7 SHOCKING Truths Nevada Solar Companies Will Do Their Best To Hide From You | #4 Will Blow Your Mind 🤯

#1  The one thing solar companies don't take into consideration (that you need to know), to make sure your system is properly sized. 

Life gets in the way, even for solar panels.

Let's pretend that 3 years after getting your solar, you're ready to get that brand new electric F-150 or Tesla. You're so excited... "A good-looking car, and to top it off, it's electric!"

Well, I'm sorry to be a killjoy here, but that's actually bad news. 

Now your solar won't be able to cover 100% of the electricity you'll be consuming, since your system was designed without taking that into consideration.

Properly assessing your house's needs is not enough in today's day and age. 

You as a customer, and most importantly the company, need to take into consideration your future needs and plans to avoid road bumps down the line. 

But hey, we as companies, are the ones supposed to know that. Not you!

When one goes and tries to buy some stuff, we expect the company we're talking to, to be aware of all these things and little details. That's why they're a business in the first place right?

So the real question here is, why would they not bring this up? Are they deliberately hiding this or are they guilty of not even knowing it? 

I don't know which one is worse. 

#2  The little carry-over no company wants to talk about.

Nowadays, there's something called smart meters. Back in the good ol' days, meters were only used to measure electric consumption, but these smart ones are now capable of measuring production as well.

Why?

Because that's how energy companies keep track of how much energy your solar is producing vs. how much you're using. It's the only legitimate way to know that your solar's outcome covers 100% of your energy usage.

"Where are you getting with this Frank?" That's my name by the way.

Buckle up my friend, because I'm about to answer that.

The energy monopoly won't let you go just like that. Even after going solar, they will still charge you something called the Basic Service Charge. That's a fee anywhere from 12 to 18 bucks depending on what state you live in. 

Around $13 for Nevada.

Why do they do this? Because you're still using their infrastructure (high tension power lines and street-level cables) and their meter. Remember that here in the U.S.A. the electric grid is privately owned in its majority. 

Even when you have a battery you'd have to pay this fee, since your system is not true off-grid. You're still connected to it with the difference that now you can store up to a couple of days worth of energy. 

Solar companies will call it off-grid but now you know that's not true unless you live in an RV constantly rocking beautiful roads, or on top of a mountain with no power lines.

If that's the case, why even go solar if I'm still going to be paying that fee?

Let's think of a scenario here...

Imagine that you went on vacation for 3 months (lucky you), and that you didn't use a single watt of energy during that time. You'd still have to pay that fee. 

Also, all this time that you've been paying your electric bill, it's always been there, included in the price. Bet you didn't know that huh! 

You can find it here:

Solar companies will tell you that when you go solar, your energy bill drops to $0. And it does! Since you're not paying for energy anymore! (Props to them for saying the truth at least once). 

But what they don't tell you is that this fee will stay.

I've even heard them say that your solar energy will pay for it. However that's not true. This is a monthly charge that has to be paid from your pocket and that cannot be bypassed.

Here's proof:

That is how your NV Energy monthly statement would look like if you had solar by the way.

This has made homeowners think that they're still paying for energy when in reality they're not. It's only this little carry-over of that obscure past. But hey, it's not their fault! Solar companies are the ones to be blamed. 

They're the ones misleading the homeowners since before the dinosaurs existed! Bet their customers wouldn't be so pissed if they didn't hide this from them, among other things like the ones we'll discuss in further sections.

This is actually only a bad thing if they didn't let you know this upfront. 

Because even with this small fee, solar is going to save you more stacks of money than your hands are capable of holding; in the short, medium, and long run. 

See for yourself:

And where do such savings come from?

Everybody says that solar will save you money but they never say how. Let's demystify that!

Energy is produced by burning oil, and oil is a commodity. That means its price is influenced by several external factors like stock markets, state of the global industry, inflation, and basic laws like supply & demand. 

Every one of these factors plays an important role, but the last two have a huge influence on the price. The lesser oil there is, the higher its price will be.

Cities are ever-growing and the supply is only so much. As a consequence of that, we get yearly inflation; which for Nevada is anywhere from 2% to 3% as indicated by the (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021). 

But the projections are only based on past movements, they do not take into consideration game-changers like the fact that people are moving into Nevada by the day, and that's something that'll make it blow up. 

Now, what do you think would happen if you were to avoid those yearly price raises?

Yup, you'll get the so-called solar savings. With the added benefit that once you pay off your system, they will only get bigger.

Solar does not depend on external factors at all. You have a fixed monthly price that never goes up on you even if we were to see the market collapse or harder peaks in inflation as forecasted.

It's a matter of certainty vs uncertainty. 

Eliminating external factors that could harm your finances?  OR  Keep them in your house and in your life?

Leaving energy companies sitting on a couple of bucks and saving tons on the way?  OR Riding the price-increases rollercoaster while filling the pockets of evil till the end of time? 

Why evil? You're about to see.

#3  The Nevada net metering war and the final window of opportunity in its aftermath. 

To understand this we're going to travel back in time. Welcome to Solar History 101. Let's get started.

The first homeowners that went solar, were not treated as well as the ones that do today. Back then, 2015ish, there was no legal framework that protected them from every angle possible. 

There was a war waged between the state senate and the energy monopolies. Or monopoly? That's a subject for another day. 

They were trying to put a stop to the solar uprising, just like in Terminator®. 

Punishing the homeowners who had it, they managed to temporarily achieve that by using the legal loopholes to change the way they credited the energy houses produced.

Example: Let's say they were selling the kWh to homeowners at ¢13. Back then, for every kWh their system produced, they were credited at ¢13 as well; a 1:1 rate. But, after their changes, they were only getting credited for 50% of that in some cases. It's like you had suddenly chopped the system by taking half the panels off the roof!

All because the kid wanted their candy. What a low blow right?

The good thing is the senate took the matter into their own hands and quashed them by passing bills like AB405 that put an end to this and gave birth to a new era; that of the new net metering. 

But once again, monopolies fought hard to stay with a piece of the pie. They just couldn't let their huge profits evaporate in the blink of an eye... 

Although this time they could barely get around these bills, they did manage to plant an evil seed to secure their share for the future. 

But before we get to that, let's zone in on something that will help you understand it...

What is net metering?

Have you ever wondered what happens to all the excess power produced by your system when you don't use all of it? That's where net metering comes into play.

During the year, there are seasons and months where you'll consume more than what your system generates, and others that work the other way around. At the end of the year, they balance each other out. 

In other words, if you add the year's worth of electricity generated by your system, it will equate to 100% of what your house used during that same year. (Assuming that your system was properly designed of course, as we spoke about in Section #1).

Take a look at this. The orange bars are the solar production and the blue ones the consumption. On months with a surplus you will see your excess energy being stored as dollar credits like the ones circled in green:

Can you see how the orange months balance out the blue ones? That's net metering in action.

And who keeps track of this? The so-called smart meters aforementioned. 

Think of net metering as a bank that stores your excess energy on the grid, while you're waiting for the rough months where you'll make use of it to arrive.

However it doesn't only happen within a month. It can also happen in the span of day. Think of it.

During the day your panels are producing, but during the night you are asking back for that energy that was "stored" in the grid.

"But Frank, how is this linked to what you just told me?"

The New Net Metering almost blew power companies out of the water. Their high commands and executives probably puked when they heard of it. 

Remember the evil seed they planted to secure their future? They did this by coming to an agreement with the senate; which was trying to find a way to be "fair" with both homeowners and utilities. 

What was this agreement? Structuring something called Tiers in the case of Nevada. 

They came up with 4 Tiers. The first 3 had a cap at a max of 80 megawatts (80,000 kW). Just so you have an idea of how much that is, the average residential system in Nevada is 8kW.

This means that for every 10,000 homeowners approx, that tier would be full, they wouldn't accept anybody else, and they'd move on to filling the next one.

What happens when a Tier gets full?

This reminds me of Titanic® when passengers were trying to escape on those canoe-like boats. You & I know they were capable of housing more people than the ones that were in. 

Just like those boats, tiers could easily accommodate more homeowners than what they were capped at. And don't get me started on Rose and how Jack could've fit on that piece of wood. 

But anyway, getting back on topic...

• Tier 1 (95% net metering): Full after 80 mW were reached. An approx 10,000 Nevadans with solar on their property.
• Tier 2 (88% net metering): Same as above. Marked as full once 80 megawatts were hit. 
• Tier 3 (81% net metering): Same as Tier 1 & Tier 2.
• Tier 4 (75% net metering): No cap as to how much homeowners or megawatts fit here since it's the final tier.
  
  

And what does X percentage for net metering mean?

You're probably thinking of the worst. And you might not be wrong at all...

Remember how net metering was supposed to be like a bank that stored your excess energy at a 1:1 rate? Well, they made it so that for every tier that became full, the next would become less and less 'net-meterish'. 

And when that happens, according to the laws, we can't call it net metering. So let's comply with them and call it by its real name: net billing!

Evil seed once again.

For instance, an 88% net billing means that the excess energy you produced will not be stored for you at 100% of its value or -1 to 1-, but instead at 88% of it or -1 to 0.88-. 

Example: Let's say that in March, your system generated an extra 770 kWh that you didn't use. Pretending the energy company sells their kilowatt at ¢13, that would be 100 bucks worth of energy (770kWh x $0.13 = $100). But instead of storing those $100, they would only store $88 bucks (677 kWh) because of the 88%. 

This means that when summer hits you'd have $88 of cushion that will kick in for the excess energy you're going to consume. Not taking into consideration the other months where you had a surplus.

And just so you know, as of July 2020, Tier 3 became full. All of us 2021ers and the ones who come after that, will be fitted into Tier 4 (75% Net Billing).

If that's the case why would I even want this?

Wait, that's not all! Have you ever wondered what has made people so skeptical about solar? Or why do Nevadans have mixed feelings about it? 

You could say it's because of these Tier structures... but it's actually because companies usually hide this from the homeowners to avoid "scaring them away".

They also try to bury the fact that Nevada's energy monopoly has capped the max size of a system to where it's only able to produce 100% of the energy you consume in a year, not more than that.

But if the energy on the months where you have an excess, is only going to be worth 75% of its real value. It would technically not cover 100% of the energy you used in the whole year. Are you following me? 

Zoom in and take your time to look at this image below, it will better explain that:

I'll say it again just in case: The 75% rate only applies to excess energy that has to be stored, not to all your solar production. Don't mix these two up. This would NOT be the same as having your system produce only 75% of the energy you need.

But still... every single one of us wants our solar to produce 100% of the electricity we need, not less than that. Am I right? Give me a 'hell yeah!'

What if I told you that even with this, you'd still be better off with solar?

"You're crazy Frank! Why would you say that?"

Missing out on previous tiers and getting into Tier 4 at 75% net billing might have you thinking that you missed your shot at this.

"Looks like it was a smart choice back then, but not anymore."

However, you could have actually not picked a better time to go solar. I know, I know... you're probably thinking I should get medicated haha, but you're about to understand why. 

As a matter of fact, you have 2 things going on for you that homeowners in the previous tiers don't, and that nowadays makes them wish they had waited a little more:

#1 Better prices.

Take a look at this graph.

Image taken from our good friends at SunPro

Homeowners from the previous years were getting their solar at a 20% to 30% higher price than the ones that get it nowadays after such huge drops.

There you go, that makes up for the 25% that is missing on Tier 4 with the net billing at a 75% rate (75% + 25% = 100%). I know you're probably better at math than I am, but it doesn't hurt to throw that in.

Quick bonus: Cash will always be king, but if you're considering financing, add to that the fact that timespans and APRs are lower than before and you end up with skyrocketed savings that back then were not achievable. 

Starting to feel lucky now?

#2 Better just got even better.

Panels have become more resistant to weather symptoms that might damage them like high winds, snow, and even sunlight. Yeah, the sun damages them too. Ludicrous huh? 

They've also become more effective, meaning that you need fewer panels to get the job done.

Lesser units, at a better price?

Now that's a combination for savings that could finally knock out Mayweather for a 2nd time!

But my favorite one? They're prettier now. The earlier ones were uglier than a New York public toilet!

But it's not only panels, everything has improved. Panel mounts, monitoring systems, photovoltaic cells, inverters, etc. I could go on and on, but the point here is that these improvements boost your savings into full-beast mode. How so?

Because they reduce the odds of your system failing down to 15% compared to the last generations, and by double compared to the ones that came before. 

But don't think that pushing it off more and more might yield better benefits. Solar prices have started to plateau due to the huge jumps in innovation we just saw and research takes time.

On the other hand (evil seed for a third time), this new AB405 bill does not explicitly describe how much time will Tier 4 be open for homeowners. 

If they've done things like the ones described above... What stops them from doing it again by using that loophole to their advantage to shave the net billing even further in the near future?

The good news is that the senate DID throw in a provision that protects homeowners who jump into Tier 4 from having any changes done to the policies of that tier for at least 20 years, to prevent what happened in 2015.

The boats have yet not sailed. Jump on them now and save yourself by taking advantage of the legal protection while it's still available before these guys pull out all their cards. 

And rest assured they will. Their acts have clearly stated that they don't feel comfortable with solar, but the renewable energy uprising will keep gaining more momentum with every day that passes. 

There's no getting back at us, we are The Resistance.

#4  Dear homeowner, don't google a thing called "offset". Truly yours, XYZ Solar Company. 

The hidden-concept that will allow you to know for sure if your system will work or not.

Remember how solar companies hid the existence of tiers and how that caused mixed feelings for solar among Nevadans? 

Believe it or not, this one thing called offset has contributed to polarizing the opinions even more. And with all reason.

After getting net metering out of the way, it's time to talk about that. It's fairly straightforward: 

• A house with an offset of 100%, means that it gets 100% of the electricity it calls for, from its solar. 
  
  
• A house with an offset of 90%, will only get 90% of the energy from solar and the other 10% will come from the power company. In other words, that 10% will have to be paid to them, at the rate they impose. 
  
  

"So Frank, what does this have to do with me?"

Well, it only has to do with whether the company gave you what you need or they promised you the moon but delivered a miniature of it instead. Just that tiny bit. Due to this: 

I've seen some solar companies do one of these 2 things. In the worst cases, even both.

#1 They hide this concept from their customers 

They make it look like it were a hard-to-understand solar industry jargon when in reality it's as easy as it gets. All to avoid talking about it.

I've seen project spec sheets with that big bold number at less than 100. But they still promise their customers they'll get 100% of the energy they need from their solar. 

How is that even possible if the offset is not at 100%? You see what I'm saying? 

That's where the importance of informing yourself comes into play. Props to you because that's exactly what you're doing right now. Had the poor unsuspecting ones known this before, they would've not put themselves into that situation. 

Preventing this is easy. 

Just make sure that your project clearly states the offset at 100% and you'll be good. As easy as that, but in hopes of making it even clearer, here's an image of how it should look like: 

#2 Altering the numbers 

There is a reason why people who design the systems are the ones in charge of that and that only. But like with everything, funky people will always try to find their way around things. And offset was not the exception. 

Why do they do this? To either increase the commission they get from the install or because there's a shortage of equipment and they just can't let that extra sale slide by them.

Sadly, after projects are designed, I've seen sales reps get comfortable with design tools, enough to be able to alter the design themselves to where they make the numbers work. 

They think they're so smart and that they fully understand this, but in reality, the performance of the system is being damaged and it's going to cost the homeowner a couple thousand bucks. 

Are these acts of bad faith or are they not even aware they're wounding their clients? 

Even the big names are guilty of this! The good thing is there are already class-action lawsuits in the works for them. At the end of the day, one gets what one deserves.

I know, I know. You're probably saying "who are them?", "tell me their names". I swear I'd love to, but if I did, we'd be the ones getting sued and not them haha.

Instead of that, why don't we talk about how you can avoid these hardships.

What can I do to protect myself from this?

With the offset tip I just gave you in the image above, you're already more protected than many naive homeowners.

But with these 3 tips that I'm about to give you, you'll be 100% protected. Just like your offset! Caught the joke there?

Tip #1

Reps can tinker with designs as much as they want. What they don't know is that there's still something at sight for all of us that gives it away. When projects are altered, the offset might still show 100%, but these 2 numbers will never correlate...

Even if the offset is at 100%, watch for these two. The 1st one, from top to bottom, is how much energy your house uses per year. The 2nd one is how much of that your solar will produce. 

It's as easy as making sure there's not a huge gap between them. Meaning that your solar production (2nd number) shouldn't be way below your yearly consumption (1st number).

This is the only way you can ensure that your system is going to be offsetting 100% of the energy your house needs because it was properly sized. (Yes, this is where the word comes from).

It's like being able to see into the future and knowing it'll work.

Tip #2

Interactive project sheets. Yup, that's it!

They're such beautiful things because they help bring transparency to life when it comes to your project. See for yourself: 

They let you click around and plug in your own numbers to see what would happen if you modify something. They're directly linked to the original design so that NO funky business can take place. 

If somebody changes something, all of the math will be recalculated and all of the numbers in the project sheet will be updated. Including offset, production, performance, etc. Now that's some transparency!

In hopes of taking that to next level, we offed our sales reps and switched them to specialists. Now the person that designs your project, and that knows the ins and outs of it, is the same you'll be talking to.

"They might not be the most brilliant in persuasion techniques, but they sure as hell are the most proficient and capable ones when it comes to designing a foolproof system and helping you understand why it would work." (De La Cruz, SOLARI® C.E.O., 2021) 

Tip #3

I had to save the best for last. Somewhere in the following sections, you'll find this tip.

But don't go looking around for it just yet. I know you want to haha! 

Instead of that, go with the flow because this next section is going to shed light on a situation that could take a toll on the lifespan of your system.

#5  The ugly truth of how long a solar system lasts and how to effectively protect yourself from that.

I've been able to find hard-to-understand articles on the subjects above, but as of 2021, I haven't seen one that goes deep on the importance of what I'm about to tell you. 

And that's panel degradation!

When they blow their cover and they have to speak about this, I've heard companies & reps say:

• "Don't worry about that, that's not true. Our panels are the best!" (Usually, they're not).
• "The system is not composed of moving parts. Only things that move can degrade."
• "They do degrade but it doesn't affect you." 

Excuse me for the words, but what a load of 💩 !

It's all excuses and lies to avoid going into uncharted territory, that to their eyes, makes homeowners ask more questions and that makes them scared of "losing the sale". 

Well after this gets out, it might just end up costing them the sale anyway for hiding stuff. Now you know they degrade! 

Decisions are yours, and only yours to make, not by some company that manipulated your thought process by sweet-talking you with all the lies revealed so far. 

With that said, let's go deeper...

Why does this happen?

Just like with our faces, when wrinkles appear when we start getting old (unless you like to botox yourself), time takes its toll on the components of a solar system. 

That's normal, every product wears with time except for those military-grade phone cases. Things like corrosion and the high voltages these units continuously carry, contribute to this. 

How does it affect me?

"It doesn't actually affect you". Or at least that's what others would say haha. Right? But getting serious here... it actually does, and a lot.

The average solar system will degrade at a max of 26% after 25 years. This doesn't mean that after 25 summers the system will suddenly be like "hey, let's degrade already". 

No, this is a gradual process where they steadily decline year over year, and when that much time has passed, their total degradation will be lingering just below or at a max of 26% according to manufacturers' warranties.

But degradation still sounds fancy to me, let's put it in real-life terms.

What this means, is that after all those years, a solar system would only be cranking out 74% of what it was able to in the beginning. In other words, it'll only be producing 74% of the energy a house would need.

See how this could affect you and how relevant speaking about this is?

"But Frank, if this affects my system that bad, I don't think this is a good idea then."

I'm with you. It's not at all. 

But the good news is that as of today, there are these secretly kept panels that defend your trenches with the same might as the Marines or the Air Force defend the U.S.A. 

Yet again, companies do their best to hide their existence because they can make a bigger profit from selling outdated ones to unsuspicious homeowners (not you).

By flashing things like an offset at 100% the average homeowner would assume their system is going to work. And it would technically do. In the beginning. But what about down the line? 

Why would a proper offset matter, when it's going to quickly decline after you get it installed? 

And who are these stealthily guarded subjects?

The million-dollar question. I like to call them 'ninja panels' because of the secrecy with which they're kept. 

You will only see solar companies bring these guys up in case of an emergency, which to them, would be an informed prospect. But enough about the bad guys, let's talk about the good guys.

What does it take to be a ninja panel? Take a look:

Withstanding time better than the average ones and most importantly, managing to keep the degradation at a max of only 8% after 25 years, compared to the other ones at 26%.

But degradation is not the only thing they crush. Such leaps in technology had to yield other benefits.

Remember when we spoke about Tier 4, that the odds of panels nowadays breaking, corroding, or plainly failing, had dropped by a whopping 85%? Well, that's only with these guys.

Let's spice it up a bit.

Having a solar system with a max degradation down to 8% doesn't mean you'll have a system producing only 92% after 25 years, at least not here at SOLARI®. Here is why:

From the moment your project is getting designed, we do our best to get it to 108% offset to pre-compensate for that before it even happens. That way, by the end of those 25 years, it's like you had just gone solar since you'd be starting at an offset of 100%. 

"But wait Frank, didn't you say that Nevada's favorite energy company, limits the max size of a system to where it's only able to produce 100% of the energy I need, not more? If that's the case, wouldn't a 108% offset be forbidden? "

You're totally right my friend! But for your luck, that extra 8% is achieved by optimizing your energy usage.

They might put a cap on how much solar you can install, but they can't prevent us from reducing your consumption AFTER the system size is maxed out!



How? By improving how your house consumes energy!

Scorecard:

Energy company = 0 pts.

You = 1 pt ✓

And here comes the crazy part...

Let's pretend that XYZ solar company didn't properly inform you on this from the get-go. Solar would still be worth it with the amount of money it will save you. 

Heck, even with non-ninja panels that degrade at 26%, solar would be more than worth it. Radical claim? Yeah! 

But don't take my word for it, see for yourself. I will show you a comparison table of the savings -with ninjas and without them- of one of our customers.

And yeah, in case you were wondering how the story ends, he ended up getting the ninja ones! Drag the arrow left and right to see the comparison:

How crazy is that? Seeing is believing.

That doesn't mean we vouch for the bad practices of other companies, but it just goes to show that even with 💩 solar you can save a chunky little something. 

If bottom-of-the-food-chain panels already give you the higher ground, what kind of savings do you think you can expect with the good ones?

#6  Small but key components that beat the big ones to their game and the perks of using them. 

Bigger is not always better.

Well, women would actually be the only ones who can testify to that haha. I just hope it's the answer I expect to hear... But in the solar world, to our luck, there's no debating that. Bigger is NOT better.

Every time I walk the streets, I see a lot of houses with what I consider to be my Top 2 Enemy in the whole solar industry. Top 1 are companies with all the bad practices that I already mentioned and the ones that I have yet to.

I would even say that more than walking, it feels like patrolling because all I do is watch out for what kind of systems people have installed. And I really feel for the ones who have to deal with this dude that I'm going to talk about. 

I've heard countless horror stories where he's the protagonist. 

The thing is they just can't withstand time. They tend to break down in the first years after installation. And who are we talking about here? String inverters. 

For instance, check this extract from our website to better understand why they are to be feared:

Once again, solar companies tend to go for these because they're cheaper to use...

But at what cost?

Think about this...

Since your whole system behaves like one big solar panel. What do you think would happen if a small component were to fail?

You got it right! Your whole system would fail!

And if it were you in that situation, you'd have to pay for both your solar and the bunch of energy you'd be temporarily drenching from the grid while you get it fixed! 

During that time, it would almost be like if you didn't have solar at all. But more expensive this time since there would be 2 different bills to cover.

Bet you didn't sign up for that! 

That sounds creepy. Are there better options?

Like with everything, most of the time there is. And inverters are not the exception.

Nowadays we have something called Microinverters. Just like with the ninja panels, it amazes me how many companies do their best to keep these bad boys out from the roofs for their benefit.

They're like the Ant-Man®...

They indirectly contribute to increasing your savings for these 2 reasons:

#1  They are tough boys.

Something that breaks often and easily, will only result in you going back to your old energy bill.

The good news is that even if it were the oldest of microinverter generations, they would last more and withstand harsher conditions than their malevolent brothers.

But that's not the best part, this next one is...

#2  They act as a repellant.

Remember Tip #3 earlier in the article? The one we decided to save for last? Well, this is it since they help you keep your offset alive even when things go south.

If a component or unit of your system ever fails, they will protect you from getting back that hideous energy bill. 

While you're waiting for the company to fix the issue, these guys will keep the energy drawn from the grid at a minimum. 

You'd be looking at a 20 bucks energy bill for that month, as opposed to a full-blown one like with string inverters. 

So now that there's no one keeping this from you, what would you choose?

The clear-cut road where you have something that lasts and that will help you avoid double-billing in case a problem arises?

OR

Flipping the coin with something that will probably fail, like it has countless times before, and that will definitely not help you avoid considerable charges from the energy company in case of failure?

#7  The -make it or break it- combo comprised of the 2 most overlooked things and how not having them could break your system.

To end this on a high note, let's solve this mystery situation. Imagine this... 

Everything's great. You're more than happy with your solar. 

With the information you read in this article, you made sure you got your offset at the percentage you were supposed to, ninja panels, microinverters, etc. 

You applied every single tip I gave you setting you up for success. 

But suddenly, one day, everything comes crashing down. Your system is still producing what it's supposed to, you can see it on your phone app, but the energy company thinks otherwise. The monthly statement reflects almost no production whatsoever. 

The only reason why you found out about this, is that you suddenly got hit by an energy bill when you were not even supposed to get one or expecting one.

QUESTION: What would be the probable cause for this? 

That is a situation that many people face for overlooking the importance of that combo.

At first glance, it seems like it might not do much for you but it does. And companies use this to their advantage to keep the truth hidden and once again, artificially inflate their profits.

That -make it or break it- combo is comprised of this: a critter guard along with a live-monitoring app. 

Why those two?

When you get your solar installed, there's a tiny space left between your panels and your roof due to the racking. 

And that's like a 5-star hotel for pigeons, rats, and other godforsaken creatures. I mean, it only makes sense to them; it's cozy, it provides the perfect shelter, and it's not easily accessible.

Think of it: if you were a pigeon, there's no way you wouldn't get into illegal street fights with other pigeons over who gets to stay the night or earns the right to nest at such privileged location.

The thing is they've fooled us into believing that they survive on food. But actually, they don't! They get their vitality from pecking and destroying things. (Trust me on this one haha).

And your panels are not the exception to the rule. 

The worst part is that the odds of your system failing because of this are way more than the ones that come from things like using string inverters or even non-ninja panels.

But don't panic, it's as easy as putting a critter guard that stops them from entering. 

What about that second thing of the combo?

HINT: I already gave it away.

Ask yourself this...

How do you think you'd be able to know if something's off with your system? Or if something needs to be repaired? 

This is where live monitoring comes into play. It will help you keep track of how your solar is doing and notice if there is something not working properly so that it can be promptly fixed.

Otherwise, the only way you would know if something is down would be by getting a beefy bill on account of the energy you didn't produce. 

And by the time you get it, next month has already started... 

See what I was saying?

On one hand, you have wrathful creatures chewing on your investment, and on the other, there's nothing that lets you know if one of them was actually successful in their endeavor. 

Can you see now why this is a -make or break- situation?

Well, that's only if you decide not to protect yourself. But I don't think that'd be the case here.

The only reason why the masses expose their solar system to itchy jaws is because companies don't normally speak about the importance of this with the consumers. 

Remember: Live monitoring + Critter guard is the way.

I think we can also agree that 'suddenly getting an oversized energy bill because your system was down for the last month', is not the best option to find out something was not properly working when there is a phone app that can help you prevent that.

Why make your life harder when you could make it smoother than -Santana's song "Smooth"- with what I just told you?

Now that there's no one dosing the "right amount" of information to you, do not let mistakes like passing on this water down your beautiful solar savings.

After all, you went solar to save money, not to lose it.