Review for Southern Current

07/23/2019
Jason C Effingham, SC

Took longer than expected, but a good value overall.

We signed a contract the last week of January 2019 after a year or so of exploring our different options. We signed for a 14.3 kw ground mounted system that should be able to cover 100% of our power requirements. We provided all the necessary documents and completed our financing paperwork within 1 week of signing the contract. There was some confusion about homeowners insurance requirements and the language in my policy that took over 4 weeks to resolve. There was one minor name change to my policy that was needed. At this point there had been no actual planning or site visits done. It took an additional 2-3 weeks for the application for interconnection to be submitted to Duke Progress. The design plan review was submitted to me for review on April 2nd. Contingent approval for interconnection was made on April 17th. The heavy equipment needed to install the system was delivered to my home on April 26th. It took roughly 2 weeks to install, with most of it being done in the first week, but several items (like electrical hookups) taking several visits over the following couple of weeks. There were some parts of the installation that weren't completed until a month after the project started because of a lack of parts (clamps, etc). The system was inspected by my county on May 7th. Duke sent approval to energize on June 3rd, around a week after the meter was installed. I've received two power bills since then and haven't received any solar credits yet, but Duke is promising to have this fixed within 1-2 billing cycles, and that the credits will be backdated. The system installation overall looks good. I would not call it excellent because as an electrician myself I would have done a couple of things different. It passed county inspection so there's that. I did have some issues with WIFI communication between the inverters and my house due to the distance between them. I was told before the installation started that an ethernet cable would be run along with the power, but it wasn't. I'm disappointed a bit by that but I was able to get the wifi working. The financing was good and I was happy with the interest rate and terms. Of course paying cash will save you money in the long run, but financing is the next best thing since it allows full ownership of the system and long term return on investment. The cost of the system was low compared to other installer quotes. Most of the people you'll be in touch with are fairly quick to get in touch with you to solve issues, but behind the scenes things move very slowly. The equipment seems to be high quality, and I haven't had trouble with anything as of yet, but I'll be monitoring output closely and will update this review if I need service.