Review for Palmetto Solar

10/07/2024
Rocky Advance, NC

A good investment, IF you do the research

I’ve had solar panels from Palmetto for a smidge under one year now. Late October 2023 install and early October 2024 review. I feel that overall my experience is a positive one, but there are several things I as a potential customer could have done better on, and a few the company could have done better on. First, the sales process. They’re not pushy. It was an efficient process from deciding to go with them until the panels were installed. And generally I am satisfied. However, one point of contention I have is they could have explained the rebate process better. We decided to go to solar because of a generous federal rebate which the salesman made it seem like we would be getting cash back which we could either put towards the cost of the system or keep. And come to find out, the rebate is in the form of a tax credit. Not a “discount” like we were led to believe. Furthermore, that tax credit only applies if you owe on your taxes. So if you’re getting a refund, you’re not able to take advantage of the credit. However, that credit does apply until it runs out (I think). Next up, they wanted an energy bill so they could estimate how many solar panels we would need. So we gave them our latest energy bill, which happened to be September and we hadn’t really used a large amount of energy. It would be far more helpful if they asked for a years worth of energy bills so they could get a more accurate picture of our households energy consumption. If they insist on going one bill, make sure you are giving them a bill with a lot of power usage so you are getting an adequate amount of panels installed. My next gripe ties directly into the last one; our energy bill is not zero as promised. We still get a bill from Duke power, albeit a greatly reduced one. I have a neighbor who went solar with the same company and she says she isn’t getting a power bill, only a solar bill. So I think we are mainly at fault there because we didn’t have enough panels installed. But I think the company bears some blame there, and getting a better picture of energy usage would in my opinion fix this. So overall my too long, didn’t read version is that you need to do thorough research into whether it’s right for you, and how to go about it if so. Don’t go in uneducated, which I am embarrassed to admit, we did.