Project Solar Reviews

Since turning the system online, I've been producing more energy than I use, so I am in the positive. I’m also able to charge my electric car with it. I've been asked many times about Project Solar because the system is on my house and I’ve shared that the process was straightforward. They worked with me, and I did not feel pressured to buy it. Project Solar was right there with anything I wanted to change and was quite accommodating.

After the contract was signed and payments were made, and when working with the other party for doing the install and set up, it'd be good for the Project Solar guys to be more responsive to questions. It took a couple of days sometimes, which should have been done same day. That piece could be improved.

It's been three years now and my bill is down to zero. I'm also under the 2.0 system where I am given credit for the extra power. Back in December, I added a hybrid heat pump water heater. It takes about 400 watts to run and I didn't even notice the difference on my consumption.

The monthly bill is a big thing. Last month, we had a $40 bill, which was rare. They had all been $16, so maybe I didn’t get quite enough solar power. The cost of going with Project Solar was good, though, compared to others I looked at. The cost was solid.

I should say I was with another company before and it was a bad experience. This was a good experience in comparison. I almost didn’t do solar again just because of the bad experience I had in the past.

The only thing is, It took a lot of time for the local utility company to accept the project and get connected. But other than that, everything went well."

After installation, you have to have it inspected. We live in a manufactured home and so, there were two inspections. One is of the home itself with the solar panels, which went fairly quick and well once the design and engineering was completed. The inspection was done by Labor And Industries here. The other half is the electrical part of the installation, which has to be done by a separate inspector. Labor And Industries was sending out a person to do the inspection, and on their way here, they realized we're in the city of Renton and should have to run the inspection through the city.

Freedom Forever, who schedules these and helps make them happen, scheduled an inspection for about 10 days later. On the day of the inspection, nobody showed up. I went to call Freedom Forever on a Thursday and it wasn't until Tuesday that I finally connected with somebody. Up until last night, I had heard no confirmations that they had connected with the city of Renton for an inspection. That was three weeks.

Last night, I got a text asking for my availability. I said tomorrow, which is today, and then all next week except for Monday afternoon. They sent me back a note this morning saying they've scheduled with Renton for Monday. I said okay, as long as they can come in the morning. However, we'll only be able to find out the window on the day of the inspection. I already experienced this the last time when they didn't show up. I called Freedom Forever the day before asking for a time window, which I had to wait on the phone for an hour to get ahold of somebody, and, finally, the guy said he couldn't give me a time window other than from six in the morning till noon. That's a pretty big time window. And Freedom Forever is supposed to send somebody out with the inspectors to answer questions, because I'm not a specialist in this. I'm hiring their company to be the specialist. So we'll find out if there's going to be a conflict on Monday.

I really have no recourse at this time because the system has been installed and I paid the money. It could be 6 months before I actually get the product functioning. Part of it is just how long it takes to get through inspections and approvals from the state and the city, but Freedom Forever has been a real mess-up. They should have a checklist of things they need to do as they go through each of the steps in their process. I couldn't get them to tell me what is the next step. Project Solar's people have been great to work with, but they should be able to tell what was going on with the project. Not just their side of the house, but the other side of the house. Because as a consumer, I get them both.

Their cancellation protection is close to worthless. I was reassured that I would receive my money back after the installer expressed strong concern about my roof and then said they would continue to install if I wanted. Project Solar said repeatedly that I would receive the full amount in refund, so I elected to get my money back. Only after I had cancelled was it determined that I would lose the $1000 deposit. Project Solar said they would put in a claim on my behalf to receive that deposit, but they did not do so. I understand that there are costs associated with starting and canceling a project, but they reassured me I would receive the money back and then did not do anything to get it back to me and then lied about putting in a claim. Additionally, even getting the lump sum payment back from the installer was very difficult and took over 3 weeks.