Well back in August 2010 I posted that I was excited about getting solar panels for our home and they should be installed by Christmas - HA! We have only progressed to the point where 10 months later we have mounts on our roof but no solar panels. We have watched our original SRP rebate come and go, watched our SRP rebate extension come and go, and now are applying for a new SRP rebate that is about $4k less since we can no longer renew the $10,750 rebate. The good news is that we received in writing from the company that we won't be charged the difference. At the same time they have no idea when our solar panels will get here.
In their defense, solar panels have been getting installed like crazy in solar farms, for businesses, and residence like me since the government started incentivizing us with tax deductions etc. Only 10 years ago solar panels were hardly ever installed and even then it was mostly a solar water heater. So, apparently solar panels have a higher demand than supply. With this being the case and knowing that a 5Kw/h system costs about $25k it seems that customer service would make sure I'm apprised of my ongoing status right?
Well as it turns out, unless they have good news - no news is bad news. And apparently the contractor I went with (Salt River Solar and Wind) doesn't like to spread bad news and so they don't return calls, when you get someone that will respond to you they don't have answers and they are incapable of providing you answers. So I continue to not get answers on my install and just as I'm about to contact BBB and the Registrar of Contractors I get an answer of "hey, we are working on it and we understand you are frustrated" but after another week goes by, still no one can provide and answer. I just sent another inquiry to the company . . . I hope after 10 months I can get an answer. So now I’m looking at the BBB site and it shows that of the 16 solar panel installers, this is the only one with complaints and as I viewed most of the complaints I see that they are all related to delivery. Just our luck.
On the flip side, as of May 1, 2011 the state of Arizona just increased all installs to a tax deduction of $6750 from $1000 so now we can charge more off over the next 5 years so that is worth the wait. I hope the next time I post anything about the solar panels they are installed – if not I’m sure it will be full of legal entanglements we are getting into.
Andrew “hope we get panels soon” Brown
Sunday, June 26, 2011
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