Actually, Solar City is mostly just a marketing, and financing system. They then hire local companies to do the installations according to their specs.
Yes, they demand efficiency from those local companies, and that is where the weeding out happens I guess. Similar to my experience with Geothermal. I got estimates from $28k to $45k for the same job. And turns out the real pros were the $28k and the other estimates were from "me too" contractors jumping on the bandwagon. Bob -----Original Message----- From: EV [mailto:ev-boun...@lists.evdl.org] On Behalf Of Michael Ross via EV Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 11:14 AM To: Zeke Yewdall Cc: Electric Vehicle Discussion List Subject: Re: [EVDL] Solar now under $1.50 INSTALLED in Maryland I am sympathetic to the local proprietor thing, I go to the market, buy at the little hardware store, the local coffee shop. But I think many installers are less than efficient (there is a national effort to reduce soft costs). Why does it take a week and 5 trips by the main crew and a number of other visits to make a straightforward install happen? I got very good workmanship, but I was really scratching my head after 3 days. I think dealing with the utilities adds a layer that the installer has to manage - which is not subject to competition. Does Duke power care if the installer has to have two on staff to call them and write emails? Maybe Solarcity and other trickier methods can be the competition to drive the cost down. If a local supplier is not being a good competitor then maybe they should not be as successful as they are now. On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 9:55 AM, Zeke Yewdall <zyewd...@gmail.com> wrote: > In Colorado, they only work with one of the utilities here (the one > with some minimal incentives). They typically won't work with any of > the other utilities that don't offer incentives, or who have a limited > pool of incentives. We do a lot of work with the other utilities, > consequently :) > > I have mixed feelings about them. Opening up access to solar to > people without the up front cash is good... but the number of local > companies that have gone under due to low cost leases being offered by > solar city (and a few others), and the number of orphaned PV systems > with no warrantee any more is not good. > > Z > > > On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 7:41 AM, Rick Beebe via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> > wrote: > >> I have 9.3kw of SolarCity cells on my house using their Power >> Purchase Agreement (PPA) and they've been great to work with. With a >> PPA I basically agreed to buy all the electricity the panels produce. >> They would have installed it with absolutely no money out of my >> pocket but I elected to pay them $1000 to lock my rate in for 20 >> years. Payback was four years based on historical electric company >> rate changes but they raised it 15% this past January so my payback will be even quicker. >> >> They're not in every state, though, and I suspect that the ones they >> are in are the ones with the best state incentives. >> >> --Rick >> >> On 06/29/2014 04:01 PM, Michael Ross via EV wrote: >> > >> > I am interested in Solarcity. They offer a way for people with >> > less >> funds >> > and credit to get solar on their house. But, I have not figured >> > out >> quite >> > how they operate in all the various situations that people find >> themselves >> > in vis a vis their utility and local government. >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub >> http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org >> For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA ( >> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) >> >> > -- Put this question to yourself: should I use everyone else to attain happiness, or should I help others gain happiness? *Dalai Lama * Tell me what it is you plan to do With your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver, "The summer day." To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. Thomas A. Edison <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasaed125362.html> A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought. *Warren Buffet* Michael E. Ross (919) 550-2430 Land (919) 576-0824 <https://www.google.com/voice/b/0?pli=1#phones> Google Phone (919) 631-1451 Cell (919) 513-0418 Desk michael.e.r...@gmail.com <michael.e.r...@gmail.com> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20140630/e7f462 99/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
