REPOWER by Solar Universe

We highly recommend Repower by Solar Universe. Mike Wells, Sales Manager, and every individual that was involved in the November 2015 installation of our solar system and home automation was courteous and professional. The installation was quick and looks great. The solar panels are working better than we anticipated, especially during the shorter winter days.
The Amazon Echo, Nest thermostat and home security camera, Ring video doorbell and the Link connected LED light bulbs work flawlessly. All of this equipment can be controlled via apps on your smart phone from anywhere in the world and the lights can also be turned on and off by asking Alexa on the Amazon Echo. If you want home automation, save yourself a lot of time and trouble and call Cassius Camus, Repower Advisor, who was a pleasure to work with.

Do not use this company unless you are ready to baby sit them and are ready for many communication issues. I had to contact them continually to keep the deadline they agreed to in the contract. We went through multiple versions of the contract before it included everything we had agreed to verbally. The office manager even agreed to give me a paid in full invoice dated before the end of the year when they thought they would miss their year end install deadline. Their install was very poor quality, including putting half the trim around the new breaker box they installed on backward (half the trim was rough side in and the other half was rough side out), pulling my antenna wire down and not repairing it until I had to contact them, and leaving a lot of trash on my roof and in my rain gutters (a broken 10″ drill bit, 4 inch lag screws, a piece that was cut off the panel mounting frame, cigarette butts, etc.). They also told me they had already submitted my materials to the city for approval before the install and when I called the city to find out what the hold up was, they said it was not submitted until well after I was told it had been by RePower. After the install I contacted them to have them bring back the old breaker box that they had replaced and was told that they still had it in their shop and would return it. They never brought it by and after numerous ignored emails, I finally contacted the sales person by phone and was told that they had thrown it away. Instead of telling me this, they just chose to ignore me. I have had several friends and neighbors ask me for a recommendation and I had to tell them to stay clear of this company. I am just hoping nothing goes wrong with the system while in warranty that will force me to deal with them again.

We worked with Solar Universe in El Dorado Hills and they were first rate in every respect. They are located on 4659 Golden Foothill Parkway, EDH 95 762 (916 597‑0500). Paul Hale is the owner and Steve Hansen is his superb technical/​electrical engineer sales resource. They are both incredibly knowledgeable and very easy to work with. Also their Installers, Mike and Alan were equally competent and great guys. They installed a 10.4 watt system on our house and it is exceeding our expectations. The whole job was done very professionally… they told us what they were going to do, when and kept us informed throughout, finishing on time. They handled all the regulatory requirements with HOA, county and PG&E. All in all the job was a «piece of cake» for us and is producing major savings in our previously exorbitant electric bills. Equally important we got multiple quotes and it wasn’t even close Solar Universe, was the most competitive by far. I’d recommend them without reservation based on our totally positive
experience! Jerry M, El Dorado Hills

From the time a young, friendly woman knocked on my door representing Repower, until the final installation of my solar panels (today) the entire Repower team was a joy to work with. After expressing interest, I was contacted by a salesman named Mike who was amazing. In our initial meeting, he provided me with a detailed presentation of the system he had designed specifically for my home. He also explained the Mpower county program to me, which would allow me to get my solar for no money out of pocket. After deciding to apply for Mpower, Mike walked me through the qualifying steps, interfacing with the county rep and even driving me to the mandatory class. Definitely a nice gesture that I truly appreciated. After the final install today (btw…it was 105 and the install guys did a great job… the panels are barely visible from the street and the guys cleaned up so well you would never even know they were here) a Repower rep (Cassius) came to verify that everything had been taken care of and all my questions answered. In addition, Cassius gave me a kit that included a really cool device that interfaces with an app to control a multitude of things in my home. To demonstrate the app, he also gave me 2 twenty year light bulbs, which he installed for me, one on my front porch and one in a bedroom. He then added them to the app, so now I can turn those lights on and off (and even dim them) with my phone! Pretty neat gift. My entire experience with Repower has been a very positive one. Highly recommended. Five stars.

Solar Universe installed my residential solar system in 2012. At the time I worked with sales agent/​manager Steve Hansen. Their price was competitive and Steve was helpful, keeping me in the loop throughout the process.
During installation they inadvertently broke the sprinkler system over the garage. Fortunately there wasn’t any permanent damage to the house or household items and Solar Universe covered the repair of damaged drywall over the garage ceiling.
Despite the sprinkler mishap, I was satisfied with the end product and my system continues to work well to this day. A 4-​star rating would have been appropriate at that time; unfortunately, more recent poor experiences with their referral program have substantially tarnished things.
As an advocate for renewable energy, I was happy to share my experiences with friends and colleagues. I felt my Solar Universe project was a good value, and so when talking to others interested in «going solar», I let them know to shop around, but to make sure to give Solar Universe a call. I let them know to mention that I had referred them as Solar Universe had a referral reward program wherein the referring person would get a few hundred dollars once the new project with completed.
A colleague of mine I referred to Solar Universe shopped around and decided to go with them. He let them know from the beginning I had referred him, but after his project was complete, I received nothing from Solar Universe.
I called Solar Universe after the project was completed and they explained no referral reward was yet issued because he had not paid in full. When I asked my coworker about this, he noted that he had in fact paid in full. I gave it some more time, but heard nothing again, so I called Solar Universe a couple weeks later. I was then told the payment was received and I would receive a gift card within a few days. That did not happen. It took at least two other phone calls and delayed delivery times for the referral gift card to be sent.
Most recently, Cassius Camus at Solar Universe contacted me. He requested I send him a copy of my most recent True-​Up statement from PG&E to show other potential customers how my system was performing. He noted a $ 25 gift card would be sent for the help. I promptly sent the requested form but then the gift card delay games began again.
Cassius confirmed receipt of the True-​Up statement and sent me an email: «I’m sending out a $ 25 gift card your way on Monday.» — that was just a few days away, but nothing came. Then after 10 days went by and I sent him another email for which he responded «The card is loaded up and you should see it within the week!» Still nothing, so I emailed him again about 10 days later, and this time no reply.
Another 2 – 3 weeks later, I emailed him again. This time he responded but suggested the lost-​in-​the-​mail routine — «We sent the card a few weeks back to your residence there in Rocklin. Should have arrived either last week or the week before… Please let me know if you haven’t received it so we can cancel that one and send you another if need be.»
Oh boy. I told him I would not be bothering him any longer.
In the interest of fair and honest business practices, I will not be able to do business with Solar Universe further nor continue to recommend or refer them to friends and colleagues.
Cassius checks-​in 12÷3÷2015 with the following:
«…We have in fact sent out gift cards to your residence, we have record of those being received and activated.
With that being said I would be happy to stop by and discuss these issues and make sure we rectify this situation as soon as you are available…»
Surely Cassius can provide third party evidence of receipt and activation at my residence. USPS or some delivery service could verify receipt and a credit card agency could show card activation. Hope he filed a police report. Sadly for Cassius, it’s entirely his fictional creation.
For continued fraud, deception, and lack of integrity, downgrading my first 2-​star review here to first 1-​star review.
Highly recommend written documentation with all interactions with Cassius for anyone who has already engaged in business with him.

Solar Universe was an awesome company to work with. I had received six bids and was more confused. Solar Universe kept it simple. It took me about four months to research what each company had to offer. I had a great experience with every aspect of solar universe. I highly recommend them.

After finally deciding to go with Solar and researching a few solar companies, I decided to go with Solar Universe. My sales associate Lenin Arevalo, explained everything in such detail and explained the whole process very clear. He answered all my questions and concerns and he was very friendly which made everything go smoothly.
After deciding which plan worked best for me, I was contacted by Solar Universe at several points to let me know how the whole process was going. As of yesterday, my solar is now active and I Can’t wait to see my savings! If you want solar, I highly recommend calling Solar Universe. They have been great through the whole process. Call Lenin Arevalo at 916−512−3678. Great guy! Tell him Ignacio sent you! ;)

We’d shopped solar for about a year but were uncomfortable with the door-​to-​door sales pitch from other companies. When a friend told us about his great experience with Solar Universe, we decided to check them out. As a well-​established company, Solar Universe operates in several states. We also checked out their BBB rating — it’s an A+.
We sent a request via their website for more information. They called back right away. Our first phone call was informative and professional. There was no pressure to commit or decide. We looked at options for 100%, 50% and tier-​shaving electricity replacement and picked the tier-​shaving option with Solar Universe that day.
The placement of the panels, city permitting, installation and utility provider connection all went perfectly and even faster than the estimated timeline. Our system is producing greater-​than-​estimated kWh so that’s a better return on our investment and a faster break even time through greater monthly savings!
Of the many contractors who’ve worked on our home and yard (swimming pool w/​solar, complete kitchen remodel, front landscaping remodel, etc.), Solar Universe stands out as the best!
And, the icing on the cake is that we receive a $ 500 debit card each time someone buys a Solar Universe system and names us as the referring party. Thank you Solar Universe!

My experience with Solar Universe was amazing start to finish.
We started out getting bids/​quotes from 3 different companies. In terms of what we needed (size of system) and that we wanted to buy, these people had all sorts of great things to set them apart from the competition. It was a no brainer to go with them and we are glad we did.
Lenin, our sales guy was stunning. We rec’d a $ 100 gift card just to sit down with him. He had solar himself so was able to get a first hand account from him about the process. Just a great guy. The kind of person you enjoy having in your home. He spoke genuinely and intelligently about the product and had options ready for us. No pressure from him. He was just a great support and resource.
Melissa in the office was incredible. Customer service-​minded from the get go and went out of her way to assist with whatever I needed or to lend a helping hand. (We were doing a re-​fi of our home at around the same time and she assisted in getting the paperwork pushed through)
The crew that installed was great. Zack, Dennis and the entire team were hard workers and installed our 22 panel system in 1.5 days. They even re-​positioned things on our roof /​in the attic to get the max number of panels to get our system really working for us. (no extra charge!) (and no other company offered this)
Also, when other companies said 3 – 5 months to be up and going, Solar Universe guarantees 30 days, and they were on it to make it happen.
For us, it truly was «sign today, save today». We rec’d a gift card after all was said and done for one month worth of power that we paid to PG & E while we were waiting for install and getting interconnected. That was a huge bonus for us since we were paying mucho in electricity for our home. :)
These guys are certainly doing something right to set them apart from the rest. Thank you, Solar Universe Team!
We can’t wait to see our «true up» next year to see how much we are saving!

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me…
I reached out to Mike Wells about a year ago to discuss an off-​grid system for a construction project that was starting at that time. We spoke very briefly, Mike promised to call me later to further discuss the system specifications. Some time and a couple more attempts at reaching him later, I couldn’t get any contact.
Now, the construction project is finally nearing completion and is ready for solar. My FHA consultant recommended that I call Mike at Solar Universe… I was reluctant after my first experience, but decided to listen to the consultant.
I called Mike again on the 15^th of March. We spoke about system specifications (I gave him a detailed list of requirements) and budget — he promised to call with a quote early the following week… four to five days. Doesn’t it seem odd that a quote would take that long to generate? I mean, we’re talking about a quote here… not blueprints for a system.
On the 22^nd, I still hadn’t heard from him, so I called him again and managed to get through. He didn’t apologize for not calling on time, mentioned that we would likely be over budget, didn’t even seem like he recognized any sense of urgency in being late. In fact, he insisted that he would need more time and promised to generate a quote after the weekend. That means it would take 10 days from initial contact to get a quote — already unbelievable.
March has now come to an end and I have yet to hear from this guy. During my contact with Solar Universe, Mike has shown me a very classic half-​assed «I’ll get to it when I feel like it» approach at customer interaction. I mean, why bother being in business if you’re not willing to do business?