Costco/Sunrun Quote - $19K for 5.225kW system. Thoughts?

[J.P.M.]

How much is customer service worth in the cost of your solar panel installation? When you need your solar company to remove and reinstall for roofing or other matters, it could make all the difference, right??

I am a long time Costco customer and have used outside vendors with Costco in the past. We did solar as well, purchasing the Sunrun solar panels outright and had them installed, after Sunrun confirmed our roof was in good working order. We were all smiles until the point when we had to call on Sunrun for a roof leak. We have and still are getting the run-around, having to put buckets in the attic over my son's ceiling.

Hands down, extremely frustrated to get this level of poor customer service from a vendor that Costco has maintained a relationship with for years.

Think very hard about the years to come and the support you might need from your solar installer.

Sunrun is one of the bottom feeders of solar installers, along with Vivant and, bringing up the rear, SolarCity. Chances are the install was subcontracted. Your experience is but another confirmation of the problems when dealing with such scumbags. It sucks you cannot get honest and timely communication, much less resolution from the vendor, but that what can and does happen all too often with such folks.

I'm honestly sorry for your situation, but that's what can happen when you walk in blind and trusting - two things that are self inflicted. Others reading your post may take note and see another example of the dangers and consequences of buying on low initial price while ignorant of what you're buying. To such folks I respectfully suggest skipping the big national firms and use local established electrical contractors. With not much negotiating, the price will be equal or less and the probability of better installation quality will be higher.

[two9design]

How much is customer service worth in the cost of your solar panel installation? When you need your solar company to remove and reinstall for roofing or other matters, it could make all the difference, right??

I am a long time Costco customer and have used outside vendors with Costco in the past. We did solar as well, purchasing the Sunrun solar panels outright and had them installed, after Sunrun confirmed our roof was in good working order. We were all smiles until the point when we had to call on Sunrun for a roof leak. We have and still are getting the run-around, having to put buckets in the attic over my son's ceiling.

Hands down, extremely frustrated to get this level of poor customer service from a vendor that Costco has maintained a relationship with for years.

Think very hard about the years to come and the support you might need from your solar installer.

[J.P.M.]

is that 8,103 kWh per month?

No. it's as the OP wrote, that is, per year, although that 8,103 kWh/yr. may be a bit conservative, depending on orientation and shading.

[cebury]

When I negotiated with sunrun/costco there was absolutely wiggle room, but that was a good 7 years ago.

[bam bam]

is that 8,103 kWh per month?

Hi everyone,

I am a new member on this forum. I live in Southern California (Orange County), and received the following quote from Costco/Sunrun to purchase a solar panel system:

$19,000 (pre-incentives)
5.225 kW DC system
Will produce 8,103 kWh of electricity in year 1, and will offset approximately 97-98% of our current electricity usage. It is estimated that the payback period is about 8 years.

19 panels - REC275TP
1 inverter - Solis 4600W
SnapNrack racking system

Is this a good deal, or can I do better? If this isn't a good deal, what should my "target" pre-incentive purchase price be?

Also, in speaking to the SunRun representative, he said there was no wiggle room on the price, as it was pre-negotiated by Costco. Wanted to see if people have had different experiences dealing with Costco/SunRun?

I'd greatly appreciate the community's input on this solar panel proposal. Thank you!

[J.P.M.]

I think it is OK to include Costco incentives in your quote, but not the tax deduction.

That said, I took J.P.M.'s sage advice and replaced my 25 year old HVAC system before going solar. I ended up needing 3 less PV panels from my original Solar quote of almost 3 years ago.

I don't think it was sage advice as much as common sense. I sometimes use the boat analogy. A boat that's otherwise seaworthy has a leaky hull. It's probably more cost effective and sensible to first caulk the hull (seal the building envelope) before getting a more efficient bilge pump (new HVAC equip.) before spending $$ on a way to provide more expensive electricity (an expensive PV array) to the old pump. First things first. Most cost effective first. Education before anything else.

[kmm]

(1) Costco Incentives - you are correct that we were offered incentives: 10% Costco cash card ($570) and Executive Member cash back ($742), on top of a $5,700 tax credit, for a net price of $11,988. I did not list any of these in my original post because my understanding was that, in evaluating a proposal, I should be providing the pre-incentive prices.

I think it is OK to include Costco incentives in your quote, but not the tax deduction.

That said, I took J.P.M.'s sage advice and replaced my 25 year old HVAC system before going solar. I ended up needing 3 less PV panels from my original Solar quote of almost 3 years ago.

[J.P.M.]

Costco ususally offers cash back when you purchase a system. We purchased an HVAC system from them and received a $1000 incentive. You might investigate this further.

You'll also probably get more if you ask for more. Otherwise cash back or gift cards or other such crap is a moot point because there's no way to confirm, but bet there's at least $1,000 and more buried somewhere in what you paid to make up for what amounts to a phony save story that does little more than give you and other consumers the warm and fuzzies because you think you got a deal. Mark it up to mark it down. It's just business and the way the game is run.

[OCRibeye]

(1) Costco Incentives - you are correct that we were offered incentives: 10% Costco cash card ($570) and Executive Member cash back ($742), on top of a $5,700 tax credit, for a net price of $11,988. I did not list any of these in my original post because my understanding was that, in evaluating a proposal, I should be providing the pre-incentive prices.

(2) I received a few other proposals from other installers, but all came in at or above Costco/Sunrun's price of $3.63/watt. I only started dealing with Costco/SunRun because my wife's friend referred us to them. In speaking with the SunRun salesperson, I did make it clear to him that $19K was much too high, and that I'd be more willing to consider them if his proposal was closer to $15K, not $19K. That's when he told me the prices were pre-negotiated through Costco and were non-negotiable. It was at that point I told him we would not move forward considering his price.

[kmm]

Costco ususally offers cash back when you purchase a system. We purchased an HVAC system from them and received a $1000 incentive. You might investigate this further.

[J.P.M.]

Wiggle room my butt. Shoot for ~ $3.00/Watt, negotiate upward from your price rather than downward from their's, and think long term bang for your buck rather than getting stuck in the first cost syndrome. Use local, established installers who have been around for a long time as electrical contractors and will stand a decent chance of being around after the reduction in the bloom on the solar lilley solar bottoms out. You can do a lot better than that price and that quality. Get educated, know what you want and learn what's available to meet your needs. You got snagged walking down the main aisle at Costco. Get educated before you spend $20K.

[OCRibeye]

Hi everyone,

I am a new member on this forum. I live in Southern California (Orange County), and received the following quote from Costco/Sunrun to purchase a solar panel system:

$19,000 (pre-incentives)
5.225 kW DC system
Will produce 8,103 kWh of electricity in year 1, and will offset approximately 97-98% of our current electricity usage. It is estimated that the payback period is about 8 years.

19 panels - REC275TP
1 inverter - Solis 4600W
SnapNrack racking system

Is this a good deal, or can I do better? If this isn't a good deal, what should my "target" pre-incentive purchase price be?

Also, in speaking to the SunRun representative, he said there was no wiggle room on the price, as it was pre-negotiated by Costco. Wanted to see if people have had different experiences dealing with Costco/SunRun?

I'd greatly appreciate the community's input on this solar panel proposal. Thank you!