Harmon Solar Town Hall

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
and we're live, we are yes, we should be live now
finally we are yes, do we haveproof?
Yes, we're live let me checkall right so sorry about that
little technical difficulty.
Um, go figure first time foreverything solar guys, real
smart can smart, can't getstream live.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, we don't know how to do that stuff.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
All right, so welcome to the Solar Town Hall for
Harman Solar.
I'm Ralph Romano, vp of Salesand Marketing at Harman Solar,
and my partner over there, benWalschlager.
Mr Everything, as everyoneknows from our podcasts, it's
been a while since we've been on.
We took a break from content,had a lot of content out there.
I know that we've had a lot ofgood comments and people that
have come to us because of thecontent, so we're really

(00:49):
thrilled about that.
So we wanted to put a town halltogether because we have a lot
of questions, that people areasking a lot of questions.
I think we have like 35 of them, so I'm not sure we can get all
of them in there.
But and also we wanted to seeif we can stream live and get
some people to join us and maybeask some questions live.
Maybe we'll actually figure outhow to see those questions
Maybe.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah, yeah, this is uncut, this is this.
This is as raw as it gets.
Yeah, there's no, no room forerror on this one, correct?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
What if I had to go from there?

Speaker 1 (01:30):
so okay, should we get started or should we look at
a zoom meeting where they go?
We're just going to wait acouple more minutes for everyone
to join us no, I think weshould get started.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
We should probably get started, so let's do it.
We got.
Uh, I guess Julie, julieWalschlager.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Testing 1, 2, 3.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Hi Mom, hi Mom.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Thanks for being our only viewer.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Oh geez, she was probably right at 2 o'clock.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Where are?

Speaker 1 (01:54):
they.
Where's my sign Nice?

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Nice, she did mimic you.
Yeah, testing 1, 2, 3.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Oh good, so why don't we just start?
Let's just start askingquestions that people gave us
and we'll go from there.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
We have no script here today, ladies and gentlemen
.
We're just going off ofwhatever you guys give us.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Really scary yeah, I know, so fire away.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
We'll see if we can answer them honestly or not
honestly.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
So Vanna, or should we call you Hannah or Vanna?

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Why would you give me a show name?

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Vanna White, hannah White.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
No, no, no, Just Hannah.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Okay, hannah, throw a question at us.
Okay, are we ready?
Yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
All right, just Ben, I did not word these, so I don't
want to hear about it, and yourmom said you were late
installed, but my system is notturned on.
Do I still have to pay thepayment on my panels when they
aren't producing anything,leaving me with no savings and
two bills that are high?

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Ralph, that's all you .
No, that's you, no, that's you,that's you.
Repeat the question.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Oh boy, if my panels are installed but my system is
not turned on, do I still haveto pay the payment on my panels
when they aren't producinganything, leaving me with no
savings and two bills that arehigh?

Speaker 2 (03:09):
So it depends.
If you're paying cash, thenobviously you pay nothing.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
If you're financing it.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
The most finance companies will wait I think it's
45 days, and after install,about 45 days until you start
receiving your first payment.
So you typically shouldn't havethose two hit together.
It's rare.
Has it ever happened before?
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, it also depends on the finance company or
leasing company that you go with, because they're all different.
I know some of them have like asix-month no payment period or
a 12-month no payment period.
We've offered different oneslike that.
So it's going to depend.
Which is pretty much a themethat we've had on all of our
podcasts is everything's goingto depend.
So you know it, it depends.

(03:49):
So, yeah, there's going to besome cases where that might
happen because of certain delays.
Um, you have to also keep inmind not all the delays are
going to be your installersfault.
There are times where youeverything on your roof.
Now it's up to the jurisdictionor the utility company to come
out and set the meter or dotheir job.
That has nothing to do with us,the install company.

(04:11):
That's just the delays that arehappening within the utility
company.
Yes, that's sometimes anunforeseeable future.
Not always the case, though.
There you go.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
There's your answer.
Hope that helped.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
One down, 34 to go Next.
If my system is there, you go.
There's your answer.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Hope that helps All right One down 34 to go All
right.
Next, if my system isunderproducing and I do not
notice for a month or two, isthere any way that I will
receive a credit on my bill ormy bill for my panels, because
my system was not workingefficiently for those months?
Am I stuck paying the highbills and paying for a service
call?

Speaker 1 (04:42):
You're stuck I guess that would be a me question
because I do handle those.
You're stuck, you are kind ofstuck.
So with your solar system youdo get monitoring and it's
important to pay attention tothat monitoring because that
tells you what your system isdoing.
I always tell people it's kindof like a check engine light
with your car.
When your check engine lightgoes on with your car, does the
dealership call you or do youcall the dealership?

(05:03):
You call the dealership, theydon't call you, they don't know
your check engine came on.
So when your check engine lighton your solar system comes on,
it's important to pay attentionto that, that notification,
contact your solar company andsay, hey, there's something
wrong with my system I need youguys take a look at right away.
Yes, there's been cases whereyou know people say, hey, my
system's been offline for youknow, four months.

(05:24):
I'm like, well, why didn't youcall us right away when it first
came off?

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Oh, I forgot, and all this stuff.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Same thing with your check engine light.
If you're driving around withthe check engine light on for
four or five months, something'sgoing to happen.
But yeah, so it's important topay attention to that monitoring
aspect and then contact yoursolar company for their
maintenance on it.
But yes, if it does go down andit's not producing, yeah,
unfortunately you are kind ofstuck with that utility bill and

(05:52):
that payment if you are makingmonthly payments on your system.
Now, if you're doing a leaseagain, depending on your leasing
company, if the system does godown, they do give you a credit,
because with a lease, you dohave a production guarantee
where it's supposed to guaranteea certain amount of kilowatt
hours per year, and if itdoesn't meet that production,
then you get a credit on youraccount again.

(06:12):
They usually take a look atthat on a yearly basis, um, to
see how did it do, and then theycredit your account based off
of your monthly payment.
So, but if you finance it orpurchase it, well, well, you own
the system, so no one'screditing you that lost power.
So that's why it's important tokind of keep an eye on your
system.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yep Check.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, look at that, See, I'm good Good at this stuff
.
Number three Hannah White.
Good answer.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Okay.
Next, my solar installer is nolonger in business.
Can anybody service my solarsystem and are there deals for
customers like me that gotscrewed by a company and are
losing their free services for ayear?

Speaker 2 (06:49):
So this is a great timely question, because there
have been a few solar companiesin the last few months that have
gone out of business.
I read about one yesterday.
Actually, what was the one?
You?

Speaker 1 (06:57):
read about I'm not going to say their, names no, no
, yeah, upwind went out ofbusiness, so all those installs
there's a couple behemoths thatwent out of business nationally.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
The largest company in solar went out of business,
um, and that's.
There's a lot of reasons tothat.
I mean, whatever those internalreasons were, plus the way the
interest rates have been andother things, but they're solely
dependent on solar, onresidential solar, which
harman's not.
So we don't have the issue.
But anyway, if that happens toyou, the good thing is your
parts are still warrantied bythe manufacturer.

(07:31):
So your panel still has amanufacturer warranty.
Your inverter still has amanufacturer warranty.
Unfortunately, what you do loseis you're going to lose any type
of workmanship warranty, anytype of roof penetration
warranty that they were givingyou, because they're no longer
in business to go to honor it.
So you are going to lose out onthat stuff.
But great news is, harmanactually will come in and we can

(07:52):
help service it at a cost.
We are talking about puttingtogether some kind of a plan for
the amount of people that haverecently had this happen to them
and maybe offer you the abilityto get us some kind of extra
protection that we would helpyou out with.
We're working on it Not thereyet, like an extended warranty,
right, like an extended warrantyor something.
But at the moment, yeah, you'rebasically those warranties are

(08:15):
gone and you would have to relyon somebody like Harmon right
now If you give us a call.
Our service department haspicked up a lot of business
because of the few companiesthat have gone out of business.
But we're here to help you.
We'll definitely service yoursystem.
We'll do things for you.
Obviously, right now it's goingto come at a cost, but if a
part goes bad and it's undermanufacturer's warranty, we can
help you run that manufacturerwarranty ticket.

(08:35):
The panel, the inverters,whatever they are, we can do
that stuff.
Where you really miss out isthe workmanship warranty that's
just gone.
There's nothing that you can doabout that, which is why we
talk about all the time.
There's companies out therethat say, hey, we'll give you a
40-year warranty on this.
Well, if you're only around,you've been company for five
years and you're offering 30,40-year warranty, hey, you might

(08:59):
want to rethink maybe workingwith that company.
We always say at Harman we'rethe only company in Arizona
that's been around longer thanthe warranties we provide, and
there's a good reason for that,and you're getting a great
example of that this last fewmonths with the companies that
have gone out of business.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yeah, I always like to relate it to once again cars
because they're pretty familiarwith people.
But when you buy, let's say, aFord Explorer from a dealership,
if that dealership goes out ofbusiness, that doesn't mean Ford
went out of business and allthose Ford parts in your car you
can contact other dealershipsto service your Ford Explorer.
Just because that dealership,and whatever their warranties
they had, went out of business.

(09:30):
You still have manufacturerwarranties on what you bought,
so you can still do those claims.
Good question, though.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
One that we've heard a lot lately.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
Sure, yeah, so All right, our next question how
often should I be cleaning mysolar panels, if at all?
Is there a product that cleansthem the best, or do I just add
water and will cleaning them?
Void a warranty.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
The product that works the best is rain and wind.
I was going to say that youdon't have to pay for it, which
is great, god's got you.
Yeah, I don't recommendcleaning them at all.
Yeah, there's probably somestudies out there that show like
, oh yeah, the cleaner thepanels, they're going to produce
more things like that.
But you always have to askyourself, okay, but at what cost
?
Companies are not going to comeout there and clean your panels

(10:11):
for free, so you're going to payX amount to get your panels
clean.
Is that going to translate to Xamount of savings on your next
utility bill?
You know like, oh utility bill.
You know like, oh, I paid ahundred dollars to have my
modules cleaned and then it onlysaved me an extra five dollars
on my utility bill, like, okay,well, now you just lost 95, so
it wasn't that great of a youknow investment.

(10:33):
And the other thing that youhave to realize too, with
cleaning them, we live in a veryunpredictable um weather system
.
Here in the phoenix area youcan go out and clean your panels
on monday, tuesday, dust stormyeah now what?

Speaker 2 (10:47):
it's a waste of money .
Yeah, so I.
That's an absolute waste ofmoney, waste of money.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
I have no disrespect to those companies out there who
are charged, and you know toyou know, clean it, that sure
great, but at the same time,like I, I'm totally against it
because you don't need it I'vehad the panels in my house since
2017.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
I've never cleaned them once.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
You don't go up there and spray it down with a hose.
No, you go down there with atoothbrush.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
So no, you can clean them.
Some people shoot water on them.
I wouldn't recommend that.
Garden hose and ladder worksjust fine.
That's what Cody said, ofcourse.
Thank you, Cody, for that.
Really bad advice, Right.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
Why don't you want to use our, our garden hose on a
modules?

Speaker 3 (11:29):
what's unique about our water?

Speaker 1 (11:30):
here we have hard water, yeah, and so you get
those calcium deposits on yourpanels.
And now that's not a good idea.
Not a good idea unless, yeah,if you're going up there with
you know ro water and cleanerand all that stuff, you're just
wasting time.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
Let the rain do it.
Yeah, rain and wind.
Yeah, you're fine.
So there we go.
Next, hannah White, nextquestion.
I keep calling you Hannah White.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
With my solar company out of business, does my
equipment still have a warranty?

Speaker 2 (11:55):
Well, I just answered that.
Yeah, we kind of hit that.
Should I answer it again?
So if people weren't there,we're actually getting more
people to view.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Are they chiming in with questions on there?
Just Cody who I'm about toblock.
It's just my mom.
It's Cody.
Yeah, I need to block him.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
Again.
So if your solar company wentout of business, the
manufacturer's warranty is stillthere and still good for
whatever period of time it is,and a company like Harman will
still help you manage a warrantyclaim for that part that goes
defective.
So don't worry, you didn't losethat warranty.
You didn't lose any of the partwarranties you're still good

(12:30):
with.
The manufacturers are stillaround, hopefully, depending on
who you did, but most of themare still around.
Where you're going to miss isyou're going to lose your
workmanship warranty.
You're going to lose your roofpenetration warranty, those
things that that company wasproviding as their warranties.
That's what's gone Right.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
We can still help you , but now it comes at a cost,
right, we'll still come outthere and fix your roof or
whatever issue that may havehappened.
But we can't honor theirwarranty if they went out of
business.
Right, but we can still contactthe manufacturer if it's a
manufacturer issue.
Exactly, yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
All right.
Our next question is doesharman not install on mobile
homes?

Speaker 2 (13:08):
well, that's not 100, true?
Yeah, um, we sometimes do itdepends it depends on the mobile
home.
So a lot of the older mobilehomes were built with one by one
frames.
Um, they're not going to holdpanels.
They're going to crash intoyour bedroom or your living room
or whatever.
They're just not structurallysound enough to handle the
weight of a panel.
These panels are heavy.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yeah, you know, 30 of them are on your roof.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
That's a lot of things on your roof and the
structure just can't handle it.
So we will install it on newermobile homes.
I think we look at 94, 96forward.
They seem to have more of thetwo by four construction so we
can look at doing those types ofmobile homes.
Where it gets tricky isfinancing.
If you're trying to finance asystem on a mobile home, if it's
not a permanent foundation andyou don't own the land, no one

(13:53):
will finance you.
So you have to own the land andit has to be a permanent
foundation, because if you don'town the land and it's not
permanent and you just drive itaway there goes the system.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
So companies won't do that.
Yeah, and it's again, it's notjust mobile homes, it's just the
integrity of the structure.
I mean, there's some non-mobilehomes, there's some single
family homes that we've denied.
Just because we take a look atthe, the roof and the structure
and go this isn't structurallysound.
We're not putting our namemodules, you know, on on this
roof because we don't want it tocollapse later on.
So sorry, we're not going to dothis install.

(14:27):
So it's not necessarily justmobile homes, it's just all
homes in general.
We're going to look at doingthe right thing for the customer
without having the entire roofcollapse because of us.
We don't want that.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Hannah White.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Which is better a ground ground mounted system or
a roof mounted system?

Speaker 1 (14:48):
for what application?
Yeah, I mean that residentialokay that depends I mean.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
So, living in phoenix , you don't see many ground
mount systems unless you go outthe outskirts of the city.
Yeah, because people don't havethat kind of land to be able to
put a ground mount system,because there are rules and
regulations around, not only thespace they require but the
visibility by jurisdictions andby communities, so you don't
really see them a lot.

(15:12):
If you don't have good roofspace, a lot of people will try
to do a ground mount.
If they have the land, it makesa lot of sense.
You point it south, they'regreat for that person.
If that person has no land andthey have a roof that we can put
panels on, then that's greatfor them.
So again, that's a questionthat's unique to that person and
their situation.
If you're Hannah and you liveout near New Mexico and you have

(15:34):
all that land, then it makessense.
You would put a ground mount upthere.
Why would you even botherputting it on your house?
I would just face it south andmove on.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
I've talked to a few customers where they kind of
want they wanted a ground mount.
I took a look at their you knowneighborhood and property and
all that.
I'm like where are we puttingthis ground mount?
You know you have no room inyour backyard and because of
your energy needs you need 40modules.
Where am I putting those 40modules?
On a ground mount?
I don't.
There's no space, so we have touse your.

(16:01):
The other thing you have torealize with ground mounts is,
instead of just putting it onthe roof itself, we have to
build a ground mount.
So that's cost.
The mount itself has a fixedcost as well, so that's going to
eat into your return oninvestment, your overall cost
and then your savings as well.
So a lot of cases it doesn'treally make a whole lot of sense
to do a ground mount unlessthere's again plenty of ample

(16:25):
land.
Your usage is high.
It depends on how you pay forit, things like that.
So if there are roof spacesavailable, take advantage of
that.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Not to mention ground mounts cost more money because
we're dealing with all thatstuff.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
We're dealing with ground mounts.
Yeah, all the answers are steel.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
Will Harman Solar install a ground mounted system
on a residential house?
We?

Speaker 2 (16:46):
have in the past.
Yeah, I know of a couple.
Yeah, we have in the past.
We stay away from it more thanever now because there's too
many rules and regulationsaround the ground mounts in the
different communities, not tomention the cost is very
prohibitive for the savings.
It takes away from your savings, because now you're talking
about us using steel anddifferent things to penetrate
into the ground, having to dotest samples of the land

(17:06):
sometimes.
I mean it gets very costly, um,so we really stay away from it.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
The last one I can think of it was like a 10 000
square foot home on five acres.
I think the grandma systemalone was like 200 grand.
Again, this is not a typicalscenario situation, so it's
going to be very unique.
And that's not saying we won'tdo it, it's just we don't want
to.
We don't want to because let'stake a look at your situation

(17:32):
and most people it doesn'treally make a whole lot of
financial sense because youridea of going solar is to save
money.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Okay, this question we kind of already touched on,
but I'm going to read the wholething anyways.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Perfect.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
Hello, I recently moved to Arizona from Alaska and
am also new to solar.
We purchased a home with solarthat was paid for, but we just
found out that our companyrecently closed and went
bankrupt in June.
There was no notice.
We only found out when we sawour electricity bill for this
month, and it was almost doublethe last month's bill.
My question is how easy ordifficult is it to find another

(18:04):
solar company to work with, andis it possible to have your own
power bank, or do you have toplug into the grid?
I only ask because the peoplewho use solar in Alaska have
their own power banks.
I am in Maricopa area.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
I don't understand why their bill went up because
the company went out of business.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
Yeah, that's that.
Shouldn't have any separate.
Yeah, there's no correlationthere.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, because whether they're in business or not,
your system is working.
There shouldn't be an issue.
It sounds like your system mayhave an issue.
Yeah, yeah, your panels don'tknow that your company went out
of business.
That's funny.
I'm new to solar.
I wanted to say you're new tothe sun is what you wanted to
say.
Welcome to Alaska, to Arizona.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
Quite the dynamic.
But again, touching on the, youmight build one up.
There's other aspects to howyour bill went up and I always
tell people there's two reasons,and only two reasons, why your
utility bill would be higherthan expected.
One equipment not working.
So that's what we take a lookat.
First, is your equipmentworking the way it should?
And two, your usage has changed.
So if it's got to be one ofthose two reasons, so if the

(19:03):
equipment's working and it's notnumber one, then it's got to be
one of those two reasons.
So if the equipment's workingand it's not number one, then
it's got to be the second optionwith maybe your usage has
changed.
So it's important to look atall aspects and not just
automatically assume like, oh,my bill went up, so therefore
it's my equipment like.
No, not the case all the timeif I were you.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
If it's a, if you, if you bought it or financed it,
it's not a lease.
If it's a lease, contact leasecompany because you still have
still their system.
Yeah, so if you purchased orfinanced it, contact a company
like Harman to have take a lookat it.
We'll go out there and take alook at it and see what's going
on, because something's wrong,sure?
So most likely you have anissue yeah maybe it's a inverter
went down.
maybe some panel strings wentdown in a month.

(19:40):
It could be what Ben said, itcould be usage.
That'd be some serious increasein usage, but it happens.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
You never know as we hit summer.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
That's very possible, but I would have somebody take
a look at the system first.
That would be what we would dofirst, like Ben said.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Okay, I don't know if we can answer this because
we're not a law firm, but how doyou?
Get out of a solar contractonce you're in it.
The solar has been installedfor two years and I don't think
it has worked at all since it'sbeen installed.
The installer has since goneout of business.
How could I get out of thecontract?

Speaker 1 (20:15):
So when people say I don't think my solar is working
and we do get some of thosecalls from customers who say my
company might have business, canyou guys take a look?
I don't think my solar isworking.
So then what we do is we gookay, what is your system
supposed to produce?
It's supposed to produce Xamount, okay.
Well, what did your systemactually produce?

(20:37):
It produced X amount, like okay.
Well, if it was supposed toproduce 10,000 kilowatt hours
and it produced 11,000 kilowatthours, well, not only is it
working, it's working betterthan expected.
So your system is working.
How your utility bill is,that's a completely separate
issue.
Now, if your system is supposedto produce 10,000 kilowatt
hours but it's only producing2,000 kilowatt hours, okay, well

(21:00):
, now you have an issue whereyour system isn't working, so
it's important to take a look atthat.
Just because you might beunhappy with your utility bills
doesn't necessarily mean like,oh, solar is messed up,
something's wrong.
Like, no, let's figure it outthe logical way.
But as far as getting on yourcontract, well, if that's all
you.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
That's not going to happen.
It's a contract, especiallywith them out of business, so I
would assume that you financedit.
So if you financed it, I meanyou could go to the finance
company and request something.
But the problem is they have noleverage because they can't go
after the solar company thatmaybe misled you about something
.
Sure, you're in a legalcontract.

(21:41):
Chances of you getting out ofthat are slim, very slim.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
Yeah, unless unless someone did something illegal.
If you said, hey, I signed acontract for 50 modules and this
company only installed five,like okay, well, there's a huge
discrepancy there.
But if you're saying I signed alegal contract to get 50
modules, they installed 50modules.
The contract said it's supposedto produce X amount and it is
producing X amount, Well then,everything has been taken care

(22:08):
of.
What you may have been promisedby the salesperson, that's a
separate issue.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yeah, and if they're out of business, there's nothing
to go after.
So that's the problem with someof these flat-by-night companies
they come into Arizona becauseit's such a great place for
solar.
They sell you a bag of goodsand then they bail, yeah, and
they don't care about you, theyjust want the commission.
So you got to look, you got todo the research on who you're
buying solar from.

(22:33):
Yep, you can't buy it fromthese guys that have been around
for a year or two, becausechances are they're not gonna be
around in a year or two.
But he looked good, he soundedcool.
I'm good.
He had this big, pretty websiteand it had colors on it and
stuff.
He made me sign it.
Yeah, sorry, yeah, hannah White.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
Is that she was laughing?

Speaker 1 (22:52):
Don't laugh my joke of the day.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
What kind of discounts do you offer, if any?

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Discounts?
Yes, you don't get no discounts.
What are you talking about?

Speaker 3 (23:01):
Military teachers senior citizens.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
So everybody's really big on that.
First of all, let me tell yousomething about discounts.
Let me tell you somethingthey're not discounts.
Yeah, you're paying for it,it's in the price.
So what we do is don't offerthose things.
We give you the best possibleprice up front period.

(23:25):
So, whether you're military,whether you're a senior citizen,
whatever it is the categorythat you fit, that you hear
discount on, yeah, we're givingeverybody that discount up front
because we're just going togive you the best possible price
and treat you the right way andbe here, be around for years
when you need us.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
But I have 25 off at kohl's no, they're just they're
just charging you 25 more.
Normally right now, you're justpaying the different price for
it.
Um, here's my thoughts on ondiscounts too.
Um, I'm all about giving peoplethe best price possible.
Um, simply because that's how Iwould want to be treated as a
customer.
This goes back to my previousdays before sales.

(24:03):
Um, I had someone coming to mydoor, you know, knocking, trying
to sell me a five thousanddollar vacuum, like that that
was good sound effect yeah, wedon't have actual sound effects
here, we kind of make them herein the studio but anyway.
So I had someone come to my doorselling me like a you know five
thousand dollar vacuum, greatvacuum, sure it worked as it
said and all that stuff.
And you know he was like, okay,the price for this vacuum is

(24:25):
five grand.
I was like, geez, five grand.
Yeah, that's sorry, I'm notgonna do it and he goes hold on
a second, I can do it for 3500 Iwait a minute If I would have
said yes to $5,000 and nowfinding out later that I could
have paid $3,500 for the exactsame vacuum.
That to me is unethical.
If my neighbor bought the sameexact vacuum and I paid $5,000

(24:47):
and he paid $3,500 for it likewait, we both have the same
vacuum, but you got a betterprice on it, that's just going
to make me upset as a customer.
So I always tell people this ismy lowest and best price.
And I do have customers comelike, oh, can you do it for this
price, this price, and I'm likeno, the only way I can get a
lower price is if I talk to ourowner and say, hey, does the
company want to make less moneyoff of this?
Because I gave you my bestprice I could.

(25:09):
I don't do a whole lot ofhaggling or anything like that.
The price is the price andthat's what we offer.
That's my thoughts on discounts.
I'm with you.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
All right.
How many batteries would I needto power my house, air
conditioner included?

Speaker 2 (25:26):
36.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Yeah, that's a very open-ended question.
It could be one, it could benone, it could be 10.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Would it ever be one to power an air conditioner?
No, in a power outage.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
Not in Phoenix, no not here.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Yeah, maybe in Flagstaff.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
We recommend that a minimum, that you get two
batteries.
That's always the minimum thatwe recommend.
If you want one, we'll sell youone, but we're going to be
honest about what it's going toreally cover.
That'd be more to cover someoutlets and stuff like keep your
fridges going, have a computerthat you can log into.
You know your internet, allstuff.
But if you want really you dotwo.
Two can cycle your ac for alittle bit.
Um, you know, give you theother things that you need, and

(26:05):
then three is typically optimalif you really want to get into
it, but with one battery yeah,think.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
if you gotta think about it too, we are right now
towards the end of summer, sowe're like we're in the dog days
of summer, as they say.
So when you're talking about mybattery, what's the air
temperature outside?
It's 115 degrees in the hottestpart of the day, and at night
it still gets 100 degrees.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
Right.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
You're running your AC pretty much 24-7 to keep your
home somewhat cool in thesummertime, pretty much 24-7 to
keep your home somewhat cool inthe summertime.
So if you're relying on justyour battery at nighttime, when
there is no solar production,that battery is going to be
drained real quick, you know.
So one, two batteries, twobatteries might not even do it,
three batteries might not do it.
It all depends on how muchpower you're drawing, how many

(26:51):
AC units, how big your home,what temperature you want to set
your thermostat to, things likethat.
So it's very I don't knowopen-ended question.
It's going to vary, but eventhen it's not going to cover all
of your demand during that time.
Nope.
So don't rely solely on thebattery.
Good question, hannah White.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
Does Harman offer 24 seven service or service after
hours?

Speaker 1 (27:16):
Um, yeah, ralph's number is hold on, let me pull
it up here 602.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Um, no, we do not.
We're not 24 seven.
Um we?
I mean if, if something happensand you call in and I think
there used to, we used to havean emergency line I'd have to
ask the service department if westill have that.
I don't think we do.
Um, it was, it's just somethingwe did for a period of time,

(27:41):
but right now, no, I think whatwe would do after hours is if
you left us a message we'd getwith you next morning yeah and
try to help you, sounfortunately no yeah, usually
with solar, if there's somethinggoes wrong and no, it just kind
of kicks off.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
So I don't know any any type of real emergencies
that could happen in the middleof the night or you know it's
hot outside and you're I don'tknow what my solar system is not
working on sunday night likewell, it's, it's nighttime wait,
we have those night panels, themoon panels.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
You remember those?
We bought them.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
I do okay, sorry okay , what services are done
in-house at har Harmon, andwhich ones do you contract out
for?

Speaker 1 (28:18):
We do laundry service um pool service, home cleaning,
cooking, all sponsored by Ralph.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
Yeah, that's exactly it Um.
So in house I mean almosteverything.
I would say, uh, we really doeverything.
We, um, we do the audit processin-house for the most part.
We do the design in-house.

Speaker 3 (28:42):
For the most part the sales, we do the sales in-house
, we do the engineering in-house.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
I mean we have the marketing for the most part.
The marketing for the most partwhen someone decides to do
something is in-house.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
Marketing for the least part when we to do
something is in-house ummarketing for the least part.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Um, when we do, we do ground mount.
I mean, probably the only thingwe don't do in-house that I can
think of.
Well, there's two things.
So steel when, on commercialprojects, yeah, we contract the
steel out, um, not because wehave to, we just that's just
what we do.
We could do it if we wanted to,and I think we have done it
sometimes, um, but for the mostpart we'll contract it out.
As far as roofing, we do have aroofing division and we can do

(29:17):
a lot of the roofing ourselves.
If it's a big roofing job andwe're just got a lot of stuff
going on, we might contract itout to do some roof work.
But we have a couple of vendorsthat we utilize that we've been
with for years.
So, but typically we're doingmostly everything in house.
I mean same with, like design.
Sometimes we'll contract thatout if we're really busy.
We want to keep things movingyeah we might ask for some
overflow service things likethat.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
So it doesn't mean that we don't cross-check things
.
Yeah, no, we still have.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
We have a full engineering team in house, full
design team in house.
Uh, we're 20.
You know, we're one-stop shopin-house.
We have everything we need, allour service work is done
in-house.
We don't contract that out, um,so yeah yeah, I mean, drive by
our office.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
It's a big office, we have a warehouse, we have our
own solar system in the back.
There we look like a one-stopshop because for the most part
we are a one-stop shop, whereasother companies it's running out
of their mom's basement orsomething.

Speaker 3 (30:08):
Yeah, not us, Not us.
We need t-shirts that say we'rea solar company for the most
part.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
See what I mean about our marketing team.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
And this is why we don't allow her on camera?

Speaker 3 (30:19):
Next question If I just need my system looked at,
do I have to pay a fee?
Or is there a free estimate andthen I pay if I decide to have
the labor done?

Speaker 1 (30:26):
I'll go on Google Maps right now and look at it.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
Yeah, I'll go look at it.
There it is.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
There it is, thanks, thanks $10.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
So if you want someone to come out and look at
it because there's an issue,maybe yes.
Yes, We'd have to charge youfor rolling a truck.
Obviously there's time andmoney that goes into sending a
technician out to a home.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Well, let's back up a little bit.
It depends, it depends.
So if there is an issue, wehave all these capabilities to
look at it remotely.
Yeah we do, we can take a lookand go, okay, if it's our system
, yeah, if it's our system, wetake a look at your monitoring
and go okay, there is no issue.
We have green lights across theboard.
Everything looks like it'sproducing.
You still want us to come out,because if we do, then we're
obviously going to have tocharge you because everything

(31:05):
looks good on our end.
But if we something is wrong,well then it's going to be
covered under warranty, thingslike that.
In that case you might not getcharged Again.
It's going to depend.
We'll take a look at itremotely at no cost, but then
the decision of us coming outthere or not is going to depend

(31:27):
on if there is somethingactually wrong.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
One million dollars.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
Yeah, that's part.
It's in the contract.
Fine print.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
Are pigeons known to eat wires under the panels or
cause damages other than debris.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
Only if they're hungry.
Yeah, I don't know, the pigeondiet, isn't it just like seeds
and insects.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
So if you have a pigeon neighborhood that you
live in and you put solar upthere are pigeon neighborhoods A
pigeon neighborhood.
You put a house in the middleof a neighborhoods pigeon
neighborhood.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
If you put the house in the middle of a pigeon
neighborhood.
Do they have like their own hoa, like they do pigeons?
Are us a little playground,little community, if your
neighborhood does?

Speaker 2 (32:02):
have pigeon issues.
Okay, I'll say it that way likemy neighborhood has pigeon
issues, yeah, um, you have toput bird blocking up.
If you don't, there is a reallygood chance that they're going
to chew on some wires.
Sure, like little rats, theylike nesting, they like to nest
and they like to chew.
It seems like and we have seenthat where you go out and
there's the cables that aremessed up, and so, yeah, it's

(32:25):
very real and you find thepigeons, just like this.
This is dead.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
It's that smell.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
Yeah, that's roasted pigeon.
Dinner's ready, yeah.
So yeah, you definitely canhave pigeon issues and them
doing that.
They can destroy your systemhere and there.
So if you're living in thatkind of neighborhood, put bird
blocking up.
It's worth every penny.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, yeah.
And sometimes people just do itafter the fact too, because
they don't know, like, hey, Imay or may not have a pigeon
issue, so it doesn't necessarilyhave to be done at the time of
install.
It could be, it could be after.
But you know, just sometimesit's safer to know oh, I do have
a pigeon issue because of allmy neighbors are playing the
same thing.
So we'll do it beforehand.
But if you're one of the typesof persons that wants to do it

(33:04):
after, we can do it after.
Just remember, just remember.
Can we get a picture of that?

Speaker 3 (33:08):
yes, on our website, dead pigeon dead don't move into
a pigeon's neighborhood, right,yeah, because they.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
They're not very nice , they're very clicky too.
That's pretty much what I gotout of that.
They're extremely clicky.
Tiny houses yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
Why can a solar company not install solar
off-grid?
Why does it have to begrid-tied?

Speaker 1 (33:25):
Why can they not?
There's so many negatives inthat one.
Why can they not install?

Speaker 2 (33:29):
it.
Yeah, that's very negative, so,that's very negative.
So why can't they so if someonecalls us?

Speaker 3 (33:32):
up and they're like hey, I want off-grid solar, I do
not want it tied to the grid.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Why can't we not install it?
Is the grid established?
My first question is where youlive.
Is the grid there?
Yeah, if it is, you need to beattached to the grid.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Yeah, looking at this neighborhood behind me, that's
a grid-established neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yes, it is.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
Yeah, there's already houses.
If it's like where Hannah lives, then probably not Just to
clarify.
I have a home.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
She drinks from well water or something you call it a
home, and it's not a pigeon'sneighborhood?

Speaker 2 (34:02):
It sure does look like it.
It's an emu neighborhood.
If you live in an area wherethere is the grid, you cannot
disconnect from the grid, right?
If you don't believe, us callAPS, if that's your utility, and
ask them what they require foryou to move off grid Say.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
I would like to be disconnected from your grid.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
They'll laugh at me $70,000 later because that's
about what it would take to getapproved by them.
It's not worth your time.
If you live in an area wherethere's no grid and you want
solar, then that could be doneand you use batteries and all
that stuff.
Is that something that we do?
And use batteries and all thatstuff?
Is that something that we do?
Not really.
We don't typically want to dothat.
We stay in the areas where thegrid is and we work with

(34:38):
grid-tied system.
There are companies that do youknow that's their thing.
They like to do off-gridsystems and I would suggest
searching out those companiesand looking at doing it with
them.
We're just could we do it?
Of course we could.
It's just not our businessmodel.
It's not where we want to be.
We're focused in other areas,more grid-tied.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
The grid is not a bad thing, ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
No, it's not.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
It's a good thing for , like okay, I have a solar
system, I have batteries and I'mconnected to the grid.
Okay, that grid is kind of likeyour backup, just in case you
know, it's nighttime and yourbattery is completely drained
and I still need power.
So those off-grid applications,you know, way out in the middle
of nowhere, it's the middle ofsummer and solar system's
working, okay, but it's nightand then solar system's not
working anymore.
My battery's completely driedand my home is now heating up to

(35:22):
100 degrees because I don'thave any power to my AC.
Where's my power going to comefrom?
Hopefully you know you got abackup generator, maybe it's
going to come from a generator.
Yeah, usually that grid is yourbackup.
You got a backup generator.
Maybe it's got a governmentgenerator.
Yeah, usually that grid is yourbackup.
Like, hey, I need that extrapower.
It's going to be pulling fromthe grid, so that's what the
grid is kind of important still.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Yep, okay, there's a follow-up question that kind of
fits with that, could I have acompany install my solar and
then can I make it off-gridLegally?
We did actually have anengineer that we installed solar
on attempt to do this.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
So now yeah, I don't think that's a good idea.
Legally, or if it's tied to thegrid and you try to remove it
from the grid, you're probablygoing to have an issue with aps
or srp or whoever it is.
Your utility is yeah um I don'tthink.
I don't think you can legallydo that you can call them and
ask.
See what it takes but again, youcan, you can call them and ask
and they'll give you therequirements because it's their

(36:17):
area, the grid's there andyou've got to tie into it, yeah,
so if you don't want to be onthe grid, go get a house in
munns park somewhere or I don'tknow where.
There's just a bunch of landand there's nothing there, and
yeah, and you can do that.
But when there's a grid there,you're kind of stuck.
You're kind of stuck okay, okay.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
Next question my neighbor had solar installed in
SRP and their air conditionerstopped working.
It had something to do withtheir demand.
Why would that happen?

Speaker 1 (36:42):
Next question.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
Pass.
I'm going to let you take this.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
So the demand management system is there to
protect you.
We have a whole podcast, wehave two podcasts on SRP.
Yeah, we do Demand and all thatstuff.
It's there to protect you.
We have a whole podcast, wehave two podcasts on SRP, demand
and all that stuff.
It's there to protect yourbills from getting too high.
I always tell people it's kindof like a governor on your car.
Your car speedometer could read200 miles an hour.
Does that mean if you're goingdown the freeway and you floor
it, that speedometer is going togo there?

(37:07):
No, it's going to eventuallyget to a certain point.
I know crazy what.
The governor's going to go.
Hey, you're going too fast, sowe're going to stop you right
here.
The governor's going to come.
Tell me that.
The governor's going to comeknock on your door.
Wow, you are driving too fastdown the freeway, sir, he's in
the backseat of your car.
That's why I didn't vote forher.
So the demand manager is like agovernor for your house.

(37:30):
So when you start stacking highdemand items like you're
cooking dinner and your pool'srunning and your AC kicks on,
you do all these things at onceit's going to spike your demand.
So your demand manager and yoursmart thermostat are going to
start communicating and go hey,wait a minute, ralph, you're
stacking all your demand andyour demand is starting to spike
.
We need to cut back something.

(37:50):
So it's going to start cuttingback on your high demand items
like your AC unit or your dryeror whatever's running,
whatever's connected to thatdemand management system is
going to start cycling those tokeep your demand under that
threshold and you want it to beunder that threshold because,
again, that's what keeps yourbill low.
So when people say like, ohyeah, my AC went off during this

(38:12):
time, I usually say, well,you're welcome, because that's
what kept your bill low thismonth.
You can always adjust yourdemand management system and I
always tell people it's a kindof a learning curve and we kind
of have to find that sweet spotfor you to where your bills are
low and you're comfortable.
But we don't know what that isfor you.
We don't know your comfortlevels on your home.

(38:33):
Some people like the home at 76.
Some people are okay with itbeing at 82.
We don't know what your comfortlevels are in your home.
So when you have that demandmanagement system and that smart
thermostat, you've got to findwhat's a good demand threshold
for you we can set it at.
Is it a four kilowatt or a sixor a 10 or a 12?
I don't know.
We've got to figure out whatthat is for you and your
situation so that you're happywith your low bill and you're

(38:55):
comfortable in your home.
So when the AC does kick off,that's not a bad thing.
That's a good thing because itkeeps that demand from spiking
too high.
And then we always tell peopleto stagger your stuff.
If you are cooking dinner,don't be doing laundry and
running your pool and your ACdoing all that stuff at once.
Run your pool at night whenit's non-peak times, or do your
laundry on the weekends whenit's non-peak times.

(39:17):
If you are going to be cookingdinner, just be prepared that,
yeah, your AC might cut off forlike four or five minutes here
and there, just because you knowyou're running a lot of high
demand items.
But that's okay.
That doesn't mean your house isgoing to heat up or anything
like that, it's just it's doingits job.
It's doing its job.
It's doing what it should bedoing.
So don't panic.
You're welcome, wow.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
So, that being the case, if your air conditioner
goes out late at night and wedon't offer after hours, is
there a way for you to adjustyour own demand?
Manager.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
Sure there is.
You'll have software that youcan log into and adjust it.
Yeah, we can also teach you howto do it manually as well.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
There's an app, there's a website where you can
kind of adjust it.
If your AC is kicking off atnight, I'm probably asking
yourself what's your demand setat, first of all, and what other
items are you running late atnight?
And secondly, nighttime isoff-pe peak time.
So your AC being controlled viathe smart thermostat and demand
manager is not a thing unlesssomeone did something wrong as

(40:20):
far as programming, because thedemand manager and your smart
thermostat are alreadypre-programmed to SRPs on peak
times.
So, like between two and eighto'clock.
So anything that happens aftereight o'clock, that shouldn't
have anything to do with us orthe solar system or demand
management.
That's something that's goingon internally.
Did I answer your question?

Speaker 3 (40:42):
I mean, I guess we'll find out.
I guess we'll find out.
They might have a rebuttal Is agenerator a better fit if I
want to power my entire house inan outage, or are batteries
worth it?

Speaker 2 (40:53):
So it depends, everything depends For the most
part.
Harm and solar in an outage, orare batteries worth it?
So it depends um everything,depends it, just again.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
That's yeah it's for the most part harm and solar,
everything depends, that's ournew motto a generator can be a
good option.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
Sure, it's not a bad option, it's a big option.
In the midwest they use them alot tied to solar.
When we were doing stuff inoklahoma we sold a lot of
generators versus batteriesbecause they're cheaper and you
can you know you can have if youhave propane running there and
all that.
For instance, generac haspropane run generators.
If you have a propane system inyour home you can just feed

(41:23):
that to your generator and itkicks in just like a battery
would, and a lot of people likethat option.
It's a good option.
Some people like the batteryoption.
It just depends.
The battery option is a greatoption too.
The prices have come down.
They've gotten a lot cheaper.
You can get into a Powerwall 3like for about 9,500 bucks right
now $10,000, that ish area, uh,which you couldn't do before.

(41:44):
It was more like 16, 17,$18,000.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
They've come down a lot.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
Yeah, um, the nice thing about a battery is you can
do a lot more things.
As far as you can start doingpeak shaving, you can set when
you want to load, when you wantto dump all these different
things.
Generators not so much thatthey're more for emergency
backup.
So I guess it depends really,are you looking for emergency
backup?
Are you looking to work withyour solar and try to save money
on peak time?

(42:08):
It just depends.
If you're looking to reallymanage with your solar system, I
would stick with a battery ifyou're just looking to have that
backup.
So when the grid goes downbecause you have a grid problem
and you want something to comeback up, then I would look at
generators.
How much does a generator?

Speaker 1 (42:20):
run.
You Just depends.
I know that Depends on size, Imean.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
I've seen anywhere from you know 5,000 to 12,000,
13,000, depending, okay let'ssay, middle of the road, 8,000,
then Sure, so then.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
And then sure.
So then you got to ask yourselfam I living in an area where I
do have grid problems?
So, ralph, we live in a you andI live in a pretty residential
area.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
When I'm the I would call this residential.
Yeah, yeah, it's not very out,it's not very industrial yeah,
exactly.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
Uh, when was last power outage you had here at the
house it's been a couple years.
And how long did that outagelast?
Maybe an hour?
I don't even think it was thatlong.
I had one, I think, about twoweeks ago, about 15 seconds, I
don't count those I know.
Well, power went out at thehouse.
It was like 15 seconds Becauseyou didn't pay your bill.
That's probably it actually.

(43:06):
That's what I thought.
So, you've got to ask yourselfI'm going to for a generator,
for a 15 second insurance policyyeah, is it worth?
it no but, on those areas where,yeah, we're kind of outside and
the grid isn't very, as youknow, isn't stable, and the grid
might be down for two, three,four, five hours.
Okay, now I'm paying eightgrand for four hours.

(43:27):
In policy, sure, do it.
And these are the questionsthat I ask people.
You know, do you have problemswith the grid going down in your
area?
Because I'm sure a lot ofcompanies would love to just
sell you batteries andgenerators because they want to
make a commission, they want tomake money off you.
But I'd rather you be happy.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
I know crazy right.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
I'd rather you not call me a year later and say it,
ben, this was a horrible idea.
So we asked these questions sothat you can, you know, have
informed.
You know, conversations withyour sales rep right?
Good answer they're always good.
No, not always.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
Yeah, it's true for the most part that voice has got
an attitude.
It depends is financing solar ascam, like everyone says it is?
And if you say no, why not?

Speaker 1 (44:09):
I would like to know who these everyone's are so
again, scam, what?

Speaker 2 (44:14):
I don't know what you have to define what a scam is,
but I can tell you whatfinancing is.
Financing solar has feesattached to it, just like
financing anything has feesattached to it.
Where solar is different issome of those fees are pretty
big.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
So when you start seeing long years low interest
rates, the fee is probablypretty enormous.
When you see long to mid yearsmore reasonable interest rates
like right now, I'd say 8, 4,9-ish that area they typically
don't even have fees on thoseloans.
They're actually really greatloans to use.
So you've got to kind of lookat the scenario you're being

(44:58):
pitched.
We live in an 8% to 9% interestrate world right now.
That's just where solar lives.
If someone's offering you $399,$299, $199, there's probably a
pretty significant fee attachedto it.
Ask the question.
Yeah, um, doesn't mean it's ascam.

(45:21):
It's not a scam.
It's just a high fee loan which, depending on your scenario,
could still work out just fineyeah, um it doesn't mean that
it's a horrible thing yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
I mean, if you think about it when you do do decide
to, you say yes, you're a repand you want to sign the
documents on the finance company.
You get the loan documents, youget the trust.
It shows you what your monthlypayment is.
It shows you what the interestrate is.
It shows you what your financecharge is, your total loan
amount.
It shows you all that.
So if it were a scam, I don'tknow, is the sales rep editing

(45:51):
the PDF and changing things.
So it's all written there.
You know, kind of black andwhite for you this is what I'm
paying.
Here's my terms of the contract.
And if you're just goingthrough and just blindly signing
it and you're not knowing whatyou're signing, then here's
where it gets tricky.
They didn't really scam you,right?

Speaker 2 (46:08):
So here's where you might be using that word.
Here's where it gets tricky,okay, first off, the idea with
solar is if we combine whatyou're paying for your loan and
your bill, is it less thanyou're paying now?
If it is, there's savings,there you go and those savings
will increase year after yearbecause the utility increases
year after year.
But your loan should staystable, right, okay, so there

(46:31):
you start seeing gains over aperiod of time, Right?
Here's the tricky part.
The tricky part is, if you givea solar loan, there is a tax
credit portion of it.
So let's say your tax credit is$20,000.
You have 18 months to pay that$20,000 back into your loan.
If you don't do that, your loanre -amortizes and your payment

(46:52):
will go up 80, 90 bucks a month.
So you have to understand thatprocess when you're looking at a
loan.
There are loans out there rightnow I was talking about before
where there are like, forinstance, there's an 849 loan
with no dealer fees and theystart off as if you're not going
to pay back that tax credit.
That is a great loan becauseyou start off payment one at the

(47:16):
worst case scenario Exactly,and you can look at that into
your finances and see if itmakes sense.
And if you decide to pay intothat loan 10% increments, you
can bring your payment down.
It's up to you, but you controlit.
You don't have the surpriseballoon at month 18 or 19.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
Yeah, because wouldn't you want to be okay
with the worst case scenario andthen realize 18 months from now
you're like, oh wait, my loanpayment just went down, or would
?
You rather be paying your loanpayment and then, 18 months down
the road, go wait, my loanpayment just went up.
What the heck?

Speaker 2 (47:48):
I'd rather have a start off worst case scenario
and then my payments just getsmaller after that, and I think
that's where you're getting thescam word from, because a lot of
dishonest sales people talk toyou like the first payment is
what it's always going to be andthat's just not a reality and
they are scamming you in asmaller payment.
Yeah, but if you do your duediligence and actually read the
paperwork, the trust and lendingagreement, you will see yeah,

(48:11):
that the truth.
You'll see that it doesincrease at month 18 or 19
typically, yeah.
So just know the kind of loanyou're getting.
That's the key is you have toeducate yourself on the loans,
that's all.
So there are really good loanopportunities out there right
now.
You just have to make sure youget in the right one.
Good question, good answer.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
Good answer Debatable .

Speaker 3 (48:31):
Okay, how long do panels really last?
If it takes me 20 years to payoff my system, is my equipment
even going to work by then?

Speaker 2 (48:39):
well, I mean, panels have been around since the 70s,
yeah, so almost very close tothe efficiencies that we see
today.
Um so, and they're stillworking.
So do the math that's 50something years.
We've had panels that work.
They're tested by themanufacturers.
They do stress testing thatwill show a 40-year lifespan of
what the panel would go through.

(48:59):
They give you an idea of howthey're going to produce in that
40-year period.
That's pretty common in theindustry.
These things will last.
The thing that's not going tolast is your inverter.
The inverter is going to go bad.
If it's a string inverter, it'stypically going to go bad year
12 or 13, right around there.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
Repeat that your inverter is going to go bad.
It will go bad, no matter what.
Keep that in mind.
It will go bad, it will go badKeep that in mind.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
Your inverter is going to go within 12 to 15
years.
That's just the way it works,and if you have microinverters,
they're warrantied 25 years, sohopefully you know 25-year
warranty on a microinverter.
Yeah, you're doing pretty good.
The Tesla inverters are reallygood inverters.
I love those inverters.
They're string inverters,they're liquid cooled, which is
great for our environment here,and I think I believe they have

(49:45):
a 10, no 12 and a half yearwarranty on them.
They just have to understandthat they're not expensive.
But you're going to replacethem.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
Yeah, I mean, if you think about it, if your system
is working, your panels andinverters are working, they're
starting to save you money dayone.
So if you've had your system onyour roof for 22 years, think
of all the savings that you'vehad for the past 22 years.
You're doing fine If it decidesto go bad at.
You know your warranty is 25years and it decides to go bad
at you know your warranty is 25years and it decides to go bad
at year 26, 27, guess what?

(50:15):
You did pretty good foryourself.
Absolutely 25 years of savings.
You know what?
I saved 50, 50 grand on a 15000 system.
Okay, I'd say you did good.
You did good, that was the goal, good job so that's oh yeah,
I've talked with the customer.
I remember she had her panelsinstalled.

(50:35):
It's like early 2000, maybelike 2001, 2002, and they were
still that's way back in the day.
They were still on the roof,still producing.
So, um, she wanted to add morepanels to her system because use
has changed.
But her current system was justfine.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
So the only thing that's really changing with
panels slightly efficiency, nota big deal, but it's more of
this the wattage size of thepanels.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
Yeah, when.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
I got my panels back in.
I want to say it was a 17.
I have 260 watt panels up there.
Nowadays we're selling a 445watt panel.
So that I mean that's the bigdifference is the amount of
farther back you just see lowerwattage panels.
But they all produce.
They don't go bad typically,unless somebody throws a golf

(51:19):
ball in one and starts crackingthem or I don't know, I don't
think a pigeon's going to breaka panel.
That'd be pretty interesting towatch.
Do the pigeon thing again.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
Yeah, there it is the dead pigeon, there it is.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
So, yeah, I mean, panels are going to last.
They can have issues once in awhile.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
It happens.
That's what we got warrantiesfor and they replace them.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
They're not that expensive.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
That kind of goes into the next question, which is
do you or Ben have solar onyour house?
Has it been beneficial, and howmany times have you had to have
it serviced?

Speaker 2 (51:47):
So I have solar on my home.
Had it since 2017.
So we're seven years in.
When I first moved in here,this is an all electrical house.
It's electric house.
It's a two-story house.
It's about 2200 square feetelectric everything.
Our first summer bill that wehit was like 750 and I was like
that's not happening, yeah, so Iwent and got solar.
My worst summer bill nowadaysworst is probably about225 is my

(52:13):
worst summer bill.
My winter bills are nothing $30, $40, $50.

Speaker 3 (52:21):
Did you purchase your system I?

Speaker 2 (52:23):
leased it.
I actually leased it throughSunrun.
I have a fixed lease at $0.08 akilowatt hour.
My lease payment is $100 amonth.
That's for 20 years.
That's a pretty good deal.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
That's a pretty good deal.
Must have had a good sales rep,yeah, myself.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
So yeah, it was very beneficial.
I've saved a ton of money inthe first seven years.
If I didn't have it I would bein trouble.
So no, absolutely I have it andit's very beneficial.

Speaker 1 (52:51):
And I do not have solar because I rent.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
I don't know you can't have solar if you rent,
you can't have solar.

Speaker 1 (52:59):
Well, I mean you can, but if you don't own the home,
then you can't make thatdecision for the home Sure you
can.
As a renter, you would have toget the landlord's permission to
get solar.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
Look, buddy, you're getting this.
This is not a conversation.

Speaker 1 (53:16):
I got a number.
I got a guy.
It's not Harman.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
Harman will not do that.
Harman doesn't come over and go, hey pistol whip you.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
Well, we've had some.
We learned that it's in thecontract.
We did have one guy.
He's gone.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
Okay, solar panels in parking lots make so much sense
.
Why don't we mandate this inArizona?
We have so much sun, we couldhave free power.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
I wish we would mandate it.
Yeah, because we would love tomandate it because we do a ton
of parking structures.
That's what.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
I do as a commercial PM.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
It's parking Ben, yeah, so we do.
A lot of our commercial work isexactly that it's covered.
Parking structures Makes totalsense.
People always say, well, lookat all those parking structures
there that don't have solar.
Can we just take the roof offand put solar on it?
No, because they're notengineered to hold solar panels,
and if you put panels on, therethey go.

(54:11):
Yeah, exactly On your house oron your car, so it is a good
idea.
We've actually done a lot ofpitches on the commercial side
where we scrapped what they havethere, now put the right stuff
on there, so beneficial, save aton of money.
Yeah, it's just a matter of theowner of the businesses and a
lot of them.
We mean we do a lot ofcommercials, so we have been
doing it, mandating it.
I mean, we don't live incommunist russia, so I just

(54:32):
don't think that we can forcepeople to do things not our
decision.
Yeah, you know, maybe ifcertain things happen in
November we will, I don't know.
But anyway, it's just, it's not.
I would love to see that as amandate.
I think it jurisdiction andwho's the general contractor and
the owner, like who's payingfor it.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
Sometimes we do a lot of utility provided commercial
systems as well, but then alsothere's just individual owners
who want to purchase it outrightthemselves.
So it depends, yeah everythingdepends.
Everything depends.

Speaker 3 (55:21):
Ben, this question I'm going to say is for you,
because you're going to love it.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
I don't appreciate that.
6'2 and 220 pounds and he's gota shiny head.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
The question is what is the average cost for solar
panels on a 1,900 square foothouse in Arizona?
I?

Speaker 1 (55:36):
mean my calculator.
So a 1,900 square foot house inArizona.
Okay, here's my follow-upquestion for you, and this is
what every sales rep should bedoing.
They should not be justspitting out a number to you,
because a 1,900 square foothouse and their neighbor's 1,900
square foot house could havetwo very different usage
histories.
That 1,900 square foot housecould be a two-story, could be a

(55:57):
one-story, could have a pool,no pool, hot tub, electric cars,
could have five people livingin there and they're all home
because they all work from homeand they're teenagers.
Or they could have just oneperson who's there, maybe
they're a snowbird.
So that 1900 square foot home,they could be using 16,000

(56:23):
kilowatt hours, or they could beusing 50,000 kilowattatt hours,
and solar is going to betailored to how much you're
using.
So if you are using more, thenyou're gonna want a system
that's going to produce thatmuch what I know.
And then here's me.
I know it.
But in here's the other aspecttoo, and what a lot of people
don't realize two-story homeshave a smaller roof than a
one-story home.
I know Because you're buildingup, the roof is smaller, whereas

(56:46):
one-story it's.
You know.
Well, it's almost always true,I know Almost always, almost
always.
So usually on a two-story homeyour usage is higher because hot
air rises.
You're going to be using morepower I'm getting into the
science of it but your roof issmaller so you can't really get.
In some cases I'm not going tosay all or a lot In some cases
you can't really offset all thatpower.
So again, it's going to depend.

(57:08):
But I guess if we're just goingwith a 1,900-square-foot home
let's say no pool, no hot tub,maybe they have an electric car
I'll go there and three peopleliving in the home, their usage
history could probably be Iwould say, just for the sake of
numbers, let's do I don't know20,000 kilowatt hours, which is

(57:28):
kind of a lot for that size home.
But who knows what they settheir thermostat at and who
knows how old the home is andall that stuff.
So there might you know, ifit's a south-facing roof, they
might need an 11-kilowatt system.
And then, if it's me selling itor if it's Ralph selling it or
if it's Dennis selling it no,I'm just kidding it could be a,

(57:50):
I don't know.
It depends on if you'refinancing it too.
It could be a close to, I wouldsay, $20,000 system.
If you're paying cash, there'syour number, but again, I would
never give that quote out tosomebody without getting all the
information.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
So if you're For a 10K?

Speaker 1 (58:07):
I don't know, I'm just throwing out numbers, oh
okay.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
I don't even think he knows what he's talking about.
No, he's just throwing outnumbers.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
For a 10K.
I just said $20,000.

Speaker 3 (58:18):
That's cheap.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
Well, that's Ben Walsh.
Really Call it Ben if you wantto only pay that much.
But again, so if you're sittingthere and go oh okay, I have a
1,900 square foot home, I'mgoing to get a solar system for
$20,000.
No, you're going to ask allthose follow-up questions to
figure out what's good for youand your situation as far as
your family, because you don'twant to get that $20,000 system

(58:40):
and then realize a year laterwow, I overpaid for something,
or I got too many panels, Idon't need this much.
Or I got not enough panelsbecause now I'm not seeing a
great savings on my utility bill.
So you can't really do.
That is the correct answer, Iconcur.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
There you go.
That was a long, you can'treally do that answer.
Correct answer.
I concur there you go.

Speaker 3 (59:01):
That was a long.
You can't really do that answer.

Speaker 1 (59:03):
Well, I had to explain myself.

Speaker 3 (59:06):
What incentives can save you money with solar,
whether it's like the federaltax, the federal solar tax
credit or the local and stateincentives.
What are they?

Speaker 2 (59:18):
So there is a 30% federal tax credit if you are
eligible for it, which that'sbetween you and your tax
accountant.
Harmon does not give tax advice.
What was that?
That's my little disclaimer.
Harmon does not give tax advice.

Speaker 1 (59:33):
We're live, so I don't know how to do that.
Just look at the bottom of thescreen.
Oh, I can't do that now.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
But there's a 30% federal tax credit if you have a
tax liability, that can applytoward that liability.
Again, talk to your tax guy andsee if that would work for you.
There's up to $1,000 state taxcredit in Arizona.
That could also work for you.
Again, talk to your tax guy.
And currently that's really theonly incentives I'm aware of.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
Sometimes utilities give a little bit of incentives
here and there, like for batteryincentives, but it's so small
it's not really that significant.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
Maybe a couple hundred bucks here and there.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
I've even heard some cities give some incentives too.
I'm not going to say whichcities, but I've heard like oh
we'll give you a city tax creditof 200 bucks.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
There are a lot of places outside of arizona that
offer pretty good incentives.
There's, there's states that dothings what's called an s-rec,
where they will pay you, up to10 years, a certain amount of
money every year, based on whatyou produce.
So basically, let's say youproduce, you know, 20,000
kilowatt hours.
They'll give you I don't know,five cents, ten cents a kilowatt
hour and they'll give you thatevery year for 10 years.
That was a really cool thing.
Can Can you imagine if Arizonadid that?

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
I wish they would.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
That's more typical in the upper Midwest and the
Northeast.
You'll see a lot of that andsome places in the Northeast
will do city and townshipincentives at all.
There's areas in Massachusettswhere going solar almost costs
nothing because of all theincentives.
So Arizona's just not.
We're not in that.
We don't play in that ballfield for whatever reason.

(01:01:01):
Um, they used to be.
When I first started 12 yearsago, there was a tax credit or a
credit from aps, I think it was.
I want to say it was 50 centsat the time or something like
that nice I don't know what itwas.

Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
There's one.
There is one incentive with youknow, go with harman um that
you can put a dollar amount toit's talking with me if you want
to.

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
Yeah, that's definitely an incentive if
you're lonely.

Speaker 1 (01:01:20):
I mean it's almost like a free solar system.
That's right Well harm indating.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
But in Arizona there's not a whole lot of
incentives outside of thefederal, which is great at 30%.
There is a way to get it to 40%.
That is something we're alltrying to figure out.
That has to do with usingAmerican-made everything and
there are companies that arebuilding plants to kind of
coerce with that, make that work, not coerce but coincide with
that.
So we'll have more informationabout that stuff at the end of

(01:01:49):
the year because we're lookingat stuff like that.
But you can get up to a 40%,but the standard is 30%.

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
Nice, good answer, good answer.
Next, good answer, good answer.

Speaker 3 (01:01:58):
Next, what are the policies and processes for
upgrading the solar systemtechnology as the new
advancements become available?

Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
Ooh, is that going to be me?
That's all you, that's all me,perfect.
Yeah, we do get this a lot.
Some people say call in, like,hey, I don't think my system is
producing enough.
Like, I know it's working, butmy usage has changed or my
panels are old, I'm thinkingabout getting more.
I always tell them well, what'sthe value?
What are we getting?
What are we putting on yourroof?
What are the pros and cons toit?

(01:02:28):
Because, again, I'm sure everycompany out there would be like,
yeah, let's just maximize yourroof and throw some panels out
there, let's do it.
I want to take a look at well,okay, well, how much is your
system producing, how much areyou using?
And then what's the cost ofadding more or replacing your
old ones?
And then what's going to happenas far as utility?
Because in certain utilitiesthey have I don't think

(01:02:53):
punishment is the right wordrepercussions Punchment, well,
like if you'll lose yourgrandfathering.

Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
Oh, okay, like, well, like, if you you'll lose your
grandfathering.

Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
Oh so if you, you know, change your system size
over one kilowatt, then you loseyour previous grandfathering.
So there are cases where, likehey, you, you know, you, you got
your system a long time ago onthis rate plan with this buyback
, and if you want to add panels,you're gonna be losing that
rate plan.
You're forced to be on a newrate plan, which is not as
attractive.
So then you have to askyourself am I okay with doing

(01:03:24):
that?
And it's going to be verycase-by-case scenario.
For example, if your system isonly producing 10,000 kilowatt
hours but you're only using11,000 kilowatt hours and you're
like I just need that extra1,000.
It's not really going to beworth it to add a few extra
panels and lose yourgrandfathering, plus the cost of

(01:03:45):
just adding those extra panels.
Not worth it.
Exactly, I was going to get tothat as well.
Oh, I'm sorry, I cut yourthunder.
I was going to get to that,ralph, wait your turn.
So whether you're adding onepanel or 100 panels, there's
still permitting fees, there arestill design fees, there's
still all these other feesassociated to it.
So I always tell people, if youare going to make those major
changes, then your usage changesshould be dramatic, like, oh, I

(01:04:08):
used to be a snowbird and nowI'm not.
Now I live in the home full timeand we got an electric car and
a hot tub, so our usage almostdoubled.
Okay then, yes, you, for yoursituation, situation, it would
make sense to maybe get rid ofyour old panels and upgrade or
add new panels and I know you'regoing to be losing your
grandfathering, but the savingsis now going to be a little
better and actually have acustomer that they got their

(01:04:31):
system installed six months ago.
That was their situation.
They originally got system fromus because they were snowbirds
and it was fine for them andtheir situation then, but things
changed down the road and thenthey wanted to add more, so they
lost their grandfathering.
I originally got a system fromus because they were snowbirds
and it was fine for them andtheir situation then, but things
changed down the road and thenthey wanted to add more, so they
lost their grandfathering,which was fine because I looked
at all the numbers for it and Isaid, yeah, for you and your
situation it would make sense.

(01:04:51):
But then I've had people thatI've had turn away because it
just didn't make sense for them.
So it depends.

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
Okay, ralph, you're allowed to talk now.
It's a common theme here, right?
Everything we talk about itdepends, because everything is
it's it's customized to you andyour situation, not just your
home, but the way you live, theway you use power.
Everybody's different.
We've said this a million timeson the podcast Everybody's
different the way you live, theway you use power.
So every situation is going tobe different.
So it's going to always depend.

(01:05:19):
We should see if we getsponsorship from them, from
Depends for all the wrongreasons it depends what you got,
hannah White.
Let's go with good questionsgood questions.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
Wow, so you're saying that all these people that ask
questions weren't good not goodenough for me, wow.
You're like Mr Wonderful onShark Tank, it's probably just
my mom chiming in with all thequestions actually.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
I'm surprised your mom's not cursing you out on
text.

Speaker 1 (01:05:49):
My mom would never curse, ever.
No, she is the most Christianlady ever.

Speaker 3 (01:05:53):
Truly do it now.
Catholic, sorry, not Christian.

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
I'm not touching that .
I don't want her to be like.

Speaker 1 (01:05:59):
I'm Catholic.
I don't know why I make my momsound like an old-timey
prospector.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
I know right, Does she have like a picture?
Why are you?

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
like that, oh boy.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
Now she's a three-stooge, okay.

Speaker 3 (01:06:14):
Do solar panels compromise the integrity of the
roof?

Speaker 2 (01:06:19):
I mean they talk bad to it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
I don't know if that compromises the integrity.

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
I mean, again, you're putting weight on your system.
So okay, so let's always lookat this.
So is it compromising theintegrity If it's installed
correctly?
I would say no If it'sinstalled incorrectly.
I would say absolutely so theway we install.
So again, when we install asystem, the stanchions, which is
, the things that come out ofthe roof that attach to rail,

(01:06:45):
that then the panels sit on therail we go into the trusses of
the home.
So we're not compromising theroof, the plywood, because we're
going right into the truss andthen we're double flashing it to
make sure that it's not goingto leak, knock on wood or fake
wood, as this would be.
Um, so we don't typicallycompromise the integrity.
Now there are people out therethat will just drill into the

(01:07:08):
plywood and not seal it the bestand, yeah, that's compromising
the integrity of your roof.
Or they'll put tile hooks.
That's compromising theintegrity of your roof because
those tile hooks might just ripyour entire panel, the the stuff
off.
We've seen that happen.
I guess, if I'm understandingthis correctly, my answer is, if
it's done correctly, no, itdepends on the installer.
It really does.

Speaker 1 (01:07:27):
Yeah, I guess you can look at the question another
way too.
Let's say you have a typicalhome.
One side of the roof has panels.
The other side of the roofdoesn't have panels.

Speaker 2 (01:07:36):
So the home's going to lean.

Speaker 1 (01:07:37):
Yeah, the roof itself is getting beat up by the sun
all day.
One side of the roof that doesnot have panels is getting the
full exposure to the sun.
The other side of the roof thatdoes have panels, the roof
itself is not getting the fullexposure to the sun because
there's modules on top of that.
So that part of the roof isn'tgetting beat up by the sun

(01:07:58):
because the the panels areabsorbing all that light and and
heat.
But again, he doesn't haveanything to do with solar panels
.
Okay, but they the roof itselfis underneath the module, so
it's not getting beat up.
So that's another way to lookat it.
I mean, you could.

Speaker 2 (01:08:13):
You could do it that way too you're creating like a
little vacation shade for yourright little shade canopy for
your roof.

Speaker 1 (01:08:19):
So again.

Speaker 2 (01:08:19):
You know these are concrete tiles typically and
what we're really talking aboutafter, after 20 after 20 years
you take off the modules and youlook at both.

Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
You know yeah, they're probably there's
probably going to be adifference so get as many panels
as you can all over your house.
If you want to protect yourroof, just make a giant shade
canopy of solar modules.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
Spy it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
I actually had someone who wanted to do that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
I don't doubt it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
They had a house and they wanted to build a house on
top of a house.

Speaker 2 (01:08:46):
Know who's installing your stuff, because again,
there's people out there thatthey don't do a very good job
and they don't care.
So you got to know who you'reworking with.
Sometimes the price is cheapfor a reason.

Speaker 3 (01:08:57):
Yeah, right, and then they go bankrupt and moving on.

Speaker 2 (01:09:08):
We don't talk about our former competitors.

Speaker 1 (01:09:10):
do I sell solar energy credits back to the grid
like this you go to auction 25,45 sold srp for.
So each utility has their ownexport rate.
It's a pretty easy answerExport rate, you know.
And that export rate isgoverned by the utility and
however they want to do it.
So when your system isproducing power, that power has
to go somewhere.

(01:09:30):
It's going to go to your housefirst and then anything extra
goes to the grid.
Well, what happens when it goesto the grid?
The utility company buys itback at that rate, if that
utility company has net metering.
Well, there are utilities outthere.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
I can think of one right off the bat.
San Carlos Utility does nothave net metering.
So if a sales guy comes out toyou and you're in that utility
and they want to give you thisbig system, just know that
everything that you produce thatyou're not using, they just
take for free.

Speaker 1 (01:09:58):
That's a good comment , because a lot of course it is
I made it here we go.
So a lot of people will thinklike, oh, I'm using 20 000
kilowatt hours, this system'sproducing 20 000 kilowatt hours,
100 offset, I'm good.
Well, if the utility doesn'tbuy back that extra power.
And, as ralph's favorite thingis like to say, the sun doesn't

(01:10:18):
just sit over your house all day, 24-7, producing except at
Ralph's house, of course.
The sun doesn't just sitoverhead your house producing
power of that 20,000 kilowatthours.
So you have to look at it on adaily basis.
How is power being used in myhome?
How is the solar systemproducing power?
Where is that power going?
So, yes, you're going to beproducing 20,000 kilowatt hours,

(01:10:40):
but not all of that is going tobe going into the home.
Some of it's going to be goingto the grid.
What happens when it goes tothe grid, if they're not paying
you for it or they're paying avery, very low rate do you
really want to send that to the?

Speaker 2 (01:10:51):
grid, just giving it to your neighbor yeah exactly,
and they're paying full pricefor it like hey, guess what?

Speaker 1 (01:10:55):
I bought all this solar power and I'm going to
give it to you for free.

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
And they're going to pay regular.
They're going to pay the highprice for it.

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
They'll pay the high price, but you're helping the
utility out.
Yeah, good job.

Speaker 2 (01:11:03):
But just remember, if you live in one of those
utilities where they don't havenet metering probably a good
idea to make sure you get abattery too, because at least
then you can you can take someof that extended.

(01:11:23):
If I lived in an area like that, I would do a smaller system
and I would have a battery.
Yeah, I wouldn't want to givepower back, but I'd want enough
to keep my battery full yeah,which is why we don't really
export a whole lot.

Speaker 1 (01:11:29):
Depending on the utility company, you know if
you're buying power, if youbought solar power for you know
eight cents and you're gonnasell it back to the grid for two
cents.

Speaker 2 (01:11:37):
That's why why would you do that, why do you want to
overproduce exactly?
So don't overproduce it, it'snot.
Bigger is not always better.
I know you've heard this amillion times, ben, a million
times, but bigger is not alwaysbetter.
I'll stop going to the weightroom then I well you need to hit
back there anyway, and that'sjust a fact.
So don't let a salesperson tellyou a bigger, bigger, bigger,
because that's bigger, bigger,bigger works for them and their

(01:11:58):
commission.

Speaker 1 (01:11:59):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (01:11:59):
It doesn't work for you technically.
You got to make sure youunderstand what that really
means for you.

Speaker 1 (01:12:03):
But there are some utility companies where if I'm
buying power for $0.08 and I'mselling it back for $0.10,
you're like, oh, srp, it'sdifferent.
Now I want to export a lotbecause I'm buying it at a low
rate and I'm selling it for ahigh rate.
I'm buying low, selling high.
Let's do that, then.

Speaker 2 (01:12:19):
Let's export a lot if you live in srp, you know what
the buyback is 2.81 centsexactly good luck 2.81 cents is
what they give you for yourpower that you'll produce.
So when you come to me and say Iwant a 25k system on my roof
and you're going to beoverproducing like crazy, why
would you want to spend ninecents to get 2.81 cents back?
You're losing, losing money.
You are buying high and sellinglow.

(01:12:40):
Right, that's not good.
Yeah, so we've talked aboutthat in many podcasts, but yeah,
so just understand yoursituation.

Speaker 3 (01:12:48):
Next, Next, how does shade from trees or nearby
buildings affect the efficiencyof solar panels throughout the
day and across the season?

Speaker 2 (01:12:56):
It doesn't?
They work at night.
Done Next.

Speaker 1 (01:13:00):
Solar panels day and across the season it doesn't
they work at night.

Speaker 3 (01:13:02):
Done next solar panels solar, so okay, but the
trees in nearby buildings I knownope, as a former teacher, no
question's a bad question.

Speaker 1 (01:13:10):
Yes, there are no no, it's fine.
Um, it's.
It's a common question we getbecause sometimes people do they
take a look at their monitoring, be like, hey, it's the middle
of the day and I noticed half mypanels aren't working.
So we go on their monitoringsite like, oh yeah, you're right
, we look at, you know this,half the system is working.
This one isn't automatically.
A lot of people thinksomething's wrong, but then we

(01:13:30):
kind of have to go like, well,let's pump the brakes a little
bit.
Let's look on google maps.
Oh yeah, your neighbor has agiant shade tree.
So, as the sun, moves throughoutI know, hey, get him a pet
beaver get him a pet beaver asthe sun?
Um well, not necessarily thesun as the earth rotates and the
shadows move um across your youknow system yeah it's going to

(01:13:55):
produce less.
It's, you know, just as a cloudyday.
It's going to produce less onyour, on your system, but it's
going to be a temporary thing.
Hopefully it's a temporarything.
Being in this industry, youknow you drive around town and
you do take a look at, you know,other homes.
You, I can always, you know,take a look at other homes and
go, yeah, um, I guarantee wedidn't install that one or this

(01:14:16):
one or that one.
Because there's some timeswhere, like, the panels are just
installed under a forest andI'm like, you know, these panels
work off a light, sunlight, andif the tree is blocking that
sunlight, your panels are notproducing.
So you shouldn't have a wholelot of shade issues.
Um, when you're looking atgoing solar, it should be a

(01:14:36):
shade free environment we'relucky in arizona because we
don't have a lot of shade.

Speaker 2 (01:14:40):
There are neighborhoods and areas, like
Arcadia, that have a lot ofshade, but for the most part not
a big issue here.
Where it's a big issue is backeast in the Midwest.
You see tons of trees.
This brings up a really goodpoint.
So in Arizona especially,people hear the word string

(01:15:04):
inverter and they go oh my gosh,I can't get a string inverter
because I have to get a microinverter because I want it on
every panel in case they'reshade.
If you don't have a shadingissue which we've determined,
like 92% of the people don'thave a shading issue a micro
inverter is not necessary andyou're paying too much for
something you don't need.
You can easily put a Teslaliquid cooled inverter in your
garage and get way moreefficiency and benefit out of
that than you would out of amicroinverter yeah so, again,
understand how shade impacts it,what kind of shade you have, if
any.
If you don't have shade, youdon't need to overkill and pay

(01:15:27):
more money for things that arenot going to help you right, if
you have partial shading on yourroof, well then, maybe don't
get a straight string inverter,so or?
Maybe we do the panels adifferent way to where they're
not hitting the shade yeah,there's ways around it, right,
and it's not going to be thatbad.
So sales people always want tosell the easiest thing.
A micro inverter is easy tosell because it's a micro
inverter, it's one per panel,it's this and that, and you can
have panel level monitoring,because everyone's going to sit

(01:15:48):
there and monitor all theirpanels.
Of course you are.
I do so.

Speaker 3 (01:15:51):
Yeah, well you're, you're a freak on the system
that you don't have I don't, Inever said my, I said I do?
She made a great point.

Speaker 1 (01:15:58):
I didn't say who invited her.

Speaker 2 (01:16:01):
I do monitor other people's systems, I think we're
going to have her on our podcastfrom now on.
Like Ralph, we should just haveher on, so she can keep you
honest.
No.

Speaker 1 (01:16:10):
If she's on, then I'm off.

Speaker 3 (01:16:11):
Wow, why can't you miss everything?
Your new co host?
That's fine.
Anyway, I'll be in charge ofmarketing Next.
Okay, well, we can't have that.
How will adding solar panelsaffect my property value and
homeowners insurance premiums?

Speaker 2 (01:16:25):
A million-dollar increase, millions and millions
of dollars.

Speaker 1 (01:16:29):
Well, it depends.
So property value is going tobe in my opinion.
I know there's probably dataout there that proves like, oh,
it's increased your value by Xamount.
But I always look at it aswhat's the marketable value of
the solar system?
Because there's benefits ofhaving solar just because of the
grandfathering alone.
Like, hey, you got solar backwhen net metering was a thing

(01:16:50):
with APS and now you're on thisreally low rate and the buyback
is incredibly high.
You're grandfathered into that.
So when I'm showing you peopleutility bills, I'm like, hey,
this is what they were payingbeforehand with solar.
There's that aspect.
And then just having it alreadyinstalled, already done,

(01:17:13):
everything already taken care ofand hopefully maybe it's
already paid off, things likethat.
You have that automaticbuilt-in value of the home.
So how do you put a dollarvalue on just the peace of mind
of that aspect I don't know.
But as far as the actual dollaramount, I'm sure Ralph knows.

Speaker 2 (01:17:32):
There's data out there I mean I can't give you
the exact numbers there is dataout there that shows and proves
that homes with solar sellfaster in the state of Arizona
and they sell for more.
I mean.
So that data is completely outthere.
You can find it on the internet.
Go look, go research it.
There is a dollar value to it.
Um, there used to not be 10, 12years ago because, um, the
people that evaluate your homes,that come out and look at homes

(01:17:54):
, would not, did not understandsolar and they didn't put a
value to it.
They do now, as they'veunderstand it, and then the
industry has gotten smarterabout solar.
They've actually been able toput a dollar value to it now.
So there is a number out there.
I think it's different in everyarea and every state.
You just need to go and look itup in your head.

Speaker 1 (01:18:08):
Yeah, I wouldn't expect it to be something to be
like oh, I put a $50,000 systemon my home.
So therefore, now I canincrease the value of my home by
$50,000.
No, that's not how it works.

Speaker 2 (01:18:19):
Right, and you know, think about it.
If I was selling my home, thefirst thing I would do you know,
as I could do the open housesand stuff I would put my bill,
my electrical bills, on thecounter and say, here's my bills
, and you can see However commayeah.
However, I know it's tailoredto me show them.

Speaker 1 (01:18:35):
I went to a couple homes like that.
I was like that's, that's theirbill, but it's still impressive
to see that.

Speaker 2 (01:18:40):
Hey right this is how it works.
You can see where I'm gettingcredits.

Speaker 1 (01:18:42):
You can see how I'm saving money yeah, when I was
looking at homes I just I likedlooking at those bills because I
just want to see what rate planthey were on.
I was like that's cool thatthey that's what they were
paying.
But we're, oh they're on thatrate plan.
And now you got my attention sowe have four minutes left.
Oh, wow Time flies.

Speaker 2 (01:18:58):
How many more questions do you have?
One Last question.
This is great timing.
We planned it, we planned itlike that.
Last question yes, Ben isavailable.

Speaker 3 (01:19:07):
What.

Speaker 2 (01:19:09):
Well, you know, I rent you out.
Ben is available to answer thequestion.
There you go, you're rentable.
Let's be specific about this oh, I was talking, you're rentable
, I'm rentable.

Speaker 3 (01:19:18):
The question is if all of the solar companies in
the Valley are using the sameequipment, or at least like the
same level of equipment, why isHarman Solar one of the better
companies?

Speaker 2 (01:19:29):
Ask the customers of the three companies that just
went out of business why we'rebetter.

Speaker 3 (01:19:33):
Yeah, everyone says everyone says but they're asking
us, so then Everyone says wehave the best equipment.

Speaker 1 (01:19:38):
The best equipment.
No company's out there going tobe like we have mediocre
equipment.

Speaker 2 (01:19:43):
It's all the same stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:19:44):
It's all the same stuff.
We can get all the same things.
We all get them from the samesupplier.
This is what you're looking for.

Speaker 2 (01:19:50):
You're looking for this.
Number one you want the companyto be around so they can honor
the warranties they're givingyou outside of the manufacturer.
We talked about that in thispodcast in the beginning.
Number two it's how do theyinstall the equipment Right?
A lot of companies cut cornersand do things the easiest, most
cheapest way because that's howthey make the most money.
We have the knock that we costa little more because we don't

(01:20:13):
do it the easiest, cheapest way.
We do it the right way.
So that's where wedifferentiate ourselves from the
, from the competition.
We want to do it the right way.
So that's where wedifferentiate ourselves from the
competition.
We want to do it the right waythe first time because we don't
want to have to go back and dealwith it, because you're our
customer for the next 25 years,so we have to make sure it's
done right and we're here toservice you during that period
of time, because things willbreak and we know that and we'll
be here for you, unlike someother companies that are no

(01:20:35):
longer around.
And we're going to install itright the first time because we
don't want to have to deal withall the issues that come with
poor workmanship.
Our workmanship warranty is 25years Again we've been around
since 1975 or so.
I mean we're not going anywhere,so we're a little bit longer
than our warranties.
Other companies come and go,stay five years and leave.
Give you a million yearwarranty infinity warranty, we

(01:20:57):
call it.
It's a big infinity warranty,but they're not in business
anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:21:00):
Yeah, I also tell people to look at just the
financials of the company itself, harman solar.
We don't just do residentialsolar, we have commercial solar,
commercial electric, ev, wehave service.
We have a lot of differentrevenue streams.
So you know if something wereto happen with the residential
solar market, you know, and thecompany has sure, which you know

(01:21:21):
.
If you're looking at yourcompany that you that you want
to go with, and they only doresidential solar, you got to
ask yourself, well, what ifsomething happens and that
aspect now gets taken out?
Is that company gonna be around?
Probably not, but Harmon, we'reso diversified with a lot of
different things that we do thatif one part of the industry,
kind of you know, gets into afunk, we're still okay because

(01:21:42):
we have all those other revenuestreams.
That's why we've been aroundsince the 70s, because we've
seen the ups and downs of theeconomy.

Speaker 2 (01:21:48):
As tough as the last few years have been.
We're pretty good, we're stillhere, we're not having any
issues, we are thriving, ourbusiness is thriving right now
in so many areas and we rightnow in so many areas, and we
will continue to thrive.
So there you go.
That's a differentiator.
We're not just a residentialsolar business as well.

Speaker 3 (01:22:04):
yeah, that's it, that was our last question that's it
all right we are 30 secondsover we are 30 seconds over.

Speaker 2 (01:22:11):
It's 3 30.
We said we would end this at 330.
We also said we started at 2.
We didn't started at 2 0 7, Iblame Ben 100% that's because I
wasn't fed that's.

Speaker 1 (01:22:20):
There was no food here.
I come here for food and therewas nothing.

Speaker 2 (01:22:23):
All right.
Well, we hope we answered yourquestions.
Thank, you.
And we did answer a lot ofquestions.
I hope we answered yourquestions.
We did answer them.

Speaker 1 (01:22:29):
We answered a lot of questions, but it was good stuff
.

Speaker 2 (01:22:32):
We'll have a replay available, and we had some
people come in and go out as wewere doing this.
We never, so it's you know.
Again, people watch this onreplay.
That's where it's all going tobe.
Thanks, mom.
Your son's all right, he's okay.
All right, he's well, he's youknow Anyway.
Cut the feed.
Thanks for joining us and we'llsee you again next time.
We're going to start doing somemore podcasts.

(01:22:52):
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