SolarUnion

This company is terrible. The problem started when they didn’t do a preinstall with PG&E which would have told us that the transformer in my neighborhood needed to be upgraded. Instead they just went ahead and installed the system and after it was installed found out the transformer in my neighborhood had to be upgraded that’s been over 1.5 years ago and I still can’t use the system. I’m losing money on this everyday. You will never hear from the owners when you have problems, just the clueless project managers and “customer experience” people. Stay very far away from this company.

Update: The business contacted me pretty quickly after posting my reviews. We again went over everything and they asked me how much I would be willing to pay. I responded I would not pay any of the extra charges as I never approved them. Finally the company agreed that I was not responsible and took off the extra charges. I am really hoping that the company has no further issues from here on. My system has worked without any issues since the October 2023 installation. I am not sure how I feel about this company. I do know it was hard for me to find a company that would work on my tar and gravel roof but they were definitely not the only option. Original post: I contracted with Solar Union in March 2023. They said due to the rush to get NEM 2 status they skipped my site survey and went off pictures I provided to them. We contracted for a 10 panel string optimizer system as that was what fit for our budget. We already had 16 panel microinverter system from another company installed in 2019 but were told the two systems would not tie into together. I was asked to approve the design on March 28, 2023. They informed me they wanted to switch to a microinverter system , direct quote "Yes, since your existing system uses microinverters, the best will be to keep it the same. We will be connecting the new panels to the existing enphase combiner box so No extra charges either" I replied "As long as the cost is the same the micoinverts are fine to use" The actual site inspection occurred 3 days later. I was never informed of any other changes after the site inspection. The system was not installed until October which I was very patient about knowing about the NEM 2 rush. I sent off the milestone payments 1 and 2 the moment they were due. The amount requested fell in line with our contract amount. During the installation I was quite surprised to see an extra box being installed as we were told no additional equipment was needed. No one alerted me about it or asked if it was ok to install. I was never alerted of any additional charges . We did not get our permission to operate until January 2024. At that point the last payment was due but when the sent me my final invoice there was an additional charge of $3400 for "cost over run on main breaker and sub panel". I of course questioned these extra charges I had never been informed about. Direct quote response "We understand a no cost was mentioned by Operations but this was since we were just working with pictures on your project at the moment we had to move forward we noticed we had to work with additional equipment and scope of work due complexity and what was being needed so the system could work correctly" So why was I never consulted or informed about this if they knew about it since March 31, 2023. My milestone payments had not increased and they were supposed to be a certain percent of the contract amount. I never approved any changes outside of being told they wanted to switch the inverter type at no extra charge. On top of this the total they are trying to charge me is $1800 more then the first system quote I rejected which was for a more expensive panel brand and a microinverter system that would not be tied into our current system therefor needing its own combiner box. SolarUnion's position on billing has not changed even though I've explained our position and given them a timeline of everything. The last email I sent in March said it seemed we could not come to an agreement and where do we go from here. I didn't receive any communication from them until yesterday June 7, 2024. They are saying they plan to be acquired or will acquire another company and our balance must be paid. They have stated I will not be able to get my warranties or my federal tax credit until they issue a final invoice. They have also threatened to take away my NEM 2 status. I am so truly disappointed and disgusted by the way this company has responded to the disputed bill. You can't just decide to change the equipment stated in the contract and then just charge whatever you feel like. We were very clear we needed to stick to our budget from the very start. I would avoid this company.

From beginning to now, it’s been painful. I selected them because I thought they would understand coastal properties. They don’t. The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Every correspondence takes a week or two for a response. It’s been a year and nothing has happened on my property, though they have collected $13,500. They sent a handyman subcontractor from another company to get started, but he had the wrong equipment/electrical panel. He was not a licensed electrician but they were planning on having him install a new panel upgrade. I want my money back and to transfer my PGE interconnection approval and county permit to a new contractor. They say they plan to keep $5,500 of my money for the work they’ve done. Other contractors said the $1,000 initial deposit normally will cover the work they’ve accomplished (just NEM 2 and permit). So frustrating. If a warranty issue arose, I’m very doubtful they would even respond. Do yourself a favor, choose a better company. They are no longer recommended by Energy Sage. When you read reviews, filter from the lowest reviews. That is the real insight.

Shortly after asking for quotes here, I got a phone call from SolarUnion. I had given no permission for any of my contact information to be release to installers. Note EnergySage's blurb on this from: https://www.energysage.com/about-us/company/ ""We protect all your contact information until you decide to share it with our installer network." Somehow, they managed to get access to my phone number in violation of that policy. Anyway, that call was from "Gelica from SolarUnion" at (415) 992-3283. Even though I've closed off my Marketplace by saying I've picked another (non-EnergySage vendor), I continue to get spam phone calls from them. Oh, and BTW, SolarUnion's quote here (as were 3 of the 4 quotes I received) was non-responsive: I put exact requirements in my request and they ignored them.

We chose to work with SolarUnion after analyzing offers aggregated on Energysage. SolarUnion was able to install our system before the promised delivery date and the system is producing at or above projections. We enjoyed working with the SolarUnion team on this project

They were fast and efficient. The solar panels is so efficient that the energy bill $30.00.