Solar Electrical Systems

They did an excellent job and got it done very quickly, there was a small delay due to paperwork and county changing paperwork, but other than that, it went quickly. His prices were very reasonable and he was very professional and knowledgeable. I would highly recommend their services to others.

I was initially skeptical, but Dave Green answered all my questions and even went beyond my expectations to make sure my unit functioned properly. He still maintains contact with me. Grade A guy and company.

Solar Electric installed a wonderful new solar panel system at my home. We had used them 10 years ago on another house with great success. Everything went smoothly and as promised. Would highly recommend this company to anyone.

Our system was installed in 2007. Solar Electrical Systems project managed the whole process from beginning to end - securing permit with the City of Palm Springs as well a meeting with Edison to secure approval for our system and its operation. They also secured a grant from California to cover about $21,000 of the cost leaving approximate $61,000 balance for us to pay. Our house is approximately 3200 sf with a pool, spa and dual zone a/c and heating. We are full time residents. Our electric bills have been between $200 to $400 annually since the system was installed and we have had no issues with the system. It works beautifully. We do have issues with the roofer with whom they contracted. We have a clay roof. Tiles were removed and shingles were installed on the roof prior to securing the solar panels. Clay tiles were reinstalled around the solar panels and just underneath all edges so our panels appear to be floated on top of our clay roof which is very attractive. We were not happy with the roofer and continue to have problems with one area of clay tiles that edge one area of our roof. We have had one roofer out to work on this prior to joining Angie's list who made the issue worse. So we now have to have another roofer out to address this. Our project manager was not responsive to our roofing issues and and told us our work was performed to California standards. A year later tiles began to fall off our roof at the edge as they were not properly secured. This will continue to cost us money until the tiles are properly secured..

THE INSTALLATION WENT WELL AND ON TIME.

In my opinion, this company wasn't just bad, they were terrible. It went poorly from the start. It took several iterations for them to size the system and then they convinced me a $3,000 electrical service upgrade was required (turns out wasn't). The electrical meter was installed below the allowed height for the meter and now, every time I move my trash cans to the street, the meter gets banged. They tried to charge me extra and up-sell me at every step of the process. After signing the contract and receiving the project plan's (which contained multiple errors), they wanted to charge me $250 extra to move a vent pipe (which we had already agreed would be moved) and then $200 to level the Solar array on the roof. I generally expect things I buy to be build level, straight and even. They preformed an engineering estimate of the annual solar power production and included it in the contract and since what I was buying is solar power, I asked how accurate is the estimate, they claimed that the systems they install always produce more than they estimate. Subsequently, they lowered the estimate by ~15% when they had to submit the claim form to Edison to receive the rebate credit. The roof was re-installed incorrectly and the inverter was not installed or located correctly per the Manufacturer's Installation Manual. I ended up taking this company to Small Claims court and received enough money back to fix the roof. What a hassle. This was a bad experience all around, I was disappointed with almost every aspect of their service and installation. Beware, they seem friendly enough until they have your money. They structure the contract so that you must pay them in full before you can operate the system. Use somebody else - these guys are the worst I've ever seen and I am being kind here.

After interviewing several companies, we chose Solar City because of their reputation to care for the solar panels installed for the duration of our lease contract. As well as to repair any roof issues as well. We chose them because they weren't pushing the biggest kilowatt panel out put, which incidentally the Government rebate is largest for the larger system, and not that one actually needs that amount of energy usage. We also chose them because of the 'locked' in consumption rate. Especially after getting a $500+ Edison invoice with the recent rate increases in January, so the summer probably would have been near $800 or $1,000 easily. Once the contract was signed, Solar arranged HOA architectural approval and scheduled the install date. In March they finished the installation in 2 days (Monday and Tuesday) that Friday the inspector checked the system and corrected some detail. Solar came out and waited for the inspector, coming out at 8 am! April 8th, we received word from Edison that our system was accepted and ready to start up.

I had a good experience. They were up front with letting me know what was going on. The price was reasonable since we did a little bit of pricing. We could see where their price point was.

.They did a good job.

They performed the services exactly as promised and exactly on time, which is the first time in my life that a contractor did that. I was positively surprised that they got the work done in two days and it all worked and looked perfectly. Their workers were expremely professional and need no management by myself whatsoever. It has been a uniquely positive experience - just amazing.

Prompt, clean and really great educating us about how things would work. My electric bills went from $290/mo (on level pay) to $145/year!

They did a good job, everything was fine.

I signed a contract and had a terrible experience. They came out, did a site survey and made a proposal on the design of where the solar panels would go. Later, they sent structural engineers and found that the design they had proposed would not function properly. So they had to redo the entire proposal. Throughout that whole process, they were really bad about communication. They would not reply to my e-mails or phone calls for weeks. Even when I would send a confirmation wondering when someone was coming out, they would not confirm it, they would just show up. At one time it was at 7.45 in the morning on a weekday. Eventually, I just got fed up because they were not at all responsive. I asked if we could terminate the contract because we wanted to look at working with someone else. They let me do that pretty painlessly. So it thought that they were just not interested in our business. They had lot of big contracts and this was just a residential project so maybe they were just too busy. It was a disappointing experience. I was actually surprised because they were rated so high. They price their stuff a little differently because they finance the cost of the rebate. So their contract was for $15,697. When we work in Los Angeles we get a rebate from LADWP which will work out to around $15,000. So, some of the solar companies finance that for us. We never pay that out of pocket. Then they get the rebate. Some times the customers pay the full cost which is around $30,000 and the customers get the rebate. That is why there are such big pricing discrepancies between companies. In the end, everything comes out to around $30,000 and we get back $15,000. It depends on who gets the money. I will not use this company in the future.

I called for bids from three companies. One was inept, making impossible claims - a joke - in spite of splashy ads in the mail. Another was competitive, but I simply liked the style of the Solar Electrical Systems representative. And they were local with what seemed to be a good record. They did a great job, collaborating with the roofer (for which job I also got competitive bids - their guy had a good price and did a competent job). Their price was in line with the going rate, it seemed. They took care of the rebate paperwork. The installation took place on time and the crew was hard working and friendly. The system has worked flawlessly from day one.

We took multiple bids for our solar array and chose Solar Electric Systems because they were the most professional, competitive pricing and reputation. We were well pleased with their crews who were polite, knowledgeable and (bonus) cleaned up after themselves. They took care of all the permitting, paperwork with Glendale DWP and documentation for tax credits. They have been very prompt on follow up service. I would readily recommend them for anyone looking to add solar to their homes or businesses

The estimate process was slow and deliberate, taking more than one visit to exactly calculate the size and location of our system, and the amount to be rebated by DWP, but once that happened the process really sped up, and they finished weeks ahead of schedule. They handled all DWP and city permit paperwork, all of which went very fast. They initially told us we might have to wait another month for the rebate to arrive, but when a spot opened on their schedule they immediately rescheduled us for the next day, and they finished the installation in less than a week. It would have been even quicker but for the fact we had the roofers redo our entire roof, instead of just patching around the installation (highly recommended, BTW, as a naked roof allows SES to actually see exactly where they're spotting their jacks). The roofers were recommended by SES, and bid $1,000 less than our regular guy, and did a great job,coordinating with SES to insure solid installation. There were some inverter location issues, having to do with a kitchen remodel we were about to do, but the SES electricians worked with us to find solutions. In the end, SES hung out for hours waiting for the city inspector, who praised their work and passed us with flying colors. SES even took the trouble of re-screwing our central AC unit to it's base, as it had apparently come loose during the roofing work. They are a tight and sharp unit.

They were very good, it was very prompt, they handled the process very well, I thought that there prices were reasonable for the services that they were doing.

Work wasdone to my satisfaction. They helped obtain permits and rebate paperwork from DWP. They also coordinated schedules with roof company to install roof jacks and flashings. They were punctual on appointments.

I especially like the tax credit paper work that I will submit with my tax returns. They will also handle all the rebate paper work.