Why Solar Community Purchasing is Awesome by dave

Have you ever bought a new car from a dealership? It sucks. Maybe you love negotiating, but most people who’ve been in the back room in a dealership need a martini afterwards, and they still never know if they got a good deal.

Buying solar energy can be even tougher because it’s so complicated.

Cars have things like torque, horsepower, mph; solid numbers that you can confidently compare from model to model. But if you’re not Will Hunting, accurately comparing solar quotes from different companies requires an immense amount of self education that many people aren’t willing to do.  

For starters, you’d need a fundamental understanding of the difference between a kW and a kWh. You also need to be able to distinguish AC and DC watts. As a result, many people get put off and just say they’ll wait till next year (read: “never”).

One particular example I remember involves a solar sales call back in the day. The homeowner had one quote for solar panels on the steep north side of their roof (the equivalent of lighting money on fire), one that was twice as expensive as the rest, and one that had an impossibly designed string configuration (technically, meaning the number of solar panels couldn’t actually be connected to the inverter that they had been quoted).

At the time, I did my best to explain all the details and spent a lot of time designing the right system that would have been a solid move for their situation, but they were toast. Their trust with the industry was shot and moving forward was not an option. Fughedaboutit.

Solar salespeople often face an invisible force of cynicism and skepticism.

Now what if a prospective customer knew that 200 other people were getting the exact same pricing, contracts, warranties, and installation company… and that all that info was available on the web and visible to everyone in the group?  

Wouldn’t they be more willing to listen to true value proposition of solar?

And there’s the magic of solar community purchasing.  Let’s say you find someone with a slam dunk solar situation… perfect roof, shading, high power bill.  Even if you can show them on paper that it’s a wiser investment than index funds, there can still be a hidden assumptions that will fight against the purchase for all 12 rounds of the process. Lots of my old customers thought the solar industry was trying to dupe them into thinking solar was a wise investment, even when the reality is:  it was a wise investment.

If we can all work together to flip that paradigm, we win.  Consider the knowledge we have about other topics: I heard a 14 year old the other day talking about how you can deduct mortgage interest as a reason for why the economics of buying a home are better than renting.  What if that same level of knowledge was ingrained in the general populace for renewables? 

One solution is group education. Our volunteer coordinator Kanyi has been setting up solar house parties in Los Angeles. Every time we conduct one of these events, dozens of people walk out with a general understanding of solar energy. Whether they choose to buy or not, anyone attending this kind of event can now talk to their friends about it. If we talk enough and the information spreads, perhaps we cause the tipping point in understanding.

Here’s another reason solar group purchasing is awesome: Not only does group purchasing lower the price, but it increases adoption. Participants bring in friends and family members who would have never thought about solar, because they more people that get on the wagon, the more everyone saves.