FAQs
My name is Rob Styler. And I want to make sure you have all of your questions answered, so you can make a confident decision about upgrading your home to solar.
21. So why would I sign up now?
22. What happens if I sign the contract, and you never finish the manufacturing plant?
1. When do I pay the security deposit?
You do not pay the security deposit until the solar engineer comes to your house and designs your system. They will show you exactly what the system will look like. And only after you sign off on the design do you pay the deposit.
2. How long of a contract do I have to sign?
One year, five years, or twenty five years. Over 80 percent of our customers sign the 25 year contract because that locks in their rate for electricity for the entire term of the contract. If you sign a shorter contract, your rate is re-calculated according to the energy rates at the end of the term.
3. What happens if I sign a 25 year contract and I want to sell my house in 10 years?
You have 3 options. First, you can ask us to move the system to your new house. We do that one time for free. Second, you can transfer the contract to the new owner. This can potentially add value to your house because if the electricity rates keep going up like they are, and let's say it's 40% higher in 10 years, then your buyer would get a 40% decrease on their energy bill because of your foresight. Now, the final option is that you could contact us, tell us that you want to end the contract, and we'll come to the house and remove the unit. With this third option, you do lose your security deposit.
4. So is my security deposit the most I can lose? Is that my only risk?
Obviously, if you don't pay your bill, there will be late fees. Or if one of our franchisees comes out to your house to remove the unit and you greet him with a shotgun and a pitbull, we'll have to take legal steps to recover our property. But if you're cooperative, there should be no worries.
5. Okay. Say I want a system on my house. How does it work? What is the process?
You sign up online, and one of our independent ecopreneurs will help you each step of the way. There's some simple questions to answer about the amount of shade, the direction of your roof line. After you sign the contract, a solar engineer will come to your house to design the system. The last step will not happen until we have your panels ready to install.
6. What if I don't like the design? Am I still obligated to the contract?
No. You can back out of the contract with no penalty if you don't like the design. As I mentioned, you don't even pay the deposit until after you approve the design.
7. Okay. So I like the design, I want the system, what's next?
The installation usually takes about a day. The permit process can take as much as 90 days, depending on how cooperative the local utility is. But we handle every step of the process and you don't pay anything until your unit is producing renewable, clean power for your home.
8. What exactly do I pay? How is that calculated?
You pay a rental for the amount of energy that your system produces. See, we give you back your power. You produce your own energy from the sun. And you keep the savings. Our solar engineer will go through your past energy bills. Then, if you're interested, they'll walk through your house and show you how to save energy. Taking all this into consideration, they'll calculate how much energy your personal solar unit will need to produce in order to supply all of your energy needs. They'll design the system to supply that energy. You simply pay the rate per kilowatt hour that is on your contract for all the clean, renewable energy that your system produces.
9. Do you have any hidden fees or maintenance charges?
Nothing extra. We have no connection fees or any of those quote "extras" that other companies tack on. The government is not trying to tax the sun yet.
10. So will I have two bills- one from Citizenre and one from my utility company?
Yes. You will pay us a rent for the power your system produces. And you will pay your utility company the same connection fees that you pay right now. Plus you will pay them for any excess power that you use that exceeds the contract.
11. What does that mean, "exceeds the contract?"
If at the end of the year you use more energy than you contracted for and what your system produced for you, then you would need to pay your utility company for the excess energy that you used and they produced.
12. And what rate would I pay for that energy?
You would pay your utility companies current rates. Sorry, we cannot do anything about their rates. But look at it this way. You'll be using a lot less of that polluting power. And the energy you rent from us will always be the same guaranteed low rate. No surprises. If you read about rising energy prices, you can smile to yourself knowing that your solar energy costs are locked in for the length of your contract.
13. But in my first year, I'm just paying the same rate that I was before, right?
Often, it's actually less. We base our rates on the yearly average for your utility. So we have to base our rates on the prior year. Since rates tend to go up each year, many customers save money on their first bill, and this will only increase as the years pass. We provide a calculator on our web site that will tell you specifically what you will save with your particular utility and your monthly usage. Many customers save over 10,000 dollars just by upgrading their home to solar. Our whole mission is to help people join the solution and to stop being part of the problem.
14. Please give me an example of what my monthly bill might be.
Let's say that you contracted with us for your system to produce 12,000 kilowatt hours for the year. And your contract rate is 10 cents a kilowatt hour. Your total bill for the year would be 1200 dollars for the rental of our solar unit. With most utilities, you have some months that are higher, some are lower, you never know. It's hard to budget. We have a system called easy pay, where in the above example, you would simply pay us a hundred dollars a month every month. Simple.
15. What happens if I contract for a certain amount of kilowatts, and then my kids go off to school or we want to travel three months out of a year?
Your system is remotely monitored automatically every day. If your solar engineer notices that your usage has dropped, they will contact you to see if this is a permanent situation, or just a short-term fluctuation. If this will be a permanent decrease in your energy usage, they will come out and remove the proper number of panels and readjust your contract.
16. And how much will that cost me?
Nothing. We make solar simple.
17. What if something breaks or goes wrong?
We have a complete, worry free performance guarantee. If the system ever stops working for any reason, one of our franchisees will rush out to fix it for free. You have no rental charges until we get it working again, so we're motivated to get it fixed fast.
18. What happens if my kid hits a baseball through one of the panels?
It's just like renting a car or any appliance. You're responsible for returning it in good condition. If you backed your car over your electrical meter, you'd be responsible for fixing that, also. I recommend that customers contact their homeowner’s insurance to doublecheck that the unit will be covered under their policy. Usually, there's not a problem.
19. Wouldn’t I save money in the long run if I just bought a solar energy system?
Actually, no. Renting can save you a significant amount of money. And it protects you from a large investment risk. See, if you buy solar panels and invest, say, 40,000 dollars, you're tied into that technology for a long time. If something new and better comes along, you can't switch because your 40,000 dollars would be wasted. This is highly unlikely, but let's just imagine that a new technology comes out 10 years from now, and you can get clean electricity for two cents a kilowatt hour. And you have a contract with us for 10 cents a kilowatt hour. If you break your contract with us, you lose your security deposit, which is usually 500 dollars. Let’s say your bill is 100 dollars with us, and it would be 20 dollars with this amazing, new, imaginary, highly unlikely technology. So you'd be saving 80 dollars a month. You could simply contact Citizenre, and tell us you'd like to cancel your contract. You would lose your security deposit, but this is a lot better than losing 40,000 dollars. With our growing distribution channel, and research and development, it's likely that Citizenre will distribute any new technology like this, and we'll do everything possible to make our current customers happy.
20. I understand that you're manufacturing plant is not completed yet. Is that right?
Correct. The first systems will be ready to install in January 2008.
21. So why would I sign up now?
First, you lock in your rate as soon as you sign up. With the way rates are increasing, this could save you a significant amount of money. Second, you reserve your position. So you can get your system sooner once the plant is producing. Third, it also helps to show the market how many people will go green if we provide an offer that makes sense on every level, including economically.
22. What happens if I sign the contract, and you never finish the manufacturing plant?
The contract would be void and canceled. We need to honor our end of the contract, just like you will honor yours. We understand that this is a revolutionary concept. The big power and oil companies have been saying for years that solar power has no market. They have a vested interest in making that claim. It's hard to see the truth when your paycheck depends on not seeing it. We're proving them wrong. We have to. The risks are too big if we don't. The only way that change happens is if we create a better vision. For that vision to be sustainable, it needs to make economic sense for all parties involved. Electricity production is the number one source of pollution in the United States. We’re not asking you to sacrifice anything. In fact, you can save a significant amount of money by upgrading your home to solar. When was the last time you could save money and do the right thing? |