A few weeks ago, I shared with you some information on Easy Ways to Save Money at Home Using Solar. In it, I shared with you some information on a company called Sunrun. Last week, I had the opportunity to check out the company for my own as we are looking for an alternative for home energy. I am going to share what I learned and how Sunrun can make solar simple and affordable for home energy use.
One of the first things I had to do was understand how their agreement worked. I spoke with a Sunrun representative for an hour via phone, going through all of the nuances to their performance guarantee. Studying and understanding my current electric bill month by month was eye opening to say the least and David, the rep, showed me where the power company was legally able to double charge for power and service. So refreshing. ugh.
Because of where I live in California, my A/C runs at full steam from June through September and at half power the rest of the time. My bills have been over $400 and even hitting $500 one time. I am regularly in the top tier of billing – tier 5, for much of my bill. Due to my husbands disability, we are on a discount program that helps with the bill. But I hate to be tied to just the electric company for my services. Solar is a great option for us.
Sunrun’s program is set so that they can help bring people out of the high tiers of the electric companies billing plan. They offer cheaper rates and power to offset the electric companies charges. Just in the last 10 years, the electric rates here have almost doubled, going from .17 to .32 per kwh on the top tier. So looking for a controllable rate is what Sunrun offers.
Sunrun is a not a typical lease, but a power purchasing agreement. You are able to buy power at a fixed rate for a 20 year term. They provide the equipment that is completely guaranteed, monitored, maintained and insured and in return, you get affordable rates on power. Sometimes you will revert to your electric company, like on sunless days when you are out of banked power, but it would most likely be at the lower, more affordable power tiers. They estimated I would use about 10% power from the electric company. That is something I can live with! The rest would come from Sunrun at an impressive low rate that is locked in plus a slight percent for inflation.
I was sent a design of where my panels would be placed on my home as you can see from the image above. They take into consideration trees and other things that may be blocking the sun. Overall, we are pretty impressed with the option that Sunrun has offered us. My husband and I are still discussing the option, but honestly, the positives heavily outweigh the few negatives! If we plan on staying here much longer, this is the way we need to go.
If you have thought about solar but were not really sure, check out the offer below and talk to them to see what they can do for your home electric bill. There is no obligation and I spoke to them on the phone. It might be very worth your while!
Don’t forget to read my prior post linked above for even more info on this company.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.