Orange County Solar Reviews

They changed representatives four times. The owner was hard to get ahold of. And trying to get calls back was hard. But I kept sending the messages, emails, voicemails until I got responses. And their guys would reply. In the garage, I had one outlet that was 17 volts instead of 110. Because the wire nuts weren't tight in the main when they transferred everything over. So, they had to replace my refrigerator. I blew a vacuum up because the outlet in the bathroom was 220. I didn't notice it, because my razor was 110. We worked through all those issues. They took care of everything. They called back. It wasn't timely. It was a four-month process. But within three days, they got a technician out there. And so far, the system has been working great. These guys, for me paying up front, did a great job. I'm extremely happy. I even referred Jason a couple of times to some friends.

If you look at my December, January, and part of the last two months, with the overcast, my batteries would not supply full power if I needed it for the house. But the rest of the year, I could go off grid with overproducing electricity and running my batteries at night. They'd recharge during the day. I use 16 to 18 kilowatts a day now. My system produces 35, and I have 20 kilowatts of backups of power. My batteries could run the house if needed, and recharge if I had a one or two-week out, as long as it wasn't in the overcast months. Because they charge by the solar system, not by the grid. The grid will power the house, but it won't charge my batteries. So, it's nice.

I thought OC Solar was supposed to help calculate the amount of solar panels that will cover the cost. But every month here, I'm looking at around $50 to $70 in my bill. So what else is next? Do I have to get a battery now? But I can't afford it because 19,000 a battery. So I called the city of Anaheim, and I worked with them, and they said that was probably due to the net metering. I'm getting screwed where I'm selling them cheaper than what I'm buying it for. So that's where it comes in. So for a person going solar, don't expect to be zero on your electric bill.

For the financing part, they helped connect me with their preferred financing partner, which is great. We used them, but it felt like they were disconnected. So there was a part in the project where everything was ready, but I haven't gotten anything from the finance company. Orange County said they were sure I'd get it. But from a consumer standpoint, you don't want to commit to something unless you know that the loan has been approved. Then, it wasn't until I told them that we were going to pause until I hear back from the financing company that they reached out and there was some traction.

As soon as I gave the green light with financing, they called me the following week, said that they had an installation available as soon as the equipment was ready, and asked if I wanted to take it. I told them it was too early and that I had something else going on. So we scheduled it at another time. On the day of the installation, they arrived on time and delivered the solar panels four hours after they started doing the initial work. The downside was, they drilled through the roof and into the finished ceiling. We have vaulted ceilings, so the space between the roof and where the finished room is, the actual ceiling is thin. But they came back, patched it up, and painted it, so it looks fine.

They finished in one day, checked everything out, and everything was green. They didn't give me direct access to the app until the city approved everything, but I figured out how to get access the following day and it showed that nine of the panels were not functioning. So, they came out three weeks later and fixed it before the city inspection. All in all, I'm satisfied with my decision to go solar. I wasn't sure if the system that Orange County provided me was going to be sufficient enough, but it was. And seeing the numbers is great.

One of our friends was getting solar at the same time, but we didn't know the other was getting solar, and a couple weeks ago, we were hanging out and talking about it. We talked about the pricing and without the loan, our total was $28,000 for 29 panels while our friends paid $37,000 for 21 panels with no loan. So they got less solar production and paid more than we did. So it was a good value. And when I started doing the research on the equipment they provided me, it felt like it was higher-end equipment.