Tesla Solar vs ....[third party competitors]

[Vines]

My understanding is as long as your application for permit (?) is before the April date, you're good. Are you suggesting that they wouldn't even submit permit apps until whenever it is convenient?

The line in the sand is not your permit application, it is your accepted interconnection application.

Tesla will not start this that I know of before final inspection. Other companies may be able to navigate this better than Tesla, because they have a dedicated interconnection team.

For instance, the company I work for has a plan for getting customers the best chance of NEM 2.0 if they sign a contract until something like middle to late March.

Once the first 2 weeks of April roll around, I assume the PGE portal and people will be slammed so anyone who squeaks in under the wire is questionable to get NEM 2.0.

 

[sunwarriors]

@TwistedGray didnt post a price per watt, they posted a total cost along with a total price. I would be surprised if the other pricing they got did not also include tax credits being already deducted.

I'll wait to see if TwistedGray posts, but I actually used 4 minutes (my joke) to get a solar quote from tesla.com for a random home in Monterey for that exact size posted and got the exact to the dot his $$ price which was AFTER all the credits so it didn't add up.

It just made the Tesla quote looks insanely cheap which from my research and own install, isn't the case in a lot of markets. Of course, there are a lot of overpriced installers too.

I think I've always been annoyed with Tesla defaulting to quoting prices with gas savings, etc...and make it more work (you actually have to click something else) to get the actual payment price. Just find that really annoying.

 

[TwistedGray]

Sorry that I didn't clarify that. The prices I posted were after the tax credits. Not sure why I did that

Cash prices

Allterra Solar
$22,233
4.4 kW

Sandbar Solar
$19,656
5.04 kW

Solcius
$19,148
5.55 kW

Tesla
$13,988
5.20 kW

 

[sunwarriors]

Sorry that I didn't clarify that. The prices I posted were after the tax credits. Not sure why I did that

Cash prices

Allterra Solar
$22,233
4.4 kW

Sandbar Solar
$19,656
5.04 kW

Solcius
$19,148
5.55 kW

Tesla
$13,988
5.20 kW

Those are all pretty overpriced ($5/W is a ripoff) , so the few things you really have to consider outside of price is whether Tesla can get it done in time before NEM3.0 starts, if they will install in your particular roof/home setup (there are posts here where after a few months, a project is cancelled) and whether you are happy with the components Tesla offers.

It's also possible that some of those companies are overbooked and simply don't want your job unless it's worth their while (like quotes you see from 3rd parties with 1 PW or 1 Enphase battery).

If you do decide to move forward, keep us posted whatever you went with.

My suggestion has been for folks to use aggregators to start your negotiation and go from there if you need to customize stuff.

 

[taphil]

So Tesla is still the cheapest. NEM3.0 is the real enemy.

 

[TwistedGray]

Attempting to use the Tesla quote as leverage has failed...no one wants to compare themselves to Elon's playground and suggest it is very much "get what you pay for" and "they are cutting corners somewhere" or "best of luck". Instead of trying to win my business, they all slammed the door in my face, for lack of a better expression.

Soooooooooooooooooo as much as I may regret it, I may pull the trigger on Tesla today in HOPES that they can get the ball rolling BEFORE the NEM3.0 becomes an issue.

 

[jjrandorin]

The only other feedback I will say is, any customer service feedback on teslas process or lack thereof will be moved to the thread that contains that, which is stickied at the top of this subforum, and for reference is here:

Discussion: Tesla Energy / Auto Customer Service

The couple say they have now faced 18 months of recurring, damaging leaks, a severe mold infestation that forced them out of their home for three months, and an ongoing dispute with Tesla over how much money Tesla will pay for repairs...

teslamotorsclub.com

I wish you the best in getting accomplished what you are trying to get accomplished, in the time frame you desire.

 

[sunwarriors]

Attempting to use the Tesla quote as leverage has failed...no one wants to compare themselves to Elon's playground and suggest it is very much "get what you pay for" and "they are cutting corners somewhere" or "best of luck". Instead of trying to win my business, they all slammed the door in my face, for lack of a better expression.

Soooooooooooooooooo as much as I may regret it, I may pull the trigger on Tesla today in HOPES that they can get the ball rolling BEFORE the NEM3.0 becomes an issue.

My guess is it's just not worth their time when business should be very good right now so why discount when you're booked for the next year? That and you don't want to start a business deal already annoyed from a customer that probably won't make you $$. Their costs are probably higher than Tesla.

Let us know how it goes if you do go Tesla. I'd be curious if it works out. It IS very area/paperwork/IOU dependent so some folks have had 0 problems and 1 week PTOs too.

I specifically avoided Tesla though when I started my research just from reading the threads here since I didn't want to take the risk. Of course, I wasn't paying $5/kWh neither.

And yeah, per jjrandorin, just read that thread above. Don't just take my word for it.

 

[Vines]

Attempting to use the Tesla quote as leverage has failed...no one wants to compare themselves to Elon's playground and suggest it is very much "get what you pay for" and "they are cutting corners somewhere" or "best of luck". Instead of trying to win my business, they all slammed the door in my face, for lack of a better expression.

Soooooooooooooooooo as much as I may regret it, I may pull the trigger on Tesla today in HOPES that they can get the ball rolling BEFORE the NEM3.0 becomes an issue.

I rated this funny because you are hopeful Tesla moves fast for you.

 

[cali8484]

Attempting to use the Tesla quote as leverage has failed...no one wants to compare themselves to Elon's playground and suggest it is very much "get what you pay for" and "they are cutting corners somewhere" or "best of luck". Instead of trying to win my business, they all slammed the door in my face, for lack of a better expression.

Soooooooooooooooooo as much as I may regret it, I may pull the trigger on Tesla today in HOPES that they can get the ball rolling BEFORE the NEM3.0 becomes an issue.

Not surprised it didn't work. It's probably the worst time for the strategy right now as everyone in CA is trying to beat the NEM 3 deadline and installers are most likely overbooked so they don't really need your business.

 

[yblaser]

Not to pile on but if I were starting the process with Tesla today I would go in assuming that you are not going to make the NEM 2.0 cutoff and price that into your decision when deciding between contractors. For what it is worth between sign up with Tesla and my first install date was ~ 5 months and then it took another 3.5 months after install to update the permits (there were Tesla initiated changes on install day) and file for PTO correctly (they screwed up their first submission). I wasn't in a time crunch and knew what I was getting into with Tesla so it didn't bother me.

 

[TwistedGray]

Understood and appreciated

@Vines I know better than to be hopeful for anything related to Tesla. NEM3.0 happens 3 months from now...I feel it's a reasonable gamble, and if you have the appropriate system for your application, you should not need to "sell" any kW back to the grid. It's the same concept with taxes, is it not? If you do things correctly, you have a net $0 at the end of the year.

 

[taphil]

If you don’t send power back to the grid to earn 1:1 credit for it (or credit at a fraction of 1:1 net metering under NEM2), then when the sun goes down you’re paying out of pocket for electricity. You get free electricity while the sun is bright and high enough in the sky, but that doesn’t happen evenly every day year round. And at the same time, you’re producing way more than you need at any moment so excess has to go to the grid or production decreased to match your home’s load.

The goal of NEM3 is to make solar payoff increase from 6 years to 15 years or infinity so you don’t bother with it.

 

[Vines]

Understood and appreciated

@Vines I know better than to be hopeful for anything related to Tesla. NEM3.0 happens 3 months from now...I feel it's a reasonable gamble, and if you have the appropriate system for your application, you should not need to "sell" any kW back to the grid. It's the same concept with taxes, is it not? If you do things correctly, you have a net $0 at the end of the year.

It is not the same, in this case you will be charged as much as $0.50 per kWh in the evenings and will get paid something like $0.05-0.10 for your production.

So if you overproduce a bunch you can make up this difference, but the deck is stacked against you.

Look at the other timelines and see how long it took Tesla to do their thing. I honestly think your chance of getting NEM 2.0 with Tesla at this point is less than 2%, especially if you have not even had a site visit yet. Just the wait for an inspector after 5the job is done can be 2-3 weeks or longer. Tesla wont start PTO until you get a final inspection.

It seems clear to me that if you care about NEM 2.0 you should probably choose a 3rd party installer, but everyone makes their own choices. If you aren't expecting a financial payback before 10-15 years then your choice is probably just fine.

 

[TwistedGray]

It is not the same, in this case you will be charged as much as $0.50 per kWh in the evenings and will get paid something like $0.05-0.10 for your production.

So if you overproduce a bunch you can make up this difference, but the deck is stacked against you.

Look at the other timelines and see how long it took Tesla to do their thing. I honestly think your chance of getting NEM 2.0 with Tesla at this point is less than 2%, especially if you have not even had a site visit yet. Just the wait for an inspector after 5the job is done can be 2-3 weeks or longer. Tesla wont start PTO until you get a final inspection.

It seems clear to me that if you care about NEM 2.0 you should probably choose a 3rd party installer, but everyone makes their own choices. If you aren't expecting a financial payback before 10-15 years then your choice is probably just fine.

Appreciate the feedback and setting my expectation.

 

[sunwarriors]

Here is a sample email of what Tesla Solar has been sending:

https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/10h78kd

Will be interesting to see how this plays out since historically, paperwork with IOUs have been a big delay point with Tesla Solar. Thing is after mid April, new solar contracts/installs will drop like a rock so it is actually in their interest to lock as many customers as possible up correctly. Downside is getting a refund doesn't = the downsides of being on NEM3.0.

 

[Vines]

It is not the same, in this case you will be charged as much as $0.50 per kWh in the evenings and will get paid something like $0.05-0.10 for your production.

So if you overproduce a bunch you can make up this difference, but the deck is stacked against you.

Look at the other timelines and see how long it took Tesla to do their thing. I honestly think your chance of getting NEM 2.0 with Tesla at this point is less than 2%, especially if you have not even had a site visit yet. Just the wait for an inspector after 5the job is done can be 2-3 weeks or longer. Tesla wont start PTO until you get a final inspection.

It seems clear to me that if you care about NEM 2.0 you should probably choose a 3rd party installer, but everyone makes their own choices. If you aren't expecting a financial payback before 10-15 years then your choice is probably just fine.

Based on the other thread discussing Tesla plan to get customers on NEM 2., I will retract my estimation of chances that Tesla will execute in time to hit the deadline. If they do everything right this should be a slam dunk.

It looks like they are also going to put a process in place to get as many customers as possible on the NEM 2.0 train, I am so glad to hear this. This industry really wouldn't want to have tons of customers frustrated and burned by Tesla speed with processing paperwork.

 

[TwistedGray]

I have now completed all the pre-documentation including the design plan. Allegedly, they will be here on Feb. 3rd for a site assessment.

Assuming the roof is in good condition, which I believe it to be, this should be a very simple install. There is virtually no shading, simple roof, yada yada yada. We'll see though...still not holding my breath...

 

[Vines]

I have now completed all the pre-documentation including the design plan. Allegedly, they will be here on Feb. 3rd for a site assessment.

Assuming the roof is in good condition, which I believe it to be, this should be a very simple install. There is virtually no shading, simple roof, yada yada yada. We'll see though...still not holding my breath...

Good luck and good job being proactive.

 

[TwistedGray]

Good luck and good job being proactive.

I've only been reactive