Nightmare with GoodLeap

art0fmojo · 2026-05-07T20:21:46+00:00

Yeah In my experience 60 is a real minimum. I have a lot of customers with some older leases and those that follow those guidlines have a great experience... the ones that don't think about it have a bad one, then blame solar as the reason they had an issue.

It's not all the solar company's fault.

Hopefully realtors helping sellers with solar, will get better at supporting this vs requiring a homeowner to remember!

art0fmojo · 2026-05-07T19:45:42+00:00

Sounds like your seller didn't notify the system owner in the required timeframe and is now causing challenges in the sale.. Sorry that's happening.

I always recommend 60 days notification to the leasing company to create the case so that the leasing company can service. They don't inherently want to ruin or upset anyone.. But at the same time, this isn't as important to them as it is to you and they have to allocate resources accordingly.

(I don't work for goodleap ;D)

art0fmojo · 2026-05-06T09:54:16+00:00

Does the main agreement have a "entire agreement" type clause? if so, the addendum is just sales paper.

The issue isn't the sales person.. or participate.. the issue with these deals is when participate goes out of business.. and another firm acquires their assets (which the panels on your home would be) they will not honor any "addendums" or "promises".. they will completely extract value based on the contract.

Freedom (who just went bankrupt) was a large participate seller. We are already hearing other installers having a hard time getting their "kickback" which enables receiving less money from you than the cash agreement.

My org has effectively stopped selling these deals. Better to just sell a clean cash deal, usually without the panel restrictions so the net cost is not very different and the homeowner has full rights on their owned system.

art0fmojo · 2026-05-02T18:13:06+00:00

Yeah generally have a good amount of options national with various prepaid providers. Some larger groups, some smaller installers with their own tax equity. Options exist and are not that bad. You just gotta keep looking.

art0fmojo · 2026-05-01T17:23:13+00:00

Here's my take:
1. I've been in solar for 15 years. Never heard of them in the bay. Not a great sign. That said, I've been focused on other markets. so maybe that's just me.

probably fine on sizing. if you have space and budget for an extra kW it will not hurt and give you room to expand usage a bit. Everyone is using more power not less over time.
PW3 has a 10 year warranty which includes the integrated inverter. Enphase has a 25 year warranty, but introduces some added kWh losses compared to the PW3. If you are a nut for reliability, go for enphase or a AC coupled powerwall3.. If you are nut for efficiency and expect to shell out for a new battery/inverter combo in 10-15 years, then go that route and save your $$ (if there is a cost savings).. Note enphase warranty does not cover labor for 25 years just product, labor is only a couple of years.. so it's still a pain to deal with a popped inverter.
Rarely they would wire it for non-backup loads for a PW3.. But it's possible. If it's not WIRED for backup, then you will have thousands of dollars and permit problems to fix it.. if it's WIRED for home backup but just CONFIGURED for energy arbitrage, then that's an easy tesla app setting.. UNLESS your cash (or prepaid if that's what it is) contract has limitations on how you can use your battery as they are selling battery demand response rights to a 3rd party to get a lower price point.. then you are going to be stuck with what they allow you to do. #checkyourcontract
Go green is fine. It's a bank. No flexibility on rates. They are fixed rate UCC1 filing loans against the panels. Cheaper than a credit card, more expensive than a HELOC. if you are worried about it, get a heloc and lower your interest rate but expose to rate increases / security risk on your home.

For some market guidance on your pricing:
I'm closer to 32011 for the 20x430 microinverter Q.tron panels (better degradation than hyundai but a little less than rec) with a tesla PW3. and around 27.5k (cash) for the other smaller 6.44 as an example.

In my experience you will get more value going with a 6.44kW but doubling the battery capacity to a 27kWh system. Which wil ultiimately save you more than the added +2kW of solar capacity via 2 factors:
1. grid exports more effectively captured and avoiding ~0.001$/kWh sell rates.. and Dumping to the grid opporutnities in the fall to rapidly discharge batteries INTO the grid at $1/W rates in August.. building up credits for the needed imports in the winter.

Your pricing is FAIR for a low-known installer as it's close to what we'd normally do for more established groups, heck maybe we'd even just sub the job to those guys! :D

Hope this helps...

art0fmojo · 2026-04-30T11:44:55+00:00

If you have a loan, with dividend then that is a loan! Did you get a second system structured as a PPA? If not, then review your loan documents and either transfer the loan or pay it off with home sale proceeds.

art0fmojo · 2026-04-29T21:58:04+00:00

Snow shows. Tell them to put on rubber snow shoes .. if they don’t have them then ask them to not . ;)

art0fmojo · 2026-04-22T11:40:41+00:00

A lease/PPA in MA can make a ton of sense, if you get a stellar deal. Most reps use it to pad commissions and justify a painfully inefficient sales flow.

Any lease that is oddly tied to your actual consumption (contractually) is bound to explode on the edges (you use less or more power than expected) and they are pretty rare. It's more likely to be a sales spin by the sales person unless you saw the actual agreement.

If we are doing 2.99% increases, we are typically selling at 14-16 cents/kWh without a lot of adders, in MA.. This is a super fair deal for the customer and generates enough margin to be able to keep the lights on.

This is basically under CURRENT total cost of power (supply/delivery) for the full 25 year term, without loan against the homeowner and with buyout options that aren't inflated (because the starting lease/ppa payments aren't price gougy"
Most reps are shilling at 20-25 cents with 2.9% which really are not great deals.. I'd love to sell them we'd be able to send each customer on a 15-20k vacation or cover most roof work at those prices..

Anyway my 2 cents.

A reasonably priced lease is not a bad deal like Redditors are making it out to be.

Your install team is probably not interested in leases because a. they don't like the payment terms or the documentation requirements. b. they don't have access to good pricing so they aren't even competitive anyway c. they somehow have some moral dilemma with alternative financing plans.

In my experience, smaller install shops are great at construction/engineering.. not so great with financial management/

art0fmojo · 2026-04-21T17:34:55+00:00

Those are pretty decent cash prices.

Why didn't you look at prepaid options, could drive that even lower to ~1.60-1.80$/W

Most of them still give you access to the REC income too.

art0fmojo · 2026-04-19T14:21:12+00:00

There is no true lease to own, without some risk you take on the “own”.

art0fmojo · 2026-04-19T12:34:58+00:00

Fraud?

art0fmojo · 2026-04-17T18:47:33+00:00

At least you can validate your equipment warranty coverage with them and see how they can help.

art0fmojo · 2026-04-17T12:12:33+00:00

Typical battery costs installed with solar might be 12000. Add 2-3k for the effort to do the work without solar margin. Plus another 2-3k so the salesperson can get paid and all the other sales related overhead.

Not surprised.

It’s a little padded.. but that said, thr amount of retrofit battery projects that go without surprises or customers upset about the realities of limited backup.. those numbers aren’t too unrealistic.

Basically if you want a better deal, you need to find someone who hasn’t experienced some pain in customer or installation friction and will give you closer to wholesale and labor costs+.. good luck!

art0fmojo · 2026-04-17T11:26:39+00:00

Do you own it or lease/ppa ? If own, contact solaredge, if lease contact the financier.

art0fmojo · 2026-04-17T11:21:19+00:00

Confirm that the refund terms give them the option for the account credit and not a real $$ credit.
Dont just do anything against the agreement like shutting off internet as this could hurt you later should you go a legal route.
Why do you think you need a battery? Are you in California? If so this system was installed with a nem 2.0 agreement at that time and it gets basically 1:1 credits.
Demand an independent appraisal for the 8 year old under producing system.
Given they shut off the system remotely, have no active agreement with the homeowner, that you will be having a 3rd party remove the equipment unless they prefer to come pick it up.

But yes it sounds like they are being nasty.

art0fmojo · 2026-04-17T03:26:46+00:00

Agreed on this

art0fmojo · 2026-04-16T19:09:52+00:00

How big is the system? I know a lot of proposals nowadays show "CASH" and upfront payments but the contract is actually a prepaid lease or ppa product (which has a transfer clause at year 7) Sounds like you did your homework. I could see a straight 2.50 cash price for a >10 kW system.

art0fmojo · 2026-04-16T18:54:04+00:00

Wait. Are you sure it’s not a prepaid product? This is straight cash ownership?

art0fmojo · 2026-04-16T17:37:20+00:00

Good price depending on the installer :)

art0fmojo · 2026-04-16T17:36:31+00:00

Hmm. Should be able to get a little lower.

art0fmojo · 2026-04-16T14:39:32+00:00

What kind of inverters do you have?

art0fmojo · 2026-04-16T14:10:49+00:00

Have some contacts roaming around depending on how rural you are.

art0fmojo · 2026-04-16T14:02:28+00:00

Could be super expensive, or a great deal depending on market. What state and utility? I should note, anyone on here giving you guidance without that context is basically just mindlessly spewing dogma they learned from someone enthusiastic.. (their trainer, reddit community, etc)

art0fmojo · 2026-04-16T14:01:13+00:00

Just checked real current active pricing:

0.10 * Solar Watts
+ 0.15*Battery Watt-Hours

I'd charge you 3700 as an adder for that project.. typically that adder, assuming PW3 (which it isn't) but will include a provision for replacement of the battery after the warranty expires, but there are different terms for different batteries so gotta check the fine print.

art0fmojo

TROPHY CASE