Help me choose solar company

[Mbodio]

First off, thanks in advance for all the information I have been able to gather from this forum. It has been very helpful. So I narrowed down my choices below to the top 3 and either I am a much worse negotiator than I thought or prices for solar in north San Diego county are higher than other parts of the U.S.

Installer #1. (Highly used company from other users I found from this website, very accommodating and nice guy)
$17,986 for a 4.48 kW system using 14 LG320's with SolarEdge SE3800 inverter and SE P400 power optimizers
Produce 591 kWh/mo. Cost per DC watt before tax credit $4.015
8 weeks to install

Installer #2. (Very Highly rated company from Union Tribune readers)
$17,978 for a 4.41kW system using 14 LG315's with envision S280 micro inverters
Produce 582kWh//mo. Cost per DC watt before tax credit $4.076
Can install this week.

Installer #3 (Highly rated company from Union Tribune readers)
$20,219 for a 4.8kW system using 14 SunPower 345's with appropriate SMA-TL inverter
Produce approx 647kWh/mo. Cost per DC watt before tax credit $4.212
Install contracted out but negotiated one of their "in house" contractors.
Can install in 2 weeks.

I recently bought a plug in hybrid for car pool lane access which is what's prompting me to get solar. I am now signed up on the EV-TOU2 rate with SDGE and used approx 647kW/mo last year (it was a very hot Sep and Oct). I believe with the TOU2 rate I should accumulate enough credits in the summer that I might not need "full" offset to get full offset and if I ended up having to pay the rate to charge my car, that would be fine since its .18ckWh.
I agree that SunPower is generally not worth paying the premium but that quote is from a friend so I feel like it might be the best discount but it's still more than the LG's. I also recognize that the micro inverters have their minuses, such as heat buildup and loss of efficiency and the financial health of envision. However, they do have a longer warranty than a SolarEdge inverter.
Lastly, a slim (50/50) chance if I install quickly I might get into net metering 1.0 but I'm trying to not let that rush my decision.
Any comments or thoughts would be much appreciated and thank you for the information I have already received from reading the forum and the tip for the solar power your home for dummies.

[Eleceng1979]

My 12.96 kw system was $3.08/watt installed in ohio. System was a ground mount using ironridge, 400' of distance from array to inverters, sma inverters, line side tap. The roof mount version was $2.87/watt installed. Panels were Canadian solar 270 watt x 48. Your price seems high, but you are in CA...not OH

LG and sun power are premium products...but 25% more cost per watt than my install? All of my cost are pre tax credit, no finance charges, cash price.

[Mbodio]

Wow, the prices in the rest of the U.S. are much lower per Watt than in San Diego. I've had approximately 10 bids and was able to verify the information from the California Solar Statistics website and there's just nothing anywhere near those prices out here. Vast majority between 4-5/Watt with some in the 6's and a few commercial solar companies doing installs in the mid 3's. Thank you for the reply.