Thoughts on Solar

Fire rages in Altadena. Photo courtesy Joe Stanek

One week ago, the Eaton fire erupted, apparently at the base of a Southern California Edison (SCE) transmission tower. (SCE denies responsibility). Driven by hurricane force winds, the wildfire spread rapidly during the night and through Wednesday morning. Damage assessments are ongoing, but satellite imaging suggests that more than 7,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed. Large swathes of Altadena - one of our prime service areas - have been reduced to rubble. (To date, only 30% of the fire zone has been inspected to verify the extent of the damage. Los Angeles County has an interactive map that contains the data about inspected properties, including photos to show either the damage or lack thereof. You can find that map here.)

Recovery is going to be long and painful. Here are a few useful facts regarding homes with solar systems in light of the Eaton fire:

• Is your solar system covered by your homeowner’s insurance? YES - the solar system is a fixture on your home and as such it is covered. Of course, limitations on total dollars provided under the policy is another issue, as is whether folks even were able to afford coverage for fires.
  
  
• What happens regarding your SCE interconnection status for NEM or NEM 2.0 - can a replacement system continue under those earlier, and more favorable, net metering arrangements? YES - a replacement system for one that was interconnected under either original NEM or NEM 2.0 can continue under those tariffs for the remainder of the original 20 year term. To qualify, the new system must be in the name of the original owner - properties that are sold do not qualify. The new system can be sized to the prior year’s usage, presumably accounting for the energy that was produced by the solar system as well as what was consumed from SCE. (If you need help documenting that production and you had an Enphase system, we can help with that.) The system must be replaced within four years of the fire. Make sure to photograph the site to be able to prove that the old system was destroyed.
  
  
• What happens if your solar system was leased or under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)? Generally, the lease or PPA should be canceled, but be sure to contact the entity financing your system.
  
  
• What about new home construction in the fire area - will it be required to comply with Title 24 in general and its requirements for solar in particular? On Sunday, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an Executive Order (you can read my Substack post on the EO here) that requires state agencies to make recommendations regarding the applicability of Title 24 (and other regulatory schemes including the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA). In other wildfire disasters, the solar requirement was waived, and that may well be the case here, though folks rebuilding who had solar before will almost certainly want to include it again.

Toward that last point, just before the fire broke out, a client of ours called. Their system was complete and had been tested but was not on as it had not yet received Permission to Operate. It was getting dark, and my client was without power. He wanted to know if we could turn the system on so that they would have power with which to stay informed during the windstorm. I was able to walk him through bringing the system back online and now he had power. Hours later, he was ordered to evacuate. As he put it, “the battery system was critical for us having lights to grab our important things.” Solar and storage for the win!

As we endeavor to adapt to Climate Change - and there can be no doubt that Climate Change played a major role in the extent of this disaster - building more resilient infrastructure will be key. Burying power lines in neighborhoods sure seems like a good idea, particularly in areas where entire city blocks have been destroyed and need to be rebuilt. Residential solar and storage clearly have a role to play here, despite the attacks from the utilities and the CPUC. We look forward to helping with that.

LA Strong!

Recently, I was talking to a client of ours about why they were so fortunate to be going solar as a Pasadena Water and Power (PWP) customer instead of being an SCE customer.  He expressed confusion when I said this, because everything that he had heard made him think the opposite was true!  That made me realize that some education was called for; hence this post!

I can think of three key reasons why going solar in PWP territory is more desirable than it is with SCE:

• True net metering;
• Tiered, not time-of-use rates; and
• No batteries needed! 

There are others - to be sure - such as the ease of dealing with the respective bureaucracies, but for now we will focus on these big three.  Let’s take ‘em one at a time.

True Net Metering

As readers of this blog know only too well, last year brought draconian changes to how solar system owners in SCE territory got compensated for energy that they put onto the grid.

WHAT SOME FOLKS SEEM TO HAVE MISSED IS THAT THESE CHANGES DID NOT AFFECT
PWP CUSTOMERS - AT ALL!!! 

PWP customers who install solar get full retail value for every kWh that they put onto the grid, which ranges from 20¢ - 33¢/kWh, based on the tier that you are in (more on that in a moment).  Pity the poor folks in SCE territory who are getting closer to 7¢/kWh.

PWP is not governed by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) so their shenanigans in San Francisco do not torment us.  Rather, it is the Pasadena City Council that has the final say in how solar customers are treated, and let’s just say they have your back in ways that the CPUC clearly does not!

Tiered Versus Time-of-Use (TOU) Rates

SCE is forcing all of their customers onto TOU rates and that means that energy used between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. can cost more than double what it does during the other hours of the day - as much as 61¢/kWh! Ouch!  Of course, most of the year, your solar system is not producing anything during that time period. 

But in PWP territory, the excess energy that you put onto the grid helps drive you out of the top tiers and lowers your overall bill.  Tiered rates are the most beneficial for solar, and PWP has them!

No Batteries Needed!

Batteries - or to use the more technically correct term Energy Storage Systems (ESS) - are costly, take up a lot of space on the wall, and in some areas - Altadena we’re looking at you - there are crazy restrictions on where they can be placed.  Sadly, if you are an SCE customer, the double whammy of no net metering and TOU rates, means you almost have to add an ESS to make going solar sensible.  Oh, and SCE’s power goes out - like a lot.  So having batteries can save you money in the long run and be there when the grid goes down.

Meanwhile, because energy from PWP isn’t priced based on when during the day you use it, you don’t need to store it during the day to offset costs from 4-9 p.m. (What is known as time-of-use arbitrage.)  Moreover, since you get full retail credit for every kWh you put back onto the grid, the grid itself acts very much like a battery for you!  Plus, PWP’s grid rarely goes down - Public Safety Shutdowns are unheard of in PWP territory, but they are a common occurrence for some SCE customers, especially at times of high winds or high heat. (It is 108 as I write this - yikes!)

TL;DR

PWP customers have it sooo good when it comes to adding solar! And while it is too late to save you from that crushing bill you are going to see in October, acting now means you will reap the benefits of adding solar for the next 20+ years! Let’s get started, shall we?

As we noted last week, solar giant, SunPower has filed for bankruptcy, the victim of high interest rates and the overall solar industry slowdown caused in part by the idiocy that is NEM 3.0.

So where should potential SunPower clients go, now that SunPower is no longer around?  Obviously, one option would be to go with another large solar company, but be sure to check out their reviews - some of these outfits have lousy customer service (we know because we keep getting calls from disgruntled customers trying to get someone from one of those companies in particular to return their calls) and high cancellation rates, which is an indicator of some very high pressure sales tactics.  Ugh.

But allow me to make the case for the opposite end of the scale: the small, local, “long-tail” solar companies, like Run on Sun. Let’s look at some Pros and Cons. 

First the Pros:

• Because we are local, our reputation in the community is everything. If we fail to deliver, it becomes widely reported and then we are done!
• To maintain that reputation, we need to provide outstanding customer service - we return phone calls, we respond to emails, we keep you up to date.
• Since we aren’t dealing with a giant backlog of projects, we can take the time to do your job right, with excellent attention to details.

That all sounds great, but there must be Cons as well, right?  And the answer is yes, but really  just one!

Cons:

• Price - a small company with limited purchasing volume cannot compete on price, unless they are giving a “low ball quote” - which sadly happens.

An analogy that I like to make is the difference between a Mom and Pop hardware store and Home Depot.  HD will have everything you need for cheap(ish), if you can find it, and good luck finding someone who can actually answer your questions.  The M&P store will have fewer items and will probably be more expensive, but the people running the store know their inventory like the back of their hand, and can answer whatever question you can throw their way.  Plus, their is the feel good aspect of supporting local businesses!

So - for the sake of argument - let’s assume that I have convinced you to at least check out a local company or two.  How do you pick the right one?  Here’s some pointers:

• How long have they been in business?  Longer established business have had to manage the ups and downs of the “solar coaster” and still survive.
• Check out their reviews!  Be wary of copycat reviews - actual reviews should reveal the personality of the reviewer.
• Are they NABCEP certified?  That is the gold standard in the industry.  Hard to get, costly to maintain (recertification every three years and educational credits required), but a real plus for a potential client.
• Are they certified by the equipment manufacturers they use?  Both REC (solar panels) and Enphase have a path for getting certified.

Run on Sun stacks up well in all of those indicators.  We have been in business continuously since 2006 - we turn 18 next month! We have 32 Google reviews with a 4.9 out of 5 ranking. Our founder and CEO, Jim Jenal, has been NABCEP certified since 2010, and Run on Sun is a certified installer for both REC and Enphase!

If you were talking to SunPower, give us a call, we would love to help you out!

On the heels of the sad announcement of the bankruptcy filing of SunPower - a 39-year-old stalwart of the solar industry - and the loss of 290 jobs in California alone, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) just announced that it will decrease the amount of compensation paid by solar system owners for energy sent back onto the grid!

The CPUC had already slashed the so-called net metering rates with a ruling that took effect a year ago April.  As a result, the payback period for solar installations nearly doubled.  Combined with stubbornly high interest rates and the impact was devastating.  Scores of companies - including a giant like SunPower - closed their doors resulting in thousands of lost jobs.  And for what?  To pad the pockets of the investor-owned utilities like SCE? Outrageous.

But the CPUC isn’t done doing the utilities’ dirty work.  They just finalized a rule change that will slash compensation rates even further!  Starting next year, SCE export compensation will be as low as 3.5¢/kWh!

The only good news - and I’m reaching here because the news is catastrophic - is that for projects that submit interconnection agreements this year, they are insulated from these more draconian compensation rates for nine years.  That means consumers have less than four months to lock in these rates.

Bottom line: if you live in SCE territory and you have been thinking about solar, you owe it to yourself to act now! Give us a call at 626-793-6025, or email us at info@runonsun.solar.

The Washington Post is out today with a disturbing article titled, Where heat waves may cause blackouts, and no surprise, Southern California is one of those places!  The rationale for the headline is straightforward enough: climate change is bringing more consecutive days of heat wave weather, and those extended days of heat cause stress on the electrical grid, including on those transformers you see on power poles in your neighborhood, maybe even in your own backyard.  When overloaded, by both heat and increased demand (from air conditioning, pool pumps, and increasingly EV charging), those transformers can fail, sometimes spectacularly!

SCE is well aware of this issue.  From the article:

The power company Southern California Edison recently warned that climate change will make it so “existing infrastructure will become less efficient, especially inland, resulting in reduced capacity on lines and higher losses in transformers.”

Even if the transformers do not fail, SCE might be required to cut off power during heat wave events, compounding the impact on consumers who now find themselves without AC - or even a fan - during a high heat crisis!

It doesn’t have to be that way!

Adding solar and sufficient storage is a way to thrive during those heat waves knowing that whatever the grid does, your life will pretty much continue as normal.  We are certified installers of Enphase equipment, including their more powerful 5P battery systems.  Get ahead of the curve and give us a call today.  One of these summer days you will be glad that you did!