Solar Optimum

I’m a very discriminating buyer who studies the technical details before making any purchase, so I obtained quotes from eight different solar companies before I decided to work with Solar Optimum.
From my initial contact, Solar Optimum and its employees have been purely professional, quickly setting themselves apart from their competition. Eric started my education about Solar Optimum with clear, accurate, non-​pushy information about their processes and products. He followed this discussion with technical datasheets about my panel and inverter options, along with recommendations from their other customers. Even as I traded my options, they stayed with me without pressure. After I decided to go with their cutting-​edge microinverter panels, they offered me a favorable price that included the cost of an upgraded, relocated electrical panel. Nicholas was assigned as my project manager, and he continues to serve as an informed, astute communicator to answer my many demanding questions, and his team worked with the city to file for and obtain permits as efficiently as I’ve ever heard of a city working through any process! My installation and upgrade is moving at the rate we initially projected, and I am extremely satisfied with my decision to work with Solar Optimum as I go solar!

Wanted to post a great review for Solar Optimum. My wife and I have been contemplating doing a solar system for a couple years for offsetting energy costs and trying to be conscientious on clean energy.
We finally decided to do the research, look for some personal recommendations and then shop around. At the end of the process we decided on going with Solar Optimum and we are very glad we did. I am very picky person, the type of equipment, panel and equipment placement, workmanship and value offered were really critical for me. I went with a higher efficiency system due to preferences and the look I wanted based on the shape of my roof. The solar process doesn’t happen overnight, but I felt the Solar Optimum team was very responsive to my requests, really take pride in their customer service and keeping me in the loop for how progress was going on the project.
I appreciated their willingness to work with us in several areas to get me and my wife what we were looking for in a solar solution. Thanks!

I have asked NUMEROUS times for this company to remove me from their call list… I am taking a different approach now and just agreeing to receive information and set up meetings. I wonder how many meetings it will take for them to get the point? Tomorrow will be #1…
Revised (6÷8÷16):
I have been direct messaged by a guy supposedly by the name of Rainier D. Ironically enough, they get very «attentive» to requests once you post on Unilocal.If you don’t post on Unilocal,they keep calling, and calling even when you ask politely to be removed. If it takes a Unilocal review to get your name removed, then that is super poor customer service.
I just received another call today from a number out of Coffeyville, KS. When I called that number back the line is magically not in service.
How freaking shady can this company be!!!

Highly recommend. I got several quotes from different companies and Solar Optimum had the lowest price. They were very straightforward to work with, and created a no-​pressure environment to make the decision, which I greatly value. I had several questions and they were quite patient in answering all of them to my satisfaction. After signing the contract, they were expedient in getting the permits submitted, and then doing the installation after the permit was granted. The system is producing as expected and offsetting 100% of our energy needs! Couldn’t be happier with our choice to go solar and to use Solar Optimum. You won’t be disappointed if you choose them!

I’ve talked to several representatives from different companies and so far, Solar Optimum is the best. They are very personal and thorough. I have a better understanding of the system due to their honesty and to the point attitude. They will help you choose a plan that works for you and explain all the fees so there’s nothing fishy or hidden. Highly recommended! Great to work with!

Solar Optimum recently completed a lengthy and complicated solar installation at our residence in Pasadena and did a fantastic job. Complex city regulations and a meddling neighbor (who called City Hall and various city departments) delayed the project more than 5 weeks — but Solar Optimum followed up on every aspect. They even came back and cleaned out my rain gutters near the solar panels. Our solar production has exceeded our expectations! I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. Joel S.

I was skeptical at first. I thought «How can EVERYBODY give this company 5 stars on Unilocal???» Then I saw the deleted reviews at the bottom of the page. «Aha, they are deleting bad reviews!», I thought. However, even the deleted reviews were positive, with the exception of a few outliers, most of which seemed to be more upset with aspects like missed callbacks and being late to appointments. I decided to go with Solar Optimum, and I have not been disappointed. They have been very forthright, honest, and communicative during the whole process, and at no point did I feel like they had anything but my best interests in mind.
Case in point: Shortly after receiving rebate approval from GWP, I began to wonder whether my roof was in need of repair. I spoke to them about delaying the installation and having them send someone out to inspect my roof. They agreed to send a guy out. Here’s what amazed me… I was completely expecting them to tell me «Your roof is fine. Let’s get the panels installed.» However, it was the opposite. They told me my roof was in bad shape, and that they would wait until I was ready to move forward with the installation. It was at this point that I was completely sold. Any other company would have simply pushed me to install the panels on a bad roof so they could be done with me and get paid. Solar Optimum delayed installation (and getting paid) for 3 months while I dealt with my roof (I hired a 3^rd party roofer to do it, so Solar Optimum did not benefit financially from the roofing work)
I now have a new roof (purchased with a HELOC), and a new solar system (purchased through the pre-​paid lease with the same HELOC). So now I am making payments on a HELOC (no more paying for electric, as my system is producing more than I need) that are lower than what I was paying for just electricity prior to all of this. So basically it was cheaper for me to buy a new roof and go solar than it was for me to keep an old dilapidated roof and pay for «dirty» electricity. And I am doing my small part to save the world!
Thank you Solar Optimum.

Great friendly service from a team of professionals who know what they’re doing. From the moment I called to inquire, to the moment my panels were installed and even after the installation, I’ve had the best service experience. I was reluctant to go solar, and shopped around for some time with different solar companies before I made my decision. I am so glad I went with Solar Optimum. I highly recommend these guys if you’re thinking about going solar. In addition, the difference in your utility bill is immediate; definitely worth the investment.

My wife and I have been shopping for solar and met with several companies, but none as thorough and caring as Solar Optimum. Our energy bill has been running high and we were looking for a better solution with solar PV. Because of other positive Unilocal reviews, we chose to talk to Solar Optimum and it paid off. We’re now saving more than 50 percent on our electric bill. They provided different options and reccomendations for my wife and I to think about. In the end, we went with a pre-​paid lease. For anyone looking to go solar at there home, definitely shop around. But I think you”ll find solar optimus as a clear cut choice!

From the first meeting with Armond to the continuous follow ups and updates from Arno and Carol, I would not recommend anyone else. All I can say is thank you for your amazing service and thank you for your patience and thorough explanation of my savings with solar. This is not a company focused on sales rather a family focused on helping other families. Thank you Armond, thank you Carol and a big thank you to Arno.

Great experience with Solar Optimum. They responded to my every question concerns i had with patience and kindness. They gave me prices that was within my budget. They did all the work from A to Z which i am very happy with. I didn’t have to worry about anything. The company has great work ethic, very professional, very nice. Great job and thanks for everything!!!

It pays to go local. I received quotes from the leading national solar installers and quotes from Los Angeles only installers. Solar Optimum gave me a quote that I frankly thought was a mistake but they knew the rebates available from my local utility (Glendale Water & Power) and discounted the price based upon those rebates, would go after the rebate themselves, *and* guaranteed their quote even if they couldn’t get the refund! The other installers said that I was on my own to get the rebate.
Mike was the guy I worked with from Solar Optimum. He’s great. The other installers sent out a range of hard sell «sales teams» who went the range from «you need to sign today to get some discount» to calling me every day for weeks. The Solar Optimum offer was so good that Mike didn’t need to sell anything. We basically chatted about our kids and home repair and solar power — pretty painless.
The installation went smoothly and their crew worked closely with the roofers who were doing a re-​roof so that the new panel mounts were incorporated into the new roof.

Thank you for the great solar experience! Extremely satisfied!
Great communication, great work, thank you for saving me money every month!
On time, efficient, organized, friendly staff!

We had a fantastic experience leasing our solar panels through Solar Optimum.
Michael Powers was our point man and he was a joy to work with throughout the whole process. There was no hard sell during our initial consultation. He was always fast and responsive to any queries. And he — and Solar Optimum — basically handled everything. Including upgrading our electrical panel. It was as easy as signing some paperwork — then they handled everything else.
The time frame they laid out was accurate — as were the costs.
Highly recommended!

Ask anyone who knows very little about solar if they’d like to have it, nine times out of ten they will say yes but don’t know how to go about it and are daunted by the mere process of acquiring it. Many fear the hard sell or hidden pitfalls of solar so they simply avoid the pursuit.
Solar Optimum is who I recommend seeking if you are even thinking about going solar.
No hard sell, no scam pressures… simply facts and a clear escort through the actually straight-​forward process. Solar Opt handles all of it for you, walking you clearly through all the options available and the process to get your system up and running.
I recommend Mike Powers as your rep… he’s a joy to work with and incredibly helpful in explaining what seems at first, a lot of intentionally confusing jargon. After working with Mike, you realize it’s just a new world you are entering into and one I might add that not only helps your wallet, but helps the environment.
The office communicates great. The installers are professional and do an extremely thorough job. The panels and the power boxes are extremely well installed.
I have another week or so before Glendale turns on the system, but what has happened so far with Solar Optimum has been nothing short of a pleasure to deal with.
If you are even just thinking about going solar, I would seriously consider Solar Optimum… they are one of the best choices I’ve made in regard to home improvement.
Thanks for the great work!

After doing my little research and talking with few Solar companies, and their representatives, I found myself comfortable working with Solar Optimum; they have answered to all my questions, addressed my concerns and their price was within my budget. My property required an electrical power panel upgrade. Solar Optimum took care of everything for me; city permits, city rebates and let me sit back and let them take care of everything. My property had some complex setup that required more careful design, and that is what I got from Solar Optimum full team. They were very professional, knowledgeable, fully understood my requirements and followed up with all the appointments promptly. I am very pleased with the result and their work. They did a fantastic job. I will definitely recommend working with this company. You can never go wrong with them.

Our roof is not the average roof, with its many angles, and yet it’s completely in the sun. We wanted solar, and I went through three other companies before I found Solar Optimum, which installed a system that could give me 100% of what we needed. I’m here to explain the ups-​and-​downs of going solar.
I began with Solar City, which had a great pitch, a positive attitude, and friendly people. From a satellite photo, the said our roof could fit 25 panels, and, based on our usage, we needed 24. It would not cost us a nickel. We’d lease and pay roughly two-​thirds of our present electric bill to Solar City for 20 years. Considering there was no money down, who wouldn’t want a third slashed off a bill?
However, when their crew came to measure, with the pipes and things we had on the roof, I was told they could get eleven on and maybe 60% of our electrical needs. That would require a new contract. We didn’t sign. I called Verango, which my father-​in-​law used in Palm Springs. They looked at a satellite photo of our roof and said they wouldn’t touch it.
Then it struck me: if I couldn’t get as many panels as I needed, then maybe I should look for the most efficient panel, and I would need fewer. Research took me to panels by Sunpower, which were about 20% more efficient than what Solar City offered. I found Sunpower on the Internet. They had a leasing deal like Solar City, no money down. I soon signed a contract with them. However, after their crew came out, they would only install on the south-​facing roofs, which would still not give me enough power. I pulled out of the deal.
I spoke about this all to a friend in a restaurant in Santa Monica, and a man behind us broke in, saying, «I normally don’t interrupt anyone, but I teach solar panel installation design at Santa Monica College…» Thus began a new friendship. I learned that most solar panels are installed in series, side-​by-​side, each panel producing the same amount. They are like batteries. The weakest panel sets the highest output. Thus, with a roof like ours and panels facing all four directions, the output would be dictated by the north-​facing panels.
The other way to install is where individual panels or small groups would be independent of the others, and the electricity would add to each other, much like filling a glass of water. That requires separate optimizers and separate wiring. This is what I would need. I went to Unilocal,looking for a highly rated company that might take on an unusual roof. Solar Optimum sounded perfect. They are.
A man named Armond Babaeian, the company’s CCO, came to my house and explained how they could use Sunpower panels and create a design that would use all angles of our roof. They would raise the panels facing north to give a better angle. We would need 19 panels. His price was so good, we decided to buy instead of lease, which might make selling our house easier, if we were to sell. They would deal with the city and get the permits and inspections that were needed. He said it would take at least two months to be approved by the city. We signed in May, and they were ready to install in late July. At the start of installation, a person from Solar Optimum kept me in the loop about what would happen next and when.
Installation was broken down into three units. After the first two, an inspector from Housing and Safety came to approve.
1) SO installed the panels to the roof, which took one long day.
2) SO sent the electricians a day later. They wired the panels to the inverter that they installed on the side of the house. The DWP also required a new electrical panel for the whole house, which they installed, which required breaking some of the stucco off the side of the house to fit it in. They also installed two other panels that merged the electricity from the inverter to the new electric panel. We would need a new meter from DWP. That took about a week. Then:
A stucco person arrived and put in new stucco around the new electrical box. He matched the old stucco with paint.
At this point, the installation itself was complete – all very fast. The city electrical inspector said he’d turn in his report, and it would take four to six weeks for DWP to come out and make the new system «live» by connecting the solar panels to the grid and a new meter. We then would use electricity from our panels, and the excess would go to DWP, giving us credits. At night when our panels would not be working, we’d get our electricity from DWP with our credits paying for all or most of it.
This is where I became frustrated. DWP did not show up within four weeks, so I thought I’d find out when. Finding someone, anyone, at DWP was the first challenge, but after I sent a message to the solar customer service department, the next day a man named Rafik Gendy wrote. He worked with me in getting things straight.
I recommend Solar Optimum completely – very good people.

WOW — WHAT AN EXPERIENCE. It all started as I was getting ready to sign the contract with another high rated solar company. Just one last time I went onto Unilocal to read the reviews and there I also happened to read the reviews from Solar Optimum. As I was going through the reviews, I was looking for 3 or 4 star reviews and as I scrolled down to the end, I couldn’t find reviews lower than 5 star. I got skeptical. I thought this reviews were rigged as I couldn’t find one dissatisfied customer. So I left message over the weekend and postponed my appointment with another solar company where I was going to sign the contract.
On Monday, I talked to Adeh (Chief Operating Officer) and mentioned after reading his reviews on Unilocal,I literary had to stop moving forward with my contract signing. I told him, I was ready to sign the contract with another company but I had to give him a chance to bid on my project before I made my decisions. He understood the urgency and came up with the proposal on the same day for a 9KW system. The price was the lowest out of all the quotes I received. BTW, the other quotes I received were for 8.5KW system. One thing I liked about Solar Optimum was their detailed questionnaire form. Once I answered all the questions, they came up with a solution on how big of a system we needed.
Next day Armond (Chief Commercial Officer) stopped by at my house. He checked the roof from outside and the electrical panel. He noticed that the 200A electrical panel was in the center and it needed to be on the top. There would be an additional cost which I was not prepared to incur. I expressed my concerns and he said he will talk to Adeh. Couple of hours later I got an email from Adeh and he said he will include the electrical panel upgrade at no charge. I was thrilled. Before signing the contract I told him that I just moved into this house and I am not in a position to incur any additional cost if they find any issues during the installation. I wanted some kind of assurance. They wrote down in the contract «If any additional cost to occur customer has the right to cancel the project and full refund will be issued». I was very happy about the entire situation and moved ahead and signed the prepaid solar lease contract. BTW, if you are considering buying the system, look into Solar Optimum’s prepaid solar lease option. I was skeptical at first but after reading several articles on google I decided to go for it.
Once the contract was signed with Solar Optimum, I got a call from Anna (Office Manager). She explained me the entire process and what to expect next. She is very detailed oriented and highly knowledgeable. Along the way, I had other requests to install the Inverter in the garage. They happily included this request and implemented it.
In the entire project the communication with everyone was excellent. Everybody knew me and my project details, from Silva/​Carol (Office Staff) to Kathy (Project Coordinator) to Anna to Armond to Adeh and the installation team members. They all worked in a team and had one goal in mind and that was «Customer First».
Few days later, the site inspection team (Kim and Ramon) came to our house for the roof measurement /​inspection and to identify optimal location to mount the solar panels where there was no obstructions from trees or shadows from chimney etc. They spent at least two hours and were very detailed in their work. The design team created the design document and sent it to me for review and approval. Later the document was sent to City of LA and we received the permit and green light for installation.
I decided to install 33 X LG 315W solar panels NeON 2 module (LG315N1C-​G4), and SolarEdge inverter (SE10000A-​US), with SolarEdge Power Optimizers (P320). This was the best combination for me because each SolarEdge Power Optimizer is connected to each LG Solar Panel to increase energy output from solar panels into the inverter. The inverter then converts the DC power (Direct Current) to AC power (Active Current or utility-​friendly power). The wireless home gateway device along with the software training was very helpful to monitor the energy production from each solar panel (
). The solar panels and optimizers comes with 25 years warranty, however the inverter comes with 12 year warranty. For peace of mind, I bought extended warranty on inverter from 12 to 25 years at a very low price.
This is the only project I remember enjoying the overall process and smooth installation. Overall I am beyond satisfied and I am glad that I choose Solar Optimum for my solar project. It’s a very honest company. If you are thinking of going solar give Solar Optimum a chance to bid on your project. They will beat anyone’s proposal and not cut corners. You will be glad you choose them. This was my experience. I wish you all the Best for your solar project. If you wish to contact me just send me a message on Unilocal

I called after all the reviews I read and tried to talk to someone about adding a solar system to a new house we move into next week. I told them we had estimated electric numbers to use based on the prior owner– house size, the roof type and the direction the house faces all available prior to a meeting… the current owners average bill is between 425 – 450 a month. but we have nothing concrete for us as we move in next week and we are looking to get a system installed soon.
The receptionist insisted that she schedule an appointment, which she wasn’t listening as an appointment wouldn’t get anymore information that they could get over the phone and we wouldn’t actually be in the home until next week. I asked if I could just speak with someone to discuss our situation and she was rude and did not listen to me again, and got an attitude and then started to forcibly tell me how they work vs. listening and helping me. We are a serious buyer of solar in the next month and the way I was spoken to over the phone for a possible new client was surprising, it was easier to tell her thanks but no thanks and then she even got more rude with her voice before hanging up.
I had just spoken to — LA SOLAR GROUP who comes up before these guys in Unilocal with just as great reviews and Robert was awesome at discussing for about 20 minute our ESTIMATED options– prior to coming out… and is going to send an estimate and options to review prior to our meeting…
Why would Solar not want a potential buyer to be informed a little BEFORE they come out… if the buyer is informed to the type of options then me a buyer can have a serious conversation when they actually come out to see how the house is set up.
Very disappointed at how I was handled… just like the phone companies when you call and get frustrated with their lack of help or listening to you…
I am a buyer that is trying to due my due diligence on 2 – 3 companies before settling on one… and these guys might have a great company… but the initial contact was horrible!

Great customer service. Job well done! I would recommend Solar Optimum to anyone that I know. Outstanding work ethic and very prompt at dealing with customers.