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Who's gone Solar

Received PTO last Thursday at 11:41am.
Sent this today at 11:45am.


Good morning.

Is there a reason why my system hasn't been activated yet?
It has now been 5 business days since we received Permission To Operate from PG&E...seven full days that I could have been generating power. In that time I have received two emails from [employee A] stating that [employee B] is the one who is in charge of this step, and both times [employee B] was cc'd and asked to contact me regarding eta...I have yet to hear from [employee B] or anyone else.
I have done everything asked of me in a timely manner, and have paid every invoice immediately.
I am not in a position to be able to ignore a twenty-one thousand dollar outlay and am growing frustrated that I am unable to utilize the system I bought and paid for.

Thank you.

Kevin Meandad
 
mean dad said:
Received PTO last Thursday at 11:41am.
Sent this today at 11:45am.


Good morning.

Is there a reason why my system hasn't been activated yet?
It has now been 5 business days since we received Permission To Operate from PG&E...seven full days that I could have been generating power. In that time I have received two emails from [employee A] stating that [employee B] is the one who is in charge of this step, and both times [employee B] was cc'd and asked to contact me regarding eta...I have yet to hear from [employee B] or anyone else.
I have done everything asked of me in a timely manner, and have paid every invoice immediately.
I am not in a position to be able to ignore a twenty-one thousand dollar outlay and am growing frustrated that I am unable to utilize the system I bought and paid for.

Thank you.

Kevin Meandad
Click to expand...

What are you waiting for them to do? Can't you turn your system on? When I finally received Permission To Operate from PG&E, I turned the breaker switch on and turned the box that's connected to the Inverter on. That's it. Easy peasy.
 
Even better. :party
Apparently it's been operational and generating power, but no one bothered to grant me access to the monitoring app.

I received an immediate reply to my email, and then a phone call an hour later apologizing for the delay and telling me that they redirected a tech to come out today and scan some info from the panels and get my wifi access.
Tech that was here during the final inspection was supposed to do that but dropped the ball.

And [employee B] sucks at communication.
 
mean dad said:
Even better. :party
Apparently it's been operational and generating power, but no one bothered to grant me access to the monitoring app.

I received an immediate reply to my email, and then a phone call an hour later apologizing for the delay and telling me that they redirected a tech to come out today and scan some info from the panels and get my wifi access.
Tech that was here during the final inspection was supposed to do that but dropped the ball.

And [employee B] sucks at communication.
Click to expand...

Sounds like Sunpower.

Communication not their strong suit but in the end we are satisfied.

Sunpwer app is quite cool as you can drill down to individual panels by hour.
 
westie said:
I'll have to look it up but the first months bill arrived and as you can see the proof is in the pudding! (happy dance)
Click to expand...

Wow! I didn't expect that big a savings! How long will you receive that kind of savings on actual energy usage? I don't know if I've got this right, but an initial investment of $45k with an appropriate savings of $285/mo ($3,420/yr) your payback is about 13yrs?
 
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bojangle said:
FINALLY! After almost 12 weeks of waiting, and bugging Tesla several times, I got the email from PG&E that I'm approved to turn on my system. Just turned it on about 1/2 hour ago. :party
Click to expand...

Fuckin Tesla man!

I got Permission To Operate from PG&E almost 2 months ago. When I did, I turned my system on and have been enjoying free sunny energy ever since. I never heard a thing from Tesla regarding the PTO, and my Tesla Account still showed it pending.

Fast forward to today, I just got a text from Tesla saying I received PTO, and the account is updated to reflect the same. Almost 2 months later! :laughing

Having said that, I'm not sorry about going with Tesla. It's been a good deal. Last night I watched a YouTube video from some woman in Texas having major issues with some scammy fly by night solar company. She was lied to about a lot of things and is now paying more for electricity than prior to having solar, plus has a loan to pay off.
 
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Our experience with Tesla:

We had our system installed in 2016 - back when it was "Solar City" blanketing the Bay Area. We signed the papers on 6/29/2016 and we were up and running by mid-August. The biggest issue we had with installation was them trying to locate the right circuit breaker for our panel: try finding any Bulldog PushMatic breakers! They said if they couldn't find one then they would update our entire panel to a current style - fortunately they found a company that sells remanufactured PushMatics.

We recently dealt with Tesla, who bought out Solar City, to have the panels removed, so we could replace our roof, and re-installed. We experienced delays with that - mainly getting an appointment. We had to wait about 6-8 weeks for both the removal and reinstallation, but once the crew showed up it was a single day's work.

We've been happy with how Tesla has taken over - they seem to have honored everything in our contract with Solar City.
 
(Happy Dance)
 

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westie said:
(Happy Dance)
Click to expand...

Nice.

Production way down as the sun goes lower in the sky an hits some trees blocking the panels that don't do so during summer.

Our main winter goal is cutting down on $300+ gas bills by only using gas to heat the main room we are in for an hour and then use 1000 watt Envi electric wall heaters to maintain that heat more or less.

Last year at this time we were likely using 6 hours of gas heat per day now around 2 so might work in the end.
 
Been following this thread just to see what was up. Finally starting to think seriously about solar as our Co-op used to have really low rates like 9 cents Kwhr or something like that well recently bills have been creeping up and I am like damn I am a hawk with the AC and we got 2 brand new units and put tint on the upstairs windows to reduce heat in summer. So I look at the bill I mean really look at it and on the under fold I see that they are now instituting a fuel surcharge and that mother fucker is doubling my bill. So my actual usage rate would mean a $250 dollar bill but with the surcharge it is now $500 it's fucking doubled so now solar is starting to make more sense for me so going to have to look into it and see if its hurricane rated for my area and how much it would be so I can check my ROI.
 
Solar is going pretty well for us even though percent produced vs used is tanking in the shorter/cloudier days.

We have been using 1000 watt Envi electric wall heaters to maintain 66 degrees after using our Nat Gas fireplace insert heaters to get the space up to 70 as last year's nat gas use was ridiculous.

Strategy worked thus far in November with our total energy bill at $107; $387 less than the prior year due to nat gas heat.

We only heat one space at a time; front room till about noon and then the back room/TV room starting around 3 and don't use the electric heat between 4-9pm.

Sure, the house is cold when we get up; toasty this am at 61 vs the 55 of the past few days. :laughing

Extra blankets in bed and two cats are the key to dealing with the cold at night.

Our room is colder than normal as we leave the window ajar so the cats can access the large outside Catio enclosure during the wee hours.
 
Yeah big-big difference in the change in seasons and power produced. Summer, battery was charged by noon. Now I'm lucky to hit 40% all day on a clear day. And the heater zaps that pretty quick. This months power bill was $20. I can easily live with that.
 
westie said:
Yeah big-big difference in the change in seasons and power produced. Summer, battery was charged by noon. Now I'm lucky to hit 40% all day on a clear day. And the heater zaps that pretty quick. This months power bill was $20. I can easily live with that.
Click to expand...

Starting tomorrow the days get longer! :thumbup
 
As expected.

Who would have thought California would help lead the way in kneecapping rooftop solar moving forward?

California’s rooftop solar policy is killing its rooftop solar industry.

New projects have cratered and job losses are mounting in the six months since California regulators slashed the value of home solar systems.

With this downturn has come job losses. According to data collected by the California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA), solar installers in the state are forecasting that 17,000 jobs will disappear by the end of 2023, which amounts to roughly 22 percent of the state’s solar workforce.

Most of those jobs are in installation, where workers earn an average of $70,000 per year, according to the trade group.
Click to expand...

https://www.canarymedia.com/article...op solar industry,value of home solar systems.
 
Ack! Power bill was $130. this month. Panel productivity way down. Battery hardly gets past 30%. Still it's better than the $700. it was last year. C'mon spring!
 
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