Steps To Ensure You Have A Great Solar Experience

Most homeowners who go solar find it to be a pleasant experience and immediately notice savings. After all, we do know solar works. It can be found on some of the iconic buildings in the United States, like The White House and Staples Center in Los Angeles. But every now and then you will hear of homeowners who had an unpleasant experience or didn’t notice immediate savings. Let’s get into some of these reasons it could have gone wrong, and how a performance guarantee can protect homeowners and their investment.

Sizing Your Solar System Correctly

The first thing you can do to avoid having a future bill to the utility company is to make sure your system is sized correctly. At Cascade Power, the first step is an energy assessment.  We retrieve the homeowner’s utility data, down to the very last kwh used in the home. This allows us to determine how many solar panels your home requires to ensure you won’t be stuck buying excess power from the utility company on top of paying for solar. This process is Net Energy Metering and you can find out more here.

When homeowners have a solar system that is unknowingly sized incorrectly, they end up getting a big bill at the end of the year from the utility company for power used that their solar system did not create. They’re not pleased and their expectations were not met. Most will feel that they are double paying.

This can all be avoided by making sure the system is sized correctly. At Cascade Power were experts in sizing solar systems and determining future power needs. Homeowners also have the ability to download their usage and confirm the solar system is sized correctly.

Protection From Under producing Solar Systems

Having a performance guarantee with your solar system is the number one most important guarantee you can get from the solar company you choose. Very few solar companies offer a performance guarantee because it requires 2 jobs instead of 1. Every solar company has job 1, which is to install the solar system. Cascade Power is one of the select few who will guarantee the power for 25 years, which is an added 2nd job that lasts 25 years after the install.

Typically, when you buy a solar system the solar company will give you a projection of how much electricity the solar panels will produce during the year. For example, they say it will produce 12,000 kWhs in year 1. If that solar system has problems and ends up producing 5,000 kWhs in that year instead, the homeowner would have paid their solar payment, and also purchased the extra 7,000 kwhs the solar panels did not produce from the utility company. They will not get a refund on the solar system. After all, they own it and it’s their responsibility. Yes, there are manufacturer warranties and it will get fixed eventually. But this will result in the homeowner double paying, and in most cases feeling frustrated they even got solar, because now their electricity was actually more expensive. The return on investment that was initially anticipated is absent.

A performance guarantee ensures you won’t be double paying if your solar system is under producing, because you’re compensated for lost energy any time the solar system is down. With most solar companies there is no pressure to fix a solar system if it’s not operating. When a solar company is guaranteeing your power, they have an extra obligation to fulfill. If your system is down it costs the solar company money, so there is added pressure to fix any issues immediately. This ensures homeowners will not be double paying for power for the next 25 years. We offer a performance guarantee with every solar system we install. Solar coverage doesn’t get better than that.

Monitoring Your Solar System

Monitoring your solar system can be an effective way to ensure it’s running correctly. You can notice trends year over year and make sure your system is running efficiently over time. With most solar companies this is something you may want to keep an eye on. When you go with a company like Cascade Power, we are guaranteeing you power. Which means the responsibility is also on us to monitor your system and ensure it’s running correctly at all times. Solar is fairly low maintenance but you will always have the option to monitor your system at Cascade Power.

The Cascade Power Experience

At Cascade Power we guarantee to size your system correctly and let you know exactly how much power we can offset from the utility company. On top of that, you will receive a performance guarantee to ensure what we say happens, actually happens.

The first step is to get an energy assessment so we can design a system that is right for you. Click here to get a custom design.