of interest in the products they were selling so I felt there was no harm in attending. I was pleasantly surprised to find out there was absolutely NO pressure to buy anything. They simply demonstrated their product and the facts spoke for themselves. The representative was polite, informative and not the least bit pushy. Not to mention, the food was great and REAL restaurant portions, not something slimmed down for budget reasons. The install was scheduled for the following Sunday to meet our personal schedules. They even tried to come the day before, but we couldn't arrange the time because of work schedules. The installers were prompt, professional in appearance, informative, and great to work with. They were proud to show off their work when they were done, cleaned up after themselves, and answer any of my questions. In fact, they informed me of a problem with my roof that dealt with a poor installation during the building phase several years ago that I needed to be aware of. Overall, I would highly recommend Smart Energy Today Inc. to anyone else that wants to save some money on their heating and cooling needs. With our two story home in the summer, the heat upstairs was unbearable and the new insulation along with the solar powered exhaust fan have kept it at a much more comfortable setting. I can only imagine the overall savings we'll gain during our winter months. Smart Energy Today met my needs... no, I would go so far as to say they surpassed them and did it smartly! read more