Jul-Oct 2009 Los Angeles Solar Group Purchase
This campaign has ended, but you can sign up to be a part of our next campaign. We will begin choosing an installer for the next campaign on October 1st.
We’re proud to announce that we’ve selected SolarCity as the installer for the greater Los Angeles area 1BOG program.
If you’ve signed up to be a part of a 1BOG campaign and you’re in the Los Angeles coverage area, we’ll be contacting you soon. Once we’ve gotten in touch with you and you decide you’re ready, we’ll pass along your information to SolarCity to schedule your free home evaluation. If you haven’t already, please sign up today to get started. If you’re ready to get going, you can speed up the process by contacting Matt directly at matt@1bog.org or 818-237-3215. Please tell your friends and family so we can make this campaign the biggest one we’ve ever had.
The solar installer we chose and why
Through our competitive solar installer selection process, SolarCity put forward an amazing price, a $0 down lease offer, two great panel options including a thin-film option, reliable customer service, and careful installation practices to win as the selected installer. SolarCity is California’s largest volume installer of residential solar panels. SolarCity is committed to constant innovation in pricing, customer focused products, services, and financing. We’ve also run a campaign with them before in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it’s easy for us to work with them fluidly. SolarCity coordinates all permits, required inspections, and state/municipal utility rebate paperwork on behalf of the customer.
Timeline
- July 15th – Campaign begins: We’ll start getting in touch with signed up members in the Los Angeles area. Once we get in touch with you and you’re ready to get a home evaluation, we’ll pass your information along to SolarCity and a rep will evaluate your home for solar energy. During this time we continue to grow the group with the help of our members and volunteers. Again, please tell your friends and family so we can make this campaign the biggest one we’ve ever had.
- August 15th- Sign ups end: Anyone who signs up at the 1BOG website after this date will be stored in the system and contacted for the next campaign. SolarCity will continue to evaluate homes and give proposals to participants under the 1BOG negotiated pricing after this date.
- October 15th – Campaign ends: You will need to have had contact with us and received a solar evaluation from the installer by this date. You will have until October 31st to decide to act on your proposals or not and still be guaranteed the 1BOG discounted price.
How Much does Solar Energy Cost in this Campaign?
We’ve negotiated two great offers for 1BOG members: a discounted price of $6.05/DC Watt (with their standard adder list) for a purchased system or $0 down and 3 months free for a SolarLease in LADWP! Minimum system size is 2.4kW.
This is a fantastic price for high quality panels and installation. Below are the estimated costs for purchasing a sample 3kW system and a sample 6kW system including the 1BOG discount, state, and federal rebate.
Your system size will be determined by how much electricity you use, your available roof space, and your personal motivations. The SolarCity representative will work with you to design the best system for your needs. They will perform a home evaluation, provide you with a proposal under the 1BOG pricing terms, and show you your electricity savings and return on your investment.
Each home is different and there are some possible price adjustments (click here to see the full adder list) based on the home itself. Most of these are industry standard construction costs that won’t dramatically affect the payback of the system. If you have questions about pricing after you receive a proposal, you can always bounce the proposal off of us to make sure that everything checks out.
SolarLease
1BOG members get 3 months free on their SolarLease up to $1,000.
With the SolarLease you can go solar for $0 down and start saving money from day one! With a SolarLease, you pay as you go, instead a big upfront payment. The SolarLease also comes with premium services including free solar monitoring and repair service and a performance guarantee.
The combination of your low monthly lease payment and smaller electricity bill is typically less that what you currently pay your utility company. So you can save money and reduce energy consumption.
SolarLease Example for a 4kW system Size
In this example, the solar system will generate enough electricity to offset current utility payments from $200 down to $65 per month. The SolarLease payment would be $0 down and $115 per month. So the savings are $20 per month from day one.
The SolarLease is now available throughout the Los Angeles area in SCE, LADWP, Anaheim, Glendale, and Pasadena utility districts.
What Solar Panels and Inverters are Used?
First Solar Thin-Film Modules (spec sheet) represent the latest advancements in thin film solar module technology. These panels are black, frameless, and only 1/4″ thick.
First Solar modules work well in a wide range of climates – they even work well in low light conditions, cloudy weather, at dusk and dawn, and in high temperatures. Thin film panels can require more space to produce the same amount of energy as polycrystalline modules. Everyone likes the look of these things. They’re purty. These panels are made in the USA and have the solar industry’s first and most comprehensive recycling program.
Evergreen ES-A Series Solar Panels have the smallest carbon footprint and fastest payback of any silicon-based solar panel. ES-A series panels have the best power tolerance in the industry and deliver more electricity than other competitors in field tests. Evergreen panels have a 5 year workmanship and 25 year limited power warranty. They are the most environmentally friendly silicon-based panels on the market. They are made in the US, high quality, and efficient.
SolarCity offers a variety of products so you can always explore other panels options if you want, but other panels may be at a slightly higher price than the 1BOG discount.
Inverters:
SolarCity will be using Fronius and Xantrex inverters for this program.
Monitoring Service:
SolarCity offers SolarGuard® monitoring that lets you view your system production online (and even from your iphone). SolarCity monitors your system performance to make sure it’s running smoothly all the time.
In the unlikely event that your system underperforms, SolarCity will alert you and help you remedy the situation. Monitoring is free for members who choose the leasing option and will be at additional costs (on the adder list page) for those purchasing their solar installation.
Online Solar Webinar Info Sessions
We hosted a webinar with SolarCity, which we recorded and posted here. It covers the following information:
- Basics of solar
- Determining a system size
- Understanding your utility bills
- Current rebates and incentives
- 1BOG background and benefits
- 1BOG Los Angeles area process
- How to buy your solar system
Los Angeles Solar Energy Basics webinar from SolarCity and 1BOG from David Llorens on Vimeo.
Who do I contact?
You don’t have to do anything, we’ll contact you to explain the basics of the program, no commitment. If you want to get a site evaluation after that, we will pass your information on to the solar installer and they will evaluate your roof and electrical system to determine if solar is right for your home (again, no commitment). Then they give you a proposal under the 1bog program pricing and you decide if you want to do it or not. If you don’t want to wait for us to call you, you can call us.
The program specialist for the greater Los Angeles area is Matt, his number 818-237-3215. You can also email him at matt@1bog.org.
Coverage Area
Here’s the map of the coverage area — if you’re located within the purple outline, you’re included in the program.
If you’re outside the coverage area, that shouldn’t stop you from signing up. If we get enough sign ups in a particular area we could renegotiate to include the area or we could run a separate group purchase program.
1BOG Los Angeles Area Question and Answer Forum
Ask away! When we receive your questions, we’ll post our answers here.
Q: Can we talk to people that have been through previous 1BOG campaigns? – Jim 7/25/09
A: If you haven’t seen our solar map, check it out. When you sign up, you appear as a little green bogperson near your home. As you decide to go solar, you turn orange. Pretty soon we’re going to let people opt-in to putting contact info on the map if they want to be a champion to explain their personal experience in the 1BOG process. For now, check out the three video testimonials from people that went solar in our first campaign. They’re pretty thorough.
Q: My house has a cement tile roof, will that be a problem for solar? - Steve 7/28/09
A: Cement tiles are not a problem for solar. As indicated on the adder list, there is an additional $.34/Watt for tile roofs.
Q: If we want to replace our current roof, do we have to do that first before the Solar? - Steve 7/28/09
A: Let’s say you went solar today and then a few years later want to re-roof. Well, it’s not that pricey to pop the panels off, re-roof, and then put them back on. Often, the amount of power expenses you could have saved during that time is worth more than waiting to do the two things simultaneously.
If you’re going to do your roof this year anyway, go ahead and coordinate with a roofer and do both at the same time (it is commonplace for solar installers to coordinate like this). Otherwise, just pull the trigger on solar and worry about the roof when the time comes.
Q: We are currently in escrow on a property in Mt Washington, Glassell Park. We could either spend $15,000 on an electrical upgrade or go solar…. we would like to know the costs of the latter option. - Michael 7/28/09
The exact price of your systems depends on your usage and how much of your electricity you want to offset. You would need to get a quote from our installer to determine the exact cost of your system. If you want a general idea of the overall investment, you can take a look at our pricing to see the per watt cost, potential adders, and sample system costs. We’re also offering a leasing option that lets you go solar for $0 down.
Q:Will there be an increase in my home’s PROPERTY TAXES after the solar system is installed? If so, how might I estimate this cost? – Neal 8/2/09
Your property value will go up but property taxes remain the same due to a state exemption. It’s a win-win. The representative from SolarCity will be able to speak with you about this in detail. On a different but similar topic, you should definitely tell your home insurance when you go solar even though most of the time they will not increase your premium.
Q:How does a homeowners association affect a homeowners ability to have solar panels installed. Does the contractor work with them or does a homeowner have to approach the association first?
thanks. – Tom 8/3/09
HOA’s in CA can’t stop you from getting solar based on aesthetics alone, there needs to be a legitimate safety concern. There are laws to protect you. If you have to go through a design review for the HOA’s approval, there is a fee for that. You can work with the installation company first, and they will help you.
If my average electric usage is about 1,300 kWh per month, what would it mean to have a 3 kiloWatt system? Would all my electricity come from the solar panels of a 3 kW system? – Tommy 8/4/09
Hi Tommy, assuming your roof has good orientation, low shading, and can accommodate a 3kW system (300-400 Sq. feet of roof space), a 3kW system would offset about 4,550kWh a year, or 380 kWh a month. The good news, is that most utilities in Los Angeles are tiered (meaning, the more you use, the more power costs)… so that 380kWh of monthly offset would be offsetting your most expensive power. In other words, sometimes people will only offset, say, a third of their over all electrical usage, but that that would eliminate half of their electrical costs.
I live in a condo. Will I still be able to be apart of the program?-Emily 8/16/09
Hey Emily,
SolarCity doesn’t do condos unless they are standalone units.
