Sustainable Energy Systems LLC

We recently had a solar panel system installed on our house by Sustainable Energy Systems. The quality of their work is top-notch and I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a reliable and trustworthy contractor. Kenny Tompkins and his team were very impressive with their professionalism and attention to detail throughout the entire design, permitting, installation and start-up process. We evaluated six solar panel contractors and they came out on top in regards to cost, references and expertise. Kenny Tompkins was always available to answer any questions we had and made sure that we were completely satisfied. Thank you Sustainable Energy Systems for a job well done!

SES was fantastic about scheduling, communication, and helping me build my knowledge and understanding so that I could make the best decisions possible along the way. Very happy with the outcome.

The whole process went smoothly, from the initial consultation to the final inspection. They were very responsive and professional. I'd highly recommend them.

The SES gang did a great job estimating, designing and installing a 32 panel array on our residence in Frederick. We signed a contract in September, needed to have a new roof installed and did some insulation work before the PV array could start installation. Almost all of the SES work was finished by the end of the year, and we started generating KWhs in late January. There's a lot of paperwork for this sort of job, so I feel it went along as planned with no overages or screw-ups.

Kurt Zwally was excellent at presenting cost and configurations options, at explaining, at being responsive, and doing his very best at accommodating our needs. In the end, SES' proposal was a very close second best, and only by a very small margin. I'm confident they would have done an equally good job on my system.

Our salesman, Kurt Zwally, explained solar sizing, installation, and how the system worked with the electric company. The team that installed our system were very professional and answered our many questions. Kurt helped with the paper work for selling SRECs and applying for the MD rebate.

SES was great! Everyone was professional and extremely respectful. Everything they promised we would get they delivered on. If doing another solar project, I would turn to this company again without question.

They were fabulous. Their employees we curteous, helpful, and prompt. I would highly recommend them to anyone.

Wonderful. SES representatives were courteous and prompt and were a pleasure to deal with. They were knowledgeable and responsive to my questions and concerns. And because this contract was negotiated via the Frederick County Solar Coop with the assistance of MD SUN, I know I received a very competitive price.

The installation was fine. The follow up, however, was not very good. I didn't get good support from them. They called me about a month ago asking to give a referral and I wanted to reach them to let them know that I couldn't give them a referral because they wouldn't support me in the aftermath. When you get solar panels on your house, they assured me that I would get kickback from the electric company and that my energy bills would be reduced and that the electrical company would pay me. My energy bills have not been reduced and I have not received any kickback. I tried to contact them to try to figure out why this was happening and they won't answer my calls or return my calls. If they can come to me now years later wanting me to give them a referral, they should be willing to come to me to ask how the product is serving me.

This project went extremely well. It would be hard to think of anything that could have improved the service of Sustainable Energy Systems. Their proposals were timely and detailed. Their sales consultant worked with us in analyzing the options and pluses/minuses to help us in our selection. After we chose Sustainable Energy Systems was on top of every aspect of the project. Their engineers designed the system providing us with the documentation to garner the approval of the Home Owner's Assn. They took care of all permits, scheduling the inspections, coordinating with the power company for the installation of the net metering system. They even offered to to attend the HOA committee meeting when this project was being reviewed. The installation took two days, as per schedule, and went smoothly and professionally.. We are very happy and satisfied with the company, the people, the service and their product. Our first electric bill after installation was @ 30% lower than comparable months even though the system was running for only 8 days of the month. In the first full month of operation the system produced 872 .16 kW hours to offset our average monthly usage of 750 kWh. We expect to see a very nice electric statement next week to reflect this. In the entire process Sustainable Energy Systems coordinated with multiple contractors and county inspectors complicated by problems with our new roof and the contractor. We had arranged this in preparation for this solar system. These issues were totally unrelated to the solar system and occurred before the solar installation. The roofers improperly installed the wrong shingles. Sustainable Energy Systems worked remarkably well to make the adjustments and re-installations work efficiently. During this entire process there was only one minor glitch and it was resolved that same day. The electric company requires that the system cannot be operated until they issue their Permission To Operate after their final inspection. Sustainable Energy thought that the electric company had sent it to us. But on the day that all work was completed we both reviewed our files. They found it in theirs and forwarded it to us. So all was well and the system was turned up on the first eligible day losing no opportunity to produce our solar power. We are thrilled.

Our experience with SES was great. Everyone I dealt with was well informed, polite, punctual and happy to answer any questions I had. The installation crew was great and cleaned up well. The installation went smoothly and SES was great at following up after the installation and assisted with the permitting and registration paperwork. I would recommend them to anyone interested in going Solar in the area.

Ryan patiently and diligently walked me through the process and my options and guided me toward the solutions that would work best for me. He never applied pressure and even referred me to rivals for competing proposals. Ultimately, I ended up going with one of those competing proposals that was tough to beat, and Ryan was gracious about the whole thing. He's a true mensch who knows his stuff. I was glad that Ryan was the first person I consulted on my solar project, and anyone would be lucky to work with him. Don't go solar without getting a proposal and some insights from SES.

SES was responsive and professional. Their proposals detailed the components and costs, along with projected power bill savings and solar renewable energy credit (SREC) accrual. There were some hiccups because a) they ran out of the solar panels that I had originally requested and the replacement panels were a bit pricier and b) there was some confusion between work crews about state of the work between the installation dates. Throughout the process, Ryan and Jose from SES were very responsive to email and Jake and the other installers were efficient and able to explain the details to me. I'm really excited to have the solar system in place and am looking forward to watching my energy production. I would definitely work with SES again in the future.

Overall it went very well, although there was miscommunication between the person who took the measurements and the person who designed the system, which resulted in too few panels installed. SES added additional panels later though, and they were very professional about the whole situation. The project manager was very responsive and helpful and all of the electricians and installers did a great job as well.

Very well!

In the beginning, they were very responsive and helpful. However, once the work started, it became a chore to keep following up with them and making sure they were going through all the right steps to make sure we could be operational. During the process, they "lost our paperwork while they were moving offices" which had our personal information. It was very concerning, but we resubmitted everything. In the install phase, we had requested (and paid upfront) for a critter guard, but on install day, they forgot to add them! It took two weeks of following up with them for the guards to be finally put up. Still, we had to keep following up with them to make sure they were following up with the county and utility as needed. Once we paid the full balance, they didn't even tell us they got the check or give us the tax documents so we could file the reimbursement. Even now, we are having problems with our monitoring system, they did not help us with diagnosing the issue. We had to look through the technical manual and are still waiting for a response from SES. Overall, they were the cheapest vendor, but you get what you paid for in service quality.

I started working with Sustainable Energy Solutions in December 2014 when they came out to inspect my roof for an installation. Seven months later when the work was not complete due to numerous errors we ended our work with them and canceled our purchase. The whole process was suppose to be 2-3 months from start to finish. Throughout that process Sustainable sent numerous incorrect application forms to PEPCO, sometimes sending in forms from Maryland instead of DC, submitting specs above what DC allows, and without a required filing fee. Finally Sustainable screwed up another filing form and opted to forge my signature rather than let us know they made another mistake. When I saw the fake signature and contacted them they explained it was done to save me time since I previously signed a similar form. After that we had to fire them and received a refund of our deposit. Aside from the lack of professionalism the system they were building had a few less than desirable features. First they were going to mount it directly to my roof against the recommendations of my roofing company. We had asked about a mounting system that spanned party walls and sat elevated but they said they did not install them because of quality issues. They also were using just one inverter for 17 panels, rather than individual micro-inverters on each panel. The company we selected to correctly do the install said both of these were not best practices. In the end the new company completed the full install, with better solutions, in six weeks compared with the seven months of failed attempts to even get started with Sustainable. Sustainable had very polite staff that seemed energetic about what they were doing. However I can not recommend anyone use them given the numerous mistakes, basic lack of any quality control, and likely illegal activity (forgery).

Great! Very pleased wit the entire process. SES provided a true turn-key solar option helping with all the incentive paperwork and dealings with the utility. Prompt and professional from the first call to the installation. Highly recommended!

It went great. Took about six weeks from agreeing to the estimate and installation. Zayne was and still is very helpful in explaining this solar hot water system.