GR8 Energy

I had a system installed by GR8 Energy about 6 years ago. They never hooked up my SolarEdge Monitoring. I had the system checked out by another company who informed me that I have panels that are out, but there is no way to tell which ones and handle a warranty repair due to the fact that GR8 Energy never setup my monitoring. I have contacted them close to a dozen times over the last 6 months to try to get this rectified and they continue to put it off and make excuses. I am likely going to spend north of $1k getting another company to come map my system, connect it to SolarEdge and identify the panels that need replacement. In addition, immediately after getting the system installed, I asked if I could turn it on, they told me to go ahead, which ended up costing me my LADWP energy rebate that was somewhere in the neighborhood of $10k. To be fair they split the loss with me, but could have been easily avoided had they known how strict LADWP was about their rules. As far as I know, this company is run by two people (husband and wife) and not really setup to service and support much business. Nice people, but terrible execution and service.

I am so glad that I found Gr8 Energy. Working with Ross and team was painless. He was always available quickly to answer my questions throughout the process. The installation team was absolutely top notch. And, behind the scenes, Grace kept me informed and handled all the details with SCE and the installers. I have a top notch system and could not be more pleased. I would work with them all again any time.

Original review: "We are in the midst of our project. The follow through and customer service that other reviews have stated are not there for us. We email questions and receive no response." Edited review: "After posting the review and contacting the company by telephone, we received lots of action on our project. Within a week, our project went through inspection and some hassles with our area's inspector caused a delay. GR8 energy sent their technicians to our home to make the changes required by the inspector on multiple occasions. They came through and we are up and running. They additionally offered to cover our cost for our electric bills for the long delay in our project. We are happy with the product we received thus far. Updates through the steps of the project and questions answered are areas they could improve. We can't wait for the hot summer months and enjoy the savings on our electric bills. Thank you GR8 energy.

Thinking of going solar, contact GR8 Energy. When I got serious about investing in solar, I found this website, www.energysage.com, where I could get a wealth of information about solar and anonymously get bids until I was ready to connect with the ones I wanted conversation with. They pre-certify these companies and there are site reviews of them. GR8 Energy was one of the first to bid. As with the others that bid, I also went to Yelp for additional reviews that ranked GR8 Energy high. I then made contact with John Christ, who was very responsive, informative and friendly. He was so great through the whole process. Because NEM 1.0 was ending in June, I wanted to get this installed as soon as possible, but it was the end of May. John said it might be possible, but we would have to get started. He was willing to come out to put together a proposal during the Labor Day weekend and was responsive as we went back and forth on questions that whole weekend. Grace in the office and the installation supervisors, Hebert and Enrique, were all wonderful, informative and responsive. As of today, I have solar running and just received the Permission To Operate (PTO) from SoCal Edison.

I had been putting off going solar for many years until I recently learned that the rules for Net Metering are changing on July 1, 2017. I knew it was time to stop procrastinating. I began researching panels, inverters, optimizers, and learned all I could about solar. After that self-study "crash course", I had a pretty good idea about what I wanted/needed from a solar generating system. I understood the "nuts and bolts" about the system itself, but I didn't have a clue as to who to have the system installed by. I started with the "big names" (the ones that advertise on the radio) to get an idea of what a "typical" solar installation consisted of and its cost. None of them had exactly what I was looking for, they had limited offerings, usually a single product or a slight variation. Their prices also seemed a bit high. My search continued. I Googled some more and read lots of Yelp reviews. Then by chance, I came across a website specific to solar--EnergySage.com. Yep, more still on everything solar, including reviews on solar contractors. Their website also made it easy to get competing bids from several solar companies at once. It's similar to using Edmunds or KBB for car shopping. I got 4 or 5 quotes almost immediately. Mostly from smaller solar companies that I've never heard of. That's how I found GR8 Energy. They had very good reviews on EnergySage and on Yelp, so I responded to them. I'm so glad I did. Unlike the "big radio advertisers" they offered a selection of products instead of just one or two variations of the same thing. GR8 Energy had EXACTLY what I was looking for. John Christ was the man with all the answers. Yes, he was very professional, extremely knowledgeable and helpful; but what impressed me the most was that he always responded quickly to my MANY questions via phone calls, emails and text messages. He gave me solid advice on how to fine tune the system I'd been "researching". He truly understood what I was looking for. I needed a 6+kW system. I also wanted high efficiency panels like the ones by SunPower, but the high cost of these premium panels was hard to justify. John recommended the VERY efficient Panasonic HIT 330W panels with a SolarEdge power optimizer / inverter system rated at 6.6kW. These Panasonic panels are "premium" panels without the "premium" price tag. That was it! I was SOLD. Amazingly, GR8 Energy's price beat ALL of the other bids. Including those that provided "lower end" and (much) less efficient panels that would have required additional panels covering a lot more area, and multiple surfaces on my roof!    Remember what motivated me to install solar right now?--imminent Net Metering changes (NEM 2.0). With this in mind, John, Grace, Shelley, Hebert(?) and crew at GR8 Energy worked hard to get the job done ahead of schedule. Every step of the way came together just as planned. Our HOA meets only once a month and the next meeting was less than 2-weeks away from the time I signed the contract to get started. They got all the plans, drawings and everything ready to submit with time to spare. They took care of all the "red tape" like permitting, inspection, and filing documents with my utility company. They meticulously handled every part of the project. We were given "Permission to Operate" from SCE almost exactly 5-weeks from first contact with GR8 Energy. Phenomenal! As for the installation. Hebert(?) and his talented crew really know their stuff. Our installation took the usual two days to complete. At the end of each day, you could not tell that they'd been there. No trash or debris left behind, anywhere. I'm a big DIY guy (from auto repair to woodworking and furniture building). I appreciate quality workmanship. The care they took in the installation is outstanding. Even the way they ran the electrical lines and connections is a thing of beauty! Instead of simply running conduit straight across the exterior wall, they took the time (and extra materials) to run it along the chimney and under the eaves to lessen the visual impact. Very clean. We're now generating power and I just love watching the electric meter "run" backwards!    My advice. If you are thinking about going solar, first do your homework. Understand your needs, then compare everything--especially the contractor. If you do this, I think you'll see for yourself, that you simply cannot go wrong with GR8 Energy. They are not the biggest, but as far as I'm concerned, they are absolutely the BEST!   Thank you all at GR8 Energy for a job well done!   Jeff W. Foothill Ranch, CA

I am an attorney and a miserable curmudgeon when I make a major investment. I read everything, compare everything and winnow down the options. We decided to go forward with Gr8 after checking with probably 7 or 8 companies including the companies working with Costco and Home Depot. We are in an HOA community and this was going to be the first major solar installation in the complex. As a member of the HOA Board of Directors, the solar installation had to be visually appropriate as well as produce enough energy to offset our $600+ monthly summer electrical bills. If you would like to see an example of the Gr8 Energy work product as installed, I give Gr8 Energy permission to give my name and contact information to prospective customers. If that earns a "commission," I will gladly ask Gr8 Energy to deduct that amount from your final cost. No one will ever accuse me of "generosity" (I believe spontaneous acts of generosity by any attorney violates State Bar Rules...) but I have grandkids and their future climate and clean air will be determined by our embrace of clean energy today. Do yourself a favor and call Gr8 Energy. Based on my experience with the quality of their panels and inverters, their imaginative design, installation and service reputation - and price - in the words of Tony the Tiger, "THEY'RE GR8!!"