Clean Energy Co

We invested with Clean Energy Collective about 18 months ago for community solar and with the expectation of receiving an offset of our Xcel bill's electrical portion. Nearly half of the time we've been invested, that their solar arrays have a) failed to report data or b) been wholly offline, resulting in NO offset to our bill. Their explanation is that the hardware they maintain is out of date--the inverters are not up to industry standard, are no longer stocked, the technicians aren't in Colorado--that it would be 'financially prohibitive' to upgrade their system. This response, which is inadequate, was pre-COVID-19. Their alternative to maintaining or upgrading their system is to order special production of obsolete parts and wait around until that happens. So, after a high-pressure sales deal ('I'll come to your house for a check!'), we're now out the investment AND the offset to our bill until some moment in the future when newly manufactured but obsolete part shows up to coddle the system along until something else breaks. Given the international slow downs around COVID-19, I don't know when they'll be able to repair so we're out a substantial amount of money with no returns. Also, their repair people are out-of-state so they can't travel here to fix anything. In emails to us, they've explained they lack the capital (approximately $200-300k) to upgrade so the system works. I'm pretty unimpressed with a business model that's so debt-heavy that they can't maintain their own facilities and is essentially borrowing customer money and earning off of it, while not repaying the loan nor being able to deliver. We got accidentally copied on some angry customer emails so we're not the only ones. And other than one tone-deaf email from the CEO, they don't communicate so we just drift along, wondering what happened to our money while paying our Xcel bills in full.

Upside- Very affordable way to purchase clean energy and put panels on the grid. So much cheaper than rooftop solar for a similar result. Their team is quick to reply to you when you have questions.

They do what they say theyre going to do, and they do it on time.

Very happy with my community solar purchase. Now my electricity use is basically 100% renewable, but without having to have panels on my roof. Not to mention the fact that my energy bill has been cut roughly in half.