StraightUp Solar

Matt and Austin were both very professional and did a great job.

Straight Up Solar is clearly an elite solar company - if you want the best with a highly professional concierge team - would definitely go with Straight Up. I was extremely impressed with the company's organization, interactions, and professionalism - its clearly a top-notch operation. The coordination, planning, implementation, explanation and support are among the very best service companies. Combine that with top of the line hardware and it's a winning combination. We received 3 bids and Straight Up was competitive, so we went with them based on reputation - very glad we did. Looking good and looking forward to many years of lowering our house's energy demands and helping reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Straight Up solar is very pushy when it comes to closing the sales deal. They will say anything to get you to sign the papers, and it's nothing short of a predatory loan. First of all, let me be very clear that YOU WILL NOT SAVE ANY MONEY by going to solar -- not a chance for what you have to pay up front. Our system cost $32,517 for a 9.6KW array. Regardless whether you take out a loan or pay up front, even after federal rebates, you still won't break even in at least 10 years. I'm not going to dive into too much details of the financial argument, but just know that they'll say anything to make you believe otherwise. Their loan partner, Dividend Solar, is also a problem. Multiple provisions that are predatory:1. You must keep possession of the panels at all time2. You may not remove the panels 3. You can't sell the panelsThese provisions significantly hampers your ability to sell your house because they are in direct conflict with the fixture laws of many states. In many states, anything attached to a house is considered a fixture and must be removed before the listing. I didn't know this until taking to a lawyer when I had to sell the house. This allows the company to charge a significant fee for the uninstall -- a whopping $7,000. It's nothing short of extortion. Then, there's the local utility company requirements -- $1 million dollar mandatory liability insurance -- a major hurdle that again, significantly affects your ability to sell your house. This is because whomever inherits your solar panels would have to buy additional insurance as well -- as long as it sits on the roof. On top of this, your accumulated solar power, is reset every quarter to zero! YES, if you collected 1500KW total in the spring and hope to use it in the summer, sorry, you CAN'T. The local utility company resets it after May 31st, wiping out all your gains. None of those were disclosed to us before we signed the paper. I had to find this out from someone in the City Hall. After our panels were installed, it was generating 2/3 of it's capacity for over 45 days! None of their 'engineers' could tell us why until the 'head engineer' came and found a wire wasn't connected. Lastly, if you decide to go with those guys, you should hope you will NEVER move. As stated above, having panels on your roof affects your ability to sell your home. If you want to take down the panels, they charge you a ridiculous $7,000 for the labor only, NOT INCLUDING POTENTIAL ROOF DAMAGE REPAIRS. Note that the average cost to remove panels in the US is about $1,000 to $2,000 tops. I spoke to someone at another solar company and they were shocked to hear the $7,000 quote. The bottom line is, you need to do a lot of research before you go solar. I learned the lesson the hard way. I am a strong advocate of environmental protection and I sincerely hoped those guys shared the same passion. To my utter dismay, Straight Up does not share this passion. They are NOT in the business to make the world a better place but only to make themselves rich.

I had two bids/proposals from straight up solar and another company. Straight Up Solar had a slightly better price AND had about 30% more solar output. My sales rep Greg Talley was professional and very helpful in educating me along the way about solar energy. Never pushy but always there if I had questions. After comparing for a week or two I chose to go with Straight Up and I was amazed at how quickly they got me on the calendar (within 10 days) had entire system installed in 2.5 days and we just had to wait on Ameren to flip the switch. The installation crew were very professional and courteous. I HIGHLY recommend straight up solar. Very pleased with my system and sunny days like today I find myself checking the monitor almost hourly. kinda crazy. Thank you Greg Talley and Straight Up Solar.