Sorry in advance for the long review but hopefully it is useful. My wife and I (mostly me) became interested in "going solar" shortly after purchasing our house a year and a half ago. We did the math and the 30% federal rebate made all the difference in the world, so we decided to take advantage before it expires at the end of 2016 and before "time of use" rates go into effect. First we went with the largest regional solar company. Everything seemed on the up and up at first. They said it would take 2 months to install the system and after 3 months they had made no progress at all. I spoke with the VP of the company and he said that I was realistically looking at an installation/hookup time of closer to 1 year! During this year I was expected to either pay upfront or pay interest on the loan without getting a single kWHr from the uninstalled system. So we cancelled the contract. Next we went with the largest national company. I am a scientist by profession so I am not totally clueless when it comes to estimating how large of a solar system I need to offset my usage 100%. This second company was obsessed with selling me the largest possible system and nothing else. Ultimately they wanted to lease me a system that would produce 3 times as much electricity as I used. Be wary of leasing solar panels it can be a good deal but only if most of your electricity usage is in a higher tier and you only install a small enough system to offset the usage in the higher cost tiers. Otherwise, the system will make you lose money because you buy the electricity from the solar company for ~10 cents per kWhr whether you use it or not. Any unused electricity gets sold back to the electrical company for 4 cents per kWHr or a net loss to you of 6 cents per kWHr. In our case we would have lost $150 a month for 25 years if we had signed the contract. At this point we really considered not going solar. Then I contacted the largest local company in our area, Solarco. We mainly went with them because they have been around a long time and they are very likely to remain in business after the "solar bonanza" ends after the 2016 rebates expire. Also we liked the fact that they do all their own work and do not subcontract anything. This is what allows them do the installation in 6 weeks instead of 6 months. At first, the price of the system did not appear to be competitive with their competitors. However, upon closer examination the price was very competitive and in our case the cheapest of any bid we got. Solarco prices their systems on guarantied annual production at the end of the warranty for the system, which is 25 years. Keeping in mind the panels lose about 1% of their efficiency per year. This means that if you don't have a south facing roof then Solarco will build your system bigger for the same cost. In our case we had to put the panels on the eastern roof of our house. So the "3.0 kW" system actually turned out to be a "4.6 kW" system. Now all of the sudden Solarco was about 15% cheaper than the next closest bid. I recommend Solarco for any installation but if you have to install the system on a non-south facing roof, they will not only be the fastest installation, but also the cheapest. Dealing with everyone at the company has gone very smoothly and I have no complaints. They did exactly what they said they would do and there was never a hassle at any point in the process. We have not received our first full statement with the panels operating but I am very confident our year round electric bill will be zero, other than the base fees that SMUD makes you pay no matter what. Overall I am very pleased with Solarco and highly recommend them. Their time from signing the contract to installing the system is about 3-4 times faster than anyone else out there. This is really important if you are considering going solar in the sping/summer of 2016 to try and take advantage of the federal rebate before it goes away. The other solar companies will say they can install your system in 2-3 months but don't believe them. Solarco told me it would take 6 weeks for installation and it took 6 weeks to the day. Nice to know there are still some companies out there that say what they will do and deliver. My only advice before going solar would be to do an energy audit of your house. I thought my house was at tip top efficiency because of dual pane windows, a new HVAC, energy star appliances, and mostly LED lighting. I installed all LED lighting, unplugged the small hot tube, installed a whole house fan, added a couple of smart power strips, started washing my clothes in cold/warm water instead of warm/hot, and dried my laundry outside in the summer and my electricity bill dropped by 55%! It let us go with the smallest solar system to offsite all of our electrical usage instead of a larger system. So for a thousand dollars we save $15,000 ($11,000 after federal rebate) on the solar system. read more

If you are like me and curious about a solar energy solution, you will probably do your homework. When you review the literature and meet with consultants, SolarCo will be the obvious choice. From pricing to service to guarantees, they are hands-down the company to go with. My experience was excellent, but not without it's challenges. I will share my experience so you can better understand why SolarCo would be right for you: I had several representatives pan our neighborhood during the summer months peddling solar solutions. Most who came to the door didn't represent themselves well enough for me to consider their company. The SolarCo rep however was courteous and knowledgeable and didn't pressure me for a consultation. Because of this, I later called SolarCo directly for an expert to come to our home. Our representative, Joe, came to our house and was very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. I would give the caution to everyone who gets to this stage that this consultation is every bit a sales visit. They of course will answer your questions as a consultant, but they are ultimately there to close a deal. This is not a bad thing! Just be prepared that this is a sale. I did enough research on SolarCo before the visit that I was prepared to sign that day if everything I heard was to my liking. I would suggest getting yourself to this point before the visit. That said, I gave a degree of pushback and Joe was able to sweeten the deal by offering their Neighborhood Solar Ambassador package to us. I cannot say this with certainty, but this offer feels every bit of a closing strategy and would be worth some initial pushback from closing to see if you are offered the same. It includes the microinverters for free as well as a signing bonus. What's great is also allows me the opportunity to get referral bonuses when I talk to my friends and neighbors about SolarCo. It is certainly worth the effort. SolarCo expertly handled the permits and approvals from our HOA, which was a big relief. I must admit that I was not as attentive as a could have been (due to vacations and other events) that I actually was the one who slowed the process down. Never once did SolarCo pressure me to move more quickly and they were very patient through the whole process of getting the installation ready. A big plus in my book. The installation ended well, but it did have some challenges. The initial install did not work the way they had planned (the diameter of conduit they initially put up was too small for the span they were trying to cover...blah, blah, blah) and they had to redo it. This process took in excess of a day. They came back the next morning and finished the job. Although we had to brainstorm in how to do this, they were still very courteous and professional and ultimately got the job done. They brought in a second team to expedite the install once they realized it was going sideways. I chalk this up to a challenging roof layout and does not reflect the installers themselves. One of the installers even damaged one of my ladders by accident and SolarCo replaced it without me even having to ask. I don't hold a company to perfection, but the fact that they were so ready to correct any possible mistakes to make me satisfied with their service speaks volumes of this company. I would say, be patient with this install, call them out if something does not appear correct, and they will finish a very professional install for you. After the final install and final inspection, SolarCo has had to come back out to my house on 2 different occasions to make adjustments. I do not mind the visits as it means they are monitoring my system and ready to act when something is amiss. I would recommend ready the literature on the system and monitor it as well. I have no doubt that SolarCo would go the extra mile to make sure it is running in top-notch fashion. Ultimately I am very satisfied with my solar solution and highly recommend them. Do yourself a favor and research them. Also, research the products they use in their install to see which panels are right for you (I chose the LG's after ready online reviews of the panels themselves and seeing the technology that goes into them). And lastly, don't be afraid to look foolish by asking "dumb" questions! It's worth it to yourself to have every question you can think of answered before you make this commitment. I did, and I now feel very confident that I got the best solar solution I could. I have now seen two PG&E bills where the electrical is $0! I am building kilowatt hours for the hot summer months ahead. I could not be happier. read more

I can't speak for others, but we recently "employed" SolarCo for our first home in south Vacaville. Ab initio to the present, at all interactions the company has been a pleasure to work with and there are numerous but important points that work to SolarCo's advantage that some other companies aren't as consistent about. All of the employees are generally knowledgeable more than they need to be for each of their duties. Selecting efficient employees is what smart companies do because they can often assist with potential issues before they actually become real, bigger problems later when things may be inconvenient. Anyway, when Craig showed up, I was a little skeptical he was going to be an aggressive guy, but my attitude began to deliquesce as he began to titivate me about the overall technology by initially explaining the benefits of why I should buy outright or not at all (leasing Solar panels sucks because when you sell your house you can't link the leased panels into your sale price since they are owned by some other company). AT NO TIME did Craig ever pressure me into buying, but instead took the "let me inform you on the actual benefits of solar IF IT WORKS FOR YOUR SITUATION." Cool. Another benefit Craig pointed out is that with PG&E, your monthly bill just...goes down the drain and what tangible assets have gained with endless PG&E bills? NOTHING. When you buy a Solar system, you "trade" a PG&E electric bill for a solar system installation monthly payment, so you've got an asset that can add to the selling price of your house (assuming you pay off the system, which honestly isn't that expensive for the lower-level options). SolarCo will ask you for several prior month bills-and my family is a low-power usage situation due to our house being directly in line with the "delta breeze" so our home does not stay hot 3 out of 7 days during the hottest temperature of the summer since the wind blows the heat away by 6 PM on those evenings. However, I found that I liked the idea of mostly eliminating the electric bill for a solar system so that my house is honestly electrically self-powered. I'm still sort of pissed off at PG&E for their callous initial handling about the deaths of the San Bruno gas explosion from a few years ago. Back to the SolarCo experience, they sent an engineer out to examine the house for suitability and then shortly after that the installation took place after I signed some paperwork. As I had questions, each employee that came out to visit, gave me the answer I was looking for. Good customer service that is consistent is something many companies lack...still and SolarCo seems to have hired good employees at every level. The panels' performance is set for 25 years, but they may last up to 35 years, although I'll sell my house long before that happens, but they are generating power now in real time and then you can monitor the performance over a web site managed by their technology vendor Enphase. I also like the fact that when I go on vacation, the solar panels are generating power and building a credit with PG&E and I don't need to wonder why I still have a low electric bill despite not being around. Hopefully you can see that owning a solar system has many benefits beyond the tax rebates. You can choose things like whether or not you want micro-inverters (you really do want that so the each panel is uniquely managed and generates power independently instead of an all-or-nothing, lower performance panel option) and then the vendor of the actual panel, which has some different pricing configurations. That being said, SolarCo won't try to automatically sell you the high end panels and we went with the Hyundai (yep, the car company who makes other stuff) panels, but they work well enough. Today, our system is up and running and I've dropped SolarCo's name a few times in some social circles when people I interact with bring up home asset additions. So give them a chance to earn your business based on the benefits and I'd say with SolarCo, you'll get an honest experience with informed staff who seem to take pride in their work. Hassle-free companies are worth commenting about. read more

We had a great experience acquiring a solar system from SolarCo, and enjoy using renewable energy at competitive rates. We're a high-tech family with lots of gadgets that need constant feeding of electricity. Using solar makes sense for a lot of reasons, but we've been waiting for costs to come down. Because we live in the Roseville Electric service area, which already has some of the lowest costs per kilowatt hour of electricity in the area ($0.10 to $0.17/KW), investing a generating our own electricity had to make sense financially. We wanted a system that we could purchase over time (no upfront investment) for no more than we were already paying for with our local electric company. We solicited advice and bids from many different solar companies. We provided a detailed history of our electrical usage, cost, and pictures of our roof. SolarCo didn't have the fanciest sales presentation, but Eugene, our consultant, answered all our questions, and helped us evaluate our different options and offers from other contractors to our satisfaction. We purchased a 7 kilowatt (AC) system. Once we signed the contract, everything moved like clockwork. Everyone associated with the project was professional (approachable, communicated well, on-time). SolarCo ensured that all of the administrative details were in order (paperwork for financing, rebates, tax credit) and made navigating through the process easy. With a week, an engineer (Bryles) was on site, and provided a preliminary plan for 9.6 kW DC / 8.4 kW AC nominal system consisting of 37 panels. Within a few weeks, the city approved the plans and we had an install date a few week later. The system was installed in one day, a Saturday, without issues. Amazingly, the city did an inspection and had our meter replaced the following Monday. The only issue came later with a tile broken during a followup SolarCo quality assurance inspection. The following day, I texted Cameron, who did the follow up, a picture at 10:15AM. Later that afternoon, he texted me a picture of the roof with a message "All fixed" at 3:21PM. We received our rebate from the Roseville Electric and look forward to the federal tax credit of 30% of the system cost. It is nice to see our meter run backwards from time to time during the day, but of course we use the grid at night. It's easy to see how much we're generating--there is a smartphone app and web portal where we can monitor our system. Since the end of July our system has generated about 4 mWH. Over the last couple of months, our net usage of electricity from Roseville Electric has been less than one-tenth of what is was last year (174 vs 1821 kWH). So we've paid only $0.10/kWH Tier I prices, or about $40 per month (there are connection fees) to Roseville Electric, where we were paying an average of $300 per month. That said, our budget for electricity hasn't changed, because we're still paying for the system over time. But rather than paying for service (like rent), we're paying into the equity in our home. We plan to stay in our house a while, and look forward to eventually not paying for electricity--something we couldn't do without a solar system. We're definitely happy with our system, and pleased with the work that SolarCo did. We may have been lucky, had good timing, or perhaps an easy install, but nonetheless, SolarCo provided a system for a competitive price that met all of our objectives for the project. They set reasonable expectations, and exceeded them. If you're entertaining purchasing a system, consider SolarCo among your options. read more

We had previously considered solar for our home but the pricing was too high to make for a reasonable rate of return. We had previously had some pushy solar sales people who wanted to steer us toward power purchase agreements or leasing the panels but I was pretty convinced that owning the system would be the best financial option, so I was a bit wary. However, this past summer our electric bills had been higher than in previous years and I wondered if increasing electric utility rates and lower prices for panels had changed the picture. When the SolarCo door to door salesman came buy our neighborhood I asked for them to give us a quote. They arranged to have a sales rep come to our home. He arrived promptly at the time we requested (evening for our convenience with work schedules). He explained the long history of the company in providing solar power in the Sacramento area - this isn't some recent bandwagon company. He also explained that they don't do leasing or power purchase agreements because they don't make sense for the customer - this ethical stance is a real plus in my view. He outlined the options for panels and inverters and explained the way the tax credits, etc work. We elected to have a 3KW system with Enphase microinverters to try to offset the bulk of our electrical power needs. The prices were signficantly better than quotes we had received previously. We signed the contract and the company began walking us through the process of permitting with the city, HOA approval, and SMUD interconnect approval. The overall process took about 7 weeks from contract to installation with the long pole being SMUD. Throughout this time, Solarco was keeping us updated on the progress. On the install day, they showed up with a crew at the designated time and were done in about 4 hours. We had to wait a couple more weeks for building inspection sign off and SMUD to come to connect the 2nd meter to monitor for panel power production and net metering. Solarco gave us an app to monitor production from our phone and they also monitor the system as well to let us know if any of the panels or inverters starts degrading or goes offline. We have now had a bit over one full month since the system was active with net metering active. Since November/December have short days with the sun low in the sky the panels have only been generating about 11-13kWH per day, even less on cloudy days. This is only about 1/3 of what we have been using... we will have to wait for summer to see how well the system performs with long days with the sun high in the sky. Our first month SMUD bill came back with a charge of only $20.67 for the basic flat service charges, fees, etc. As we read the bill closely, it said that, after net metering, we still had consumed electricity from the utility totaling about $40 dollars. We had the choice to pay this now or wait till the end of the 12 month window and settle up then for total net electrical consumption over that time as a lump sum then. We didn't know about this pay-as-you go vs lump sum every 12 months option up front - we normally have our bills on autopay, but I am guessing that will only cover the basic service charge portion since that is the "billed and due" part... I am guessing that some customers may not read the electric bill closely and be very happy with the low bills and perhaps a big unpleasant surprise after a year. For us, we will probably pay for the usage as we go this first year and then decide in following years how to handle it. Overall, I am a very satisfied customer. read more

I had been considering solar for over a year and had done a fair amount of research. I knew I wanted to own my system (not lease). When they came to my house, I was given a great quote and the financing was great as well. There was a small hiccup on getting the rate I was quoted on the sales visit. When the loan paperwork was processed, they told me I couldn't get as low as I was quoted because my credit score was a few points low. (I had just bought the house a year prior... of course it was lower). Anyway, I contacted SolarCo and they worked with the finance company to get that resolved. There was one major problem that takes a star off. That problem is Cameron. Cameron kept dropping the ball at the office. After I signed all the paperwork, I went weeks without any update from SolarCo. I had an electrical panel upgrade planned and after 3 weeks I decided to call and find out what was going on. When I finally talked to Cameron, he informed me that the electrician was scheduled to come out within a few days and I should have gotten a call about it. Well I didn't. Ok, that's fine, that'll happen. No problem. Follow up would have been nice though. About a week later I had the install done and the installers were professional, efficient, and just plain awesome guys. They really cared about the quality of work and respected my house. I couldn't have asked for a better group of guys to work on my house. But when they went to paint my conduit to match the house, they asked for some paint. I didn't have much and they used it up before they could finish. They offered to go get more paint and come back later in the week to finish up. I gave them the can and the numbers for the formula at Dunn Edwards (where the paint was from). They came back on the next Monday morning and asked if Cameron had dropped off the paint. The answer was no. So they called and found out the paint hadn't been gotten yet. Cameron was supposed to get and drop off the paint. Shocker. A few days later some home depot paint showed up at my door with the original can. It was just left at the doorstep. (I nearly tripped over it). The installers came by later and finished up. (The paint didn't exactly match the color or sheen which is kind of a bummer because they painted the stucco around the new panel box... If they would have just taken the formula to Dunn Edwards, they would have gotten the exact paint... which is what I did and repainted my stucco myself since then). The last part of the install is to get the system inspected and get the meter installed. I went another 3 or so weeks without a single update on it. I finally called SolarCo again to find out that it should have been done but SMUD still had a week to complete the work. Well, a week later, still no meter. I called again and was told SMUD had another week to complete the work. After another week, still no meter. I called yet again and was told that "this never happens". SolarCo did make up for this dropped ball by paying for that month's electric bill since my solar still hadn't been turned on after 2 full months and I had done everything asked of me in a timely manner. Honestly, I think SolarCo is a great company with a great product at a great price. Every person that I encountered in the field was just amazing. The office however, needs some work. Cameron really soured the whole experience a bit. If it wasn't for the lack of communication from the office and the utter confusion and time wasted by Cameron, this would be a solid 5 stars! read more

We went back and forth about who to have install our solar for MONTHS! I looked into doing it ourselves, we got quotes from SolarCity, Sunworks, Aztec, and info from 3 or 4 other local installers. 6 months later, I KNOW we made the right choice to go with Solarco. Everything leading up to installation was painless and not pushy. We even ended up switching from a 5 to a 4 kw system at the last minute and it was not a problem! They worked with us to put together a great system that is producing enough that we can now run the AC plenty, and we put up an astronomical number of Christmas lights this year. Even over the winter- when the days are so much shorter- we still met targets for our planned kW output. Last April (pre-solar) we used 448 kWh. This April we netted -368 kWh meaning we produced 368 kWh more than we used. When there is work being done on my house I like to make sure it is done right, so I took the day off planning to be up on the roof with the installers the whole day. It wasn't long though that I realized they were professional, meticulous, hard working, and thorough. They were doing a fantastic job before I joined them on the roof and I went back to work confident they were doing it right. Every bracket they put on was sealed with an entire tube of roofing sealer! They didn't crack a single tile! They even had spare tiles that matched my roof to replace the one that I had cracked the year before. I cannot stress enough how pleased I am with their installation. They even went through the attic with conduit to the breaker box (a neighbor who went with one of the aforementioned companies has silver conduit running up his house, over the gutter, and across the roof to the panels on the other side... ours is seamless) and painted it to match the exterior. After everything was on the roof and powered on I was thrilled to be able to monitor production FROM MY PHONE by the day, month, or minute- keeping track of how each individual panel is doing and providing an easy way to contact Solarco in case something went wrong. A few months after we installed we had some work done in our attic putting in a whole house fan. The worker flipped the breaker to the solar panels, didn't tell us, and didn't turn them back on when he left. I didn't notice, but the technicians at Solarco called me THE NEXT DAY to let me know there was a possible issue and offered to come out FOR FREE if it was anything more than the flip of a switch. I was so impressed by their follow through that now it is time to write a review. Solarco went above and beyond what I expected or could have hoped for in a solar company, and whenever we do move, I will definitely become a repeat customer! read more

This company has been first class service since the start. I will describe why I chose SolarCo and why I am glad I did. First was the initial quote. I went through three other solar companies. One of those companies was so aggressive they started to pull permits as soon as they left my house. I did not give them the approval to do that. So needless to say I has to call them and ask them to close the permits. I looked into their reviews and wow. I read some horror stories. Next I looked into companies that are no cost and you just pay them for the electricity. Once again too much fine print and horror stories in their reviews. I was almost discouraged from solar because it is a big investment and I'm not rich. While my fathers friend was over he mentioned how he had SolarCo put up his solar. I know this person does his homework. He is retired military and will speak his mind positive or negative. After hearing what he had to say I checked the reviews. They were great. I had a SolarCo person come over and give a quote. Very competitive and similar warranties. Even better as far as production guarantee and service. 2nd was the install. I have an 8 year old house with tile roof and a detached garage. Not the easiest install. In fact no job goes as planned right. I told them I had a path from garage to house. The line I planned on using did not work. Instead of throwing in the towel and charging me more money they worked through it. I few phone calls and some extra help and the job was done. The guys were great. I felt very comfortable around them and they are very professional. While talking to them I could see the experience they have is top notch. 3rd Well,, there will be more to come on this review after enough time has gone by to see how well my solar performs and meets its target production. I have an app on my phone (Enlighten) that shows me all my production and history. So far so good. Also we just had our first big storm. I was waiting to see how the roof did after solar went up on it, no issues and that's great. This day and age electricity is everything. My kids have to have computers, pads, and a lot of devices school now requires. We use electricity and as far as conserving it, I try but it is not on top of my list. I chose Solar for two main reasons. I needed the break now and this will be great investment for the future. Also one last thing. I called SolarCo today just for a simple question. They immediately answered the phone and answered all my questions. Not a call center. SolarCo deserves every bit of the five starts I give them. I am an honest person and will say it as it is. I have no complaints thus far and will recommend to friend or family. read more

After receiving several mailings from PG&E telling us they'd be raising our rates significantly this year, we knew we had to look into solar. Our electric bill during the hot weather over the past few years was always greater than $400, topping out at just over $550 in July 2016. About the same time this past June, a guy representing Solar Co. came to our front door asking if we'd like someone to stop by and talk to us. A few days later, Joe from Solar Co. was in our living room. We were expecting a high-pressure sales pitch, but we didn't get that. It was really just a conversation, driven as much by our questions as Joe's bindered presentation. For us, it was really a discussion about the quality of living in our home - a way to save money while not feeling guilty about setting our thermostat below 80 degrees. Sure it adds value to our home and there's a nice tax credit, but we were at the point where we dreaded opening the PG&E bill during the warm months. Joe was thorough. He called PG&E and got our monthly electric usage and bill payments for the previous 12 months. Our payments averaged right about $300. We discussed our electrical usage over the same time period and then selected a system that would allow us to live in the comfort we wanted in our home at a price 33% of our average electric bill. Joe worked with us on the financing and digital signing allowed us to complete everything in the next couple of days right from our computer. In addition to the 33% out of pocket savings every month, we get a nice little 30% tax credit next year. The installation was completed in half a day, just 4 weeks later - they're pretty busy as you might imagine in June in the Sacramento valley. Solar Co. folks were in regular communications during the process and they even checked in periodically afterwards to update us on the required inspection and the final walk around and close out. They were friendly, addressed all of our concerns and questions, and left us with ways to reach them if anything came up. Our July 2017 PG&E bill was $33; $23 of that was gas. Our August bill was $22. Clearly, solar has made a difference in our lives and we're really grateful to Solar Co. for making the process so easy and pain-free. Of course, now we wondered why we didn't do it before. Finally, we got an Enlighten software account that lets us monitor our solar stats on our computers and phones. Nice! If you're tired of high electric bills, we wholly recommend the folks at Solar Co. Visit their website at www.solarcosolutions.com or call them at (877) 761-0213. We think you'll be glad you did. read more

Going solar is a big decision that requires vision as well as number crunching. This review may seem a bit long winded, yet I believe a decision of this expense needs in depth consideration to ensure that it matches up with your lifestyle and goals. After 40 years we moved from an 1888 home in Rhode Island to a 2003 northern California home in January of 2015. We liked the idea of solar especially due to the long clear sky summers in our area. We are basically retired and the numbers just didn't really work when I first started our research because our average electric bill is less than $100. We looked at several companies and the more we looked the more confusing it became, everyone had their take on going solar, lease, buy, etc. A year plus later we decided to look again. Our bill is still under $100 a month and in the short run it doesn't make sense for us to go to solar. I have had my own business for 37 years and tend to look ahead of the status quo and did my due diligence on the upcoming changes in the energy industry and revised our calculations to reflect the current trends and projected them out 10 years. Then it began to make sense and the numbers came into line. So when some young people canvased our area representing SOLARCO I made an appointment. I printed out a long list of questions (some I already knew the answers to) in preparation for our meeting. The sales rep was professional, relaxed and answered all of the concerns we had to our satisfaction. He educated us on solar, the trends and the company. His numbers matched up with ours and what we were comfortable with, so we made the decision to go with SOLARCO. Financing was painless and easy. Our model shows that in two to three years we will more than break even on our electricity costs and with the tax credit and existing monetary incentives available now, it was a no brainer from a numbers viewpoint. Everyone at SOLARCO has been great at communicating thus far, from the sales call to the installation (which went well) and the followup inspections. I like that they have their own installation crews who were personable and got it all done in a few hours. SMUD was even fairly quick to get their part done as of yesterday (4/13). SOLARCO has been very proactive to respond to any call I have made and it takes a lot to impress me as my business was addressing leadership & communication cultures in other companies. I couldn't be more pleased with their level of response and look forward to a long ongoing relationship with this company. I would recommend SOLARCO to anyone considering solar. read more

As many have stated, the sales person (I can't remember his name) who helped us decide which system to choose from and the benefits of solar was really helpful and professional. The installation went well although it did take the whole day. I noticed they broke a couple roofing tiles and they glued them back together without me asking them about the tiles. They painted the conduit with touch up paint that I had. Bratti was for the most part timely with any questions that I had, which was appreciated. All in all up this point everything went well. So why did I give 4 stars. Actually if I could I'd give 3.5 stars but I rounded to 4 because up to this point they were worthy of 5 stars. When it came to having the city building inspector come out and sign off that everything was installed, that's where the issues came up. A representative scheduled a day and a block of time that the city building inspector would come out and meet with the representative from SolarCo. My wife took time off from work to make sure she was free to assist in any way needed. The building inspector didn't show up and the representative from SolarCo stated that "sometimes the city building inspectors forget to write down the appointment time and they don't show up." So we scheduled a second day for the city building inspector to do his inspection and this time I took time off from work and you guessed it the city building inspector didn't show up and I was given the exact same "excuse." This time the representative said that he will personally call me and tell me the exact time and date the city building inspector will be there. Well one day they both showed up with no phone call or anything. Luckily my wife was home at the time. I find this to be extremely unprofessional from a company that seems to be professional in every other aspect. Like everyone else, my time is valuable and to basically take a day off from work using vacation leave to hear the same "excuse" both times, is rather insulting that they think this is acceptable. If city building inspectors offices in all of the cities in the Sacramento region are all incompetent from what they told to me, then why not simply call them to verify that an appointment as been set up instead of wasting everyone's time? Well at the end of the day we are satisfied with the investment we made to our house and we would recommend SolarCo to our friends and family with the caveat about marking off a couple days off work in hopes that the city building inspector will actually show. read more

We've had our solar panels installed for over a month now so feel I can look back through the entire process and write a comprehensive and reflective review. My wife and I met with five (5) different solar companies and received proposals from all of them. We threw out two (2) right from the start for various reasons. Then we looked at on-line reviews and spoke to references. The references we spoke to about the other companies all said..."it was an ok or good experience but this, that, or the other thing could have been a little better." When we spoke to SolarCo's references they all said "hands down it was a wonderful experience from start to finish." As it would happen, someone on our street had gone with SolarCo so I spoke to them and they said the same thing..."If we had to do it over again, we would go with SolarCo again." And I could not agree more. Starting with the initial visit from Eugene Tyshkevich, solar/sales consultant, the entire process went very smoothly and quickly. The longest part of the entire process by far was the time it took us to complete our research and make a decision. Once we did, SolarCo kept us on track and informed. The office staff we spoke to were all very pleasant and very helpful. The three (3)man crew that installed our system were very professional, friendly and seemed to know exactly what they were doing. They worked diligently throughout the day and did a great job. I looked out the window towards the end of the day and they were going back and forth across our lawns and looking behind shrubs to find and pick-up any trash that had fallen from the roof during installation. Afterwards, I could not find one thing that they missed. That kind of professionalism and customer service really shows what kind of company SolarCo is and what kind of people they hire and retain. As another example, I was telling my wife a day or two afterwards that I meant to ask the crew if hey wouldn't mind pulling a patch of weeds that was growing in a gutter section on the 2nd story. When I looked up to point it out to my wife, I saw that the weeds were gone! One of the guys had seen the weeds and pulled them out for me. I was stunned! We look forward to using our solar panels over this long hot summer and we rest easy knowing that if we ever need anything from SolarCo in the future that they will be just as responsive as they were through the entire sales, design, and installation process. We are confident we made the right decision and went with SolarCo. read more

Having been approached by several solar companies over the past three years I was pleasantly surprised by Solarco's no-pressure and knowledgeable sales people. During our initial consultation we were afforded as much time as needed to ask questions and discuss the process. I felt very well informed at after the consultation as Solarco answered all of my questions; financial and technical. Naturally at first I thought Solarco was boasting about having the lowest prices and best service, but since we ultimately decided to go with Solarco and have since compared notes with other solar friends, I believe they are right! Other companies want to set you up with a lease, whereas Solarco only does the purchase option. You can keep your Federal Tax Credit and use it to pay down your loan, they will even re-amortize the payments for you one time if you choose to do so. Most lenders will not do this. The entire process was smooth and easy, they delivered a quality install as promised and after a few months of looking at the data from the Envoy system the panels are producing the promised electrical capacity. We were given the design notes and drawings up front for approval. Solarco addressed my concerns with a full electrical panel and created a design to work around my existing load center. Solarco handled all the city permitting and inspections with no involvement of my own. I appreciated the professionalism and craftsmanship of the installers who were directly employed by Solarco, not contracted. They brought all materials, and even replaced a handful of roof tiles that broke during the install. They went to the local box store and brought back color matched paint to camouflage the metal conduit used to run the wires from the panels to the main electrical panel tie in. Solarco added an additional power panel to my exterior wall due to the existing panel being full. Overall it was a great experience. Everyone from the initial walking sales guy, to the consultation guy, the installers, supervisors and followup from office staff were all top notch professional and courteous. They told us what they were going to do and when it would be done; and they always followed through. There were no games, no hidden fees, no surprises. The bottom line of course is the fact that your electrical bill goes WAY down. Solarco's initial consultation and estimated reduction of my PG&E bill was pretty much right on! I highly recommend Solarco for your solar needs. read more

We had made the decision to go solar a couple years ago for both the potential monetary and environmental savings. We are very informed consumers and began researching and setting up at home appointments with various solar companies. After a few months we were disappointed with the overall costs of solar and the warranties being offered at the time. We decided to take a break to see if things would get better with time. About 8 months later we began the search again and to our surprise, both the overall costs and warranties were extremely better. That was about the time that Eugene from SolarCo came by to show us what they had to offer. Eugene was a complete professional and very educated about the systems they offered. We were pleasantly surprised again to find out about the 25 year warranty (to include the micro inverters) the monthly payment would be less than our PG&E bill (coming in $8,000.00 cheaper then anyone else) and the other incentives they offered at the time. We took the time to research the quality of the components which were the best on the market. It was pretty much a no brainer for us. Eugene returned and had all the paperwork ready to go when he arrived. He answered all of our questions again and didn't waste out time. He was in and out in less than 30 mins. We were originally set up to have our system installed about a month later, but received a call a week later letting us know that they had an appointment open up at the end of the week and if we wanted it. I was working nights at the time and so I wasn;t looking forward to staying up all day escorting the installation team around the house and then go to work that night, but we wanted to get the system up and running. The team arrived promptly at 7:30 as I was coming home and gave me a brief of how they would complete the job. All the members of the team were extremely professional and courteous. I told the foreman about my situation with work and he told me to go get some sleep and he would let me know when the job was done. They completed faster then I thought and I was able to get some sleep in. Our house was treated with the utmost respect and after they left you could not tell they were there. We gained a growing credit with PG&E as we were producing more then we were consuming. We would like to thank everyone at SolarCo for a such a painless process and really taking care of everything. Sean and Karen read more

The sales rep that came out was knowledgeable, answered our questions, and was very low-key. The engineer that made the project evaluation also answered questions and explained his findings and recommendations in terms we could easily understand. The person who handled the paperwork -- contract, change order, SMUD rebate application, etc. -- was efficient and friendly, and worked with me to get a financing plan that would work for us. The installation process was lengthy, some because of paperwork, permits, inspections, and the multi-phase project approach, but also because we were away a week on vacation, and then had five weeks of my being in-town but very hard to reach because my husband had surgery followed by a stay in a rehabilitation facility. Through it all, every SolarCo worker I had contact with, whether in person or over the phone, was friendly, polite, and patient, and made every effort to accommodate my schedule and time limits. The only hitch in the construction process was when the crew that dug the trench along the side of our house had to remove a large number of bricks (a wide, informal path), and, when the trench work was finished, did not replace the bricks in their original position. I didn't see the problem until someone came by a day or two later, to explain the work that had been done, and we walked around to that side of the house. I told the man exactly what was wrong, and he said someone would contact me to arrange getting it fixed. Five days later, when I hadn't yet been contacted, I decided to check things out before calling SolarCo -- and the bricks had already been pulled up and relaid correctly. I was very grateful to have the issue resolved without my having to do anything further. We already had a solar water heater that has worked well for us, so were excited about the conversion to solar power, and so far, we're pleased. In the short run, the energy cost savings and rebates will be going into payment for the system, but in the long run, we have no doubt this will prove to be the right step for us. You have to decide for yourself if solar is a good investment for your household, but I definitely recommend including SolarCo among the contractors you consider. Their people were all professional, competent, friendly, and very considerate of our circumstances. read more

My husband and I began exploring the possibility of solar power when we purchased our new home in July 2015. One company looked on Google Earth and said it couldn't be done. Another company, High Definition Solar, gave us a quote of $31,200 for 12 panels for 260 kwh. I was painting and cleaning one morning when the doorbell rang and a SolarCo rep was standing there. Although pretty discouraged by this point I thought what the heck I might as well make the appointment and see what they have to say. During our appointment we were quoted $23,000 for 24 panels for an 800 kwh system; and the guaranteed more panels if this system didn't produce enough to zero out our bill. Not only that but they guaranteed us the lowest price in the area. Quite a difference. We accepted the offer and from there everything was smooth sailing. SolarCo completed all the paperwork with the exception of a few things we needed to personally sign. Kyle came out and completed a design for our roof which we were able to see and approve. Installation day arrived and Cameron and his workmen came early and got right to work and they worked all day long in the heat. They were unable to finish the job because my roof is very steep and it was a difficult installation. They came back the following week and finished the job. The guy were very professional and courteous. They were very careful with everything and cleaned up after themselves. They even went to Home Depot to buy and install a light bulb that was accidently damaged during the installation. The real text came a few months later when the electric bill came and we went from a $300+ bill down to a $10 electric bill. We are also able to monitor our power production any time we want using the link. They also take care of maintenance and repair for free! My husband and I do not have enough good things to say about every single person we dealt with in this Company; the rep who set the initial appointment, the guy who gave us the quote, the ladies at the office who dealt with financing and scheduling, the crew who did our install. I would highly recommend them to family, friends, and anyone else who would listen. I would go on T.V. and stand behind them. If you're going to go solar, hands down this is the company to go with. read more

When we moved into our new home in West Sacramento we were very interested in solar and wanted to get a few estimates. We were bombarded with solar company solicitors and many seemed heavy-handed. Our sales rep from SolarCo was courteous and respectful so we scheduled an appointment with one of their Solar Consultants. Craig from SolarCo arrived prompt and prepared. He was patient in answering all of our questions and didn't attempt to oversell or upsell us on a particular solar system. We could have purchased from any number of solar vendors, but we were impressed with Craig's knowledge and professionalism as well as the product's price point so we purchased a system with SolarCo. We purchased a 3KW system at a very reasonable price (a comparable system at our previous house in the Bay Area was nearly double in price just last year). Installation was scheduled for a few weeks after the purchase. The install team arrived and worked through a random rainy day in June. They were total pros and performed the install with great care, even cleaning up all debris/trash generated from the install. I was very impressed. After adding a component to the side of our house, SolarCo took great care to match the exterior paint (and even left us with the excess paint). After the install, my neighbor asked about my SolarCo install and I referred him to Craig. I did this based solely on my experience. I was later informed by Craig that there is a referral bonus of $500.00. The bonus is nice but, honestly, I'd have done it for free. In the end, consumers want a good product at a fair price and to not be taken advantage of. I feel I got everything I wanted from SolarCo and will continue to endorse their product and consultants. If you're looking to go solar (and stick it to PG&E) give SolarCo a few minutes of your time. You won't be disappointed. Disclosure: I was offered a monetary incentive if I wrote an 'honest review' of my interaction with SolarCo. There was NEVER an ask or contingency that I make the review positive or flattering, which I appreciate. The above review is an honest assessment of my interaction with SolarCo. The best endorsement I could ever give of SolarCo is to introduce them to my friends, which I have on several occasions. SolarCo is awesome. read more

This company so far is great! Price is very competitive. I always wanted to get a solar system for a long while now but the price always held me back. Now the prices are getting to be reachable especially for me, a single income household also the 30% Federal tax credit will decrease in a couple of years. The thing I really like is that they use there own people for the install not like the others that contract the job out. Jason and his "crew" were very friendly, approachable and knowledgeable when questions popped up during the solar panel install. Also I've seen other panel install around my neighborhood and Solarco does the cleanest install. They even paint the conduit which the wires run in so it doesn't look ugly on the house! After a few weeks, I already had question about the system. I called them up and within a couple of days they were able to answer my question. The main one was how the system communicates with the App that the system comes with. This Enlighten App is great. I could see how my system is doing at anytime....production, usage and amount giving to the grid. Apparently Solarco uses a M2M communication via cellular to Enlighten which is more dependable because wifi has its range limitations. You can still use wifi on the system and that was one of my important question. Why M2M? Well they said, which makes a lot of sense, besides dependable communication if you choose to hook up your system via your wifi internet, when you ever change your home wifi password, and how many times have we done that, the system won't communicate and they will charge you for them to come out and change the password on the Enlighten box, which makes sense business wise. Because what if a customer keeps changing there password, the company will lose money for them to keep coming out and charge you! I've already referred a lot of my co-workers about Solarco. Hopefully they will be in a budget to get one. Oh ya most of all my PG&E bill. Instead of paying an average of $130 a month, mine now is @ $55. That's only for gas and the PG&E Smartmeter which you can't get away with. Only $10 a month. Hope this has been helpful. read more