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Sunrun/PGE Solar Panels

High Tide Aquatics
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So last Friday a sales representative from Sunrun came to our neighborhood advertising about their partnership with PGE. He talked about how PGE is wanting to help 8500 homes install Solar Panels. They’re focusing on customers that are using the CARE program, which we are using. They would cover the cost of installing the equipment and a new roof if it’s need, which our roof is 28 years so it’s past its life expectancy.

I want to believe this is a good deal especially since I’m basically living paycheck to paycheck. A new roof alone would take half the money I have in the bank account.

My electric usage is high. Half the usage is because of the reef tanks. The highest usage was 1,276 kWh but I was able to bring it down to 929 by adjusting the temperature in the tanks and some other things around the house.

On the design page it’s showing 22 panels but I’m thinking it will be more like 16 panels because some of the panels are on top of vents.


What’s does everyone think about this. Especially ones that have solar.
Sunrun 1.png

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I would look into a solar loan for a system that you own. If you are going to be paying $250/month to "rent" their solar system, why not pay that instead on a solar loan that you will eventually pay off. How much are you going to pay over the life of this agreement? What happens if you sell the house?

 
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Sunrun reps are in costco. I use someone else that have a payment plan of 3% i should had gotten af least 4 more panels. Twice a year there's a true up charge of about $2000 because my panels don't offset the usage.

Now if i want to add more panels, theres some law that a batttery is required. And thats over 12g with 4 more panels.
 
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I would look into a solar loan for a system that you own. If you are going to be paying $250/month to "rent" their solar system, why not pay that instead on a solar loan that you will eventually pay off. How much are you going to pay over the life of this agreement? What happens if you sell the house?

I would have to ask about how much I’ll pay over the life of the agreement.

I see myself passing away in the house. My grandparents were the original owners of the house in 1948.
 
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Sunrun reps are in costco. I use someone else that have a payment plan of 3% i should had gotten af least 4 more panels. Twice a year there's a true up charge of about $2000 because my panels don't offset the usage.

Now if i want to add more panels, theres some law that a batttery is required. And thats over 12g with 4 more panels.
We are using probably 11,400 to 12,000 kWh a year.

What’s your usage and the panels output?
 
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Don't lease the system. Just don't do it. Look at the estimated annual electrical usage report they gave you again and add another 10-20% to that to get a better calculation of what you'll need. Size your system with enough battery to power your house during peak usage. Then can charge them up during non-peak hours if the sun cannot charge them in time. That would be the only way to reduce their true-up charges. PG&E has zero concern for your financial stability. This program of their is offset by other rate payers and subsidies from the state and feds. So this lease program is offset by sunrun through your lease payment anyway. Might as well look at trying to get a loan to purchase instead.
 

JVU

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@NickRoseSN1985 If you haven’t already, and if are ok with the brand at this point, worth getting a quote from Tesla for solar. My next door neighbor is getting quotes for solar right now and just yesterday told me “Tesla bid beats everyone else by 30%. Pretty amazing.”

I would be shocked if the CARE program incentive is linked to a specific solar company. The rep may imply that, because solar sales people are often shady, but it’s worth asking around more.
 
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I have Enphase, 39 panels and a battery. My ROI never lived up to the hype, based on the first sale (original purchase was 25 panels). Doesn't help that i added tanks since but even so the reality didn't come to fruition. Having said that, having solar and a battery - i would not go back. Battery for piece of mind! Has already come into play with PGE outages. But like others have said; buy it yourself don't lease.
 
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I’m texting him more questions to clarify on some things.

When I was relooking at the Sunrun cost of electricity compared to the current electric bill, it’s basically the same cost. I’m asking him why we’ll be paying basically the same price as we are now for electricity.

We supposedly get the new roof for free. He said that Sunrun gets money from the state which covers the cost to replace the roof. I’m asking him to clarify on why we don’t owe anything for the new roof.
 
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What's your average monthly electric bill in $? Also does that $253/mo cost include the installation of a new roof? How many years is the contract? Do you own or rent your house? Lots of factors here before looking into it more.
This month’s bill is $257.46 that’s with the CARE discount. The roof replacement is supposedly at no cost to us. The contract is 25 years. We own the house. There is no mortgage. My grandparents were the original owners in 1948. My mom inherited the house in 2014 and then me and my brother inherited the house when my mom passed away in April 2024. But the house is in the trust.
 
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They are putting the roof because if any issues with the roof occur, that would become a massive expense to remove panels to then replace the roof. Having said that, no free lunches- the cost of the roof is baked in somewhere.
 
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I would have to ask about how much I’ll pay over the life of the agreement.

I see myself passing away in the house. My grandparents were the original owners of the house in 1948.
Be VERY careful of SunRun reps, my limited experience with them has them trying to mislead and not tell you the whole story. I had them approach me when I was cleaning out my parents old house, first she promised "free solar" that got her foot in the door, I was deathly curious what she offered so I set up an appointment so she could give her spiel, and the number of times she backtracked when I questioned the "true cost" was nothing short of fantastic, I don't know if she was just an ignorant sales person, or if that is the way they teach them to operate. Needless to say, none of her pitch had a fixed monthly cost, and when she sent their proposal, (looked similar to yours) I got a good laugh out of it. Anyways I ghosted her, until one day I accidentally answered my phone, and I basically told her I was not interested because that monthly cost is way too much, and ever the salesperson she was very agreeable for me too and said we should circle back once I start renting the house... just will not let me go. Unfortunately, I had to put her in my contacts list so I don't accidentally answer the phone again :D

That said, note that your monthly payments do not give you unlimited power, if you go above what you can produce (and use from the battery) you will pay for it. So you'll pay a minimum of $253.50 each month for the first year regardless of if you use that much power or not, if you use more you'll pay more... at PG&E rates, if you use less you'll pay... $253.50 they basically hold your power usage hostage. Get out of the hobby so there's no massive electric bill... you'll still be paying a steep amount per month, FYI most people are not in the hobby for 25 years too.

Just to run some numbers based on your original post. $253.50/month for year will be a minimum of $3042, year 2 with the 3.5% escalator it'll be 3148.47, again all of this assuming you do not use more than you make. At the end of year 25, $6945.89, and you'll have paid them $118,485.50 over that 25 year period. I'm not sure if they quoted you a price to buy the system, but for me the price to buy the system was roughly 1/3 the total amount that I would pay over that same time frame. Or to put it in investment terms, essentially giving me a 4.5% APR loan for the cost of the system so that I am allowed to lease their system. And I wouldn't be surprised if they would charge me to keep it at the end of the year.

tl;dr I would not enter into any PPA with any solar company, especially if they're talking about how they have a "special deal with PG&E", they are going to do everything they can to convince you that PG&E rates "historically outpace" what they're claim of rates are, which may be true but again if you give up the hobby you'll still be footing that big monthly bill and be contractually obligated to pay it or pay some pretty massive fees to get out of the contract. Basically say "no thank you" and run the other way, PPAs are not good business sense for most people.

If you really want to put a dent into your electric bill, get some estimates on a similar sized system from other solar providers, I'm guessing SunRun will do it for $40k based on the numbers I see, so that's a good place to start if you can scrap that kind of money together, or hell even get a loan for for it at a cheaper rate. And heck if you're handy, you could even partially do some of the work yourself and have it even cheaper, bulk pallets of panels can be had for 30-40 cents per watt these days.
 
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My Sunrun experience was a little different but we purchased ours instead of leasing. Our electric bill was between $300-600/month. At first they wanted to sell us a system that covered about 90% of our previous usage. Their rationale was that why would we finance extra juice (over 100%) just to sell it back to the grid at a discount. They felt 93% was the sweet spot. We told them we planned on using more juice once we got solar. Our system generates about 120% of our previous usage. We put as many panels as we could along with adding a battery. Our bill is essentially $280 (the loan payment). No true up bills yet.
I don’t understand the whole increasing price. It I assume that is for leasing.
 
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If you end up taking out a loan of some sort to purchase, be sure to see if it would affect your home cost basis/reassessment.
I will. The other day we got a San Mateo County Supplemental Tax statement. Luckily it didn’t go up by that much. We are still paying less than most of or neighbors.
 
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