Magic Sun Solar

We spoke with many solar providers before settling on the one company that actually impressed us, that actually seemed interested in what we wanted to buy, not what they wanted to sell us.
Two months after install and we are very happy with everything. Generation exceeds the estimates and so we are on track for free electric for the year, take that PG&E.
Work was completed very quickly, everything looks to be to a high standard and special mention to the salesman, Oscar, for being very attentive and very informative.
Magic Sun are a local company and they care, more than can be said for many we spoke with.
Let me know if you have questions, want to see figures etc, or want a referral discount.

Jim Bustos was very helpful and knowledgeable. Amazing company and fabulous service. Adali was very informative and low pressure. Would highly recommend them for getting you PG&E bills lowered or even eliminated. They know their stuff and were on time and completed before scheduled. Great local company!

I agree with the other positive reviews and won’t repeat some of that content. I’m an electrical engineer with a background in power systems and can provide a slightly different perspective. Though not currently employed by PG&E, I did work in a design department there at one time.
We had been researching home solar for quite a number of years observing how the technology was improving with declining costs per panel and increasing panel outputs. On the financial side, favorable rate plans are in place for solar along with the generous 30% federal tax credit.
Indications were pointing toward the future scaling back or removal of federal tax credits and to less favorable rate plans as the government achieves its objectives of kick starting the solar industry, and as utilities lobby to scale back some of the favorable rate programs they are currently forced to support to promote solar.
With this background we decided the time was right to go solar and since one of our neighbors had used Magic Sun for their recent installation, and had recommended them highly, we added Magic Sun to our list of solar companies to contact for proposals.
We initially worked with Oscar at Magic Sun who I found to be very knowledgeable and patient in working with me and providing information and documentation in support of some of the very technical and detailed questions I had relative to the proposed equipment and installation details.
Based on the relative ease of working with Oscar and Magic Sun, and based on careful study of the equipment choices and pricing they proposed relative to other proposals, Magic Sun was a clear choice for us moving forward.
Subsequently, I worked with the owner Brandon refining some of the wiring and routing details and found Brandon to also be very knowledgeable and patient in working with a fairly demanding electrical engineer homeowner.
I was also pleased that some minor setback issues that could have cost us additional money and time through a formal variance process was resolved instead with the county by Magic Sun staff at no cost. (Thanks Adam).
In the end, I have nothing but high praise in working with Brandon, Oscar, Leona and Adam, and the rest of the Magic Sun team. They exhibit great customer focus, are extremely knowledgeable and reliable, they do what they say when they say they are going to do it, and in general are very easy to work with.
I had set high expectations for the performance, efficiency, monitoring capabilities, serviceability and cosmetic aspects of our solar installation and I couldn’t be happier on all accounts.

When my wife and I first bought our house in Rocklin in May, we knew that we were looking at potentially high electric bills. Having a single speed pool pump and having to use the air conditioner on typical hot days, I started getting anxious about our PG&E bills. Our neighbors told us that it is not uncommon to have $ 400 — $ 500+ PG&E bills because of using the A/​C and pool pump. Our first bill had us living in our house for only 20 days but our bill was around $ 325.00 That’s not even for a full month!
I have always been interested in solar power but I knew that it is not a cheap thing to have installed on our house. There are so many questions to ask when deciding on solar and what company to go with:
1) Lease or buy?
2) Will we get a tax credit?
3) What brand of solar panels to use?
4) What output of solar panels to have installed?
5) Central inverter, solar optimizer, or micro-​inverters and what brands?
6) How many panels?
7) What’s the warranty on parts and labor?
8) How will it look on our house from an aesthetic standpoint?
9) What company to go with for the solar panel installation? How long have they been in business? Are they reputable? Are they honest? Are they knowledgeable and experienced?
10) Price?
11) Cost savings and what is the ROI and how long would it take to pay off our system in terms of PG&E bill savings.
12) What type of electric service should we sign up for.
The above are definitely not all the questions that one should ask but just a portion. It’s such a daunting process that requires patience and a lot of research.
Oscar came out and not only was he very professional and knowledgeable, but he was a pleasant person to talk to. At no point in our consultation was he pushy or was he using high pressure sales tactics. He brought a lot of documentation for us to review at our leisure and also went over everything in layman’s terms. I am a tech junkie so I have done my fair share of research. I know a lot of the technology involved but I can definitely appreciate Oscar taking the time to explain everything. All of the questions that I listed above was covered by Oscar.
I didn’t realize that there were different kinds of panels out there… polycrystalline vs. monocrystalline. Many companies out there use the cheaper polycrystalline panels which are not as efficient as the more expensive monocrystalline panels. The differences were explained and we could have gone with cheaper panels if we wanted to.
The next big question was how to choose between central inverter, solar optimizers, or microinverters. The biggest thing that sold me was that microinverters are installed under each panel. With central inverters and solar optimizers, if one or more panels are generating power at lower efficiency compared to the other ones (shade, cloud, rain, etc), the rest of the panels will only generate power at the lowest producing panel (s). That’s not the case with microinverters as each panel generates possible at the highest possible efficiency. If one or several panels are underperforming due to shade, cloud, rain, malfunctions, then only those panels generate power at diminished levels leaving the rest of the panels to generate at peak efficiency. Another great asset is with the Enphase setup that we have, there is a central hub that controls the microinverters and also allows for visibility into many parameters of power generation, efficiency, and technical issues if any. Magic Sun provides the software and access into my system so that I can geek out and check functionality per panel. It has a cool playback function that allows me to see the panels in action over time. That in itself would take another couple of pages to rave about. :-) Another big thing is that there is no large inverter unit that is installed on the side of the house or garage that takes up a lot of space. Also, we did not need a second electrical meter to be installed. The small Enphase Enform monitoring and communications gateway is smaller than most home Wi-​Fi routers.
After speaking with Oscar and several other solar companies, we decided to go with Magic Sun. I was impressed with Oscar and Magic Sun’s reputation.
So, we ended up selecting:
1) (21) LG Mono-​X Monocrystalline 305 watt panels
2) Enphase microinverters
3) Enphase Enform communications gateway with Wi-​Fi connectivity
4) Roof rail mounting system where the mounts were directly attached to the roof rafters and the roof shingles are slid back into place for a clean install. Everything is waterproofed during the install.
The install was completed in a single day. It was a painless process and the three man team were professional, quick, and very knowledgeable. What an awesome experience! We have gotten our first PG&E statement and I can’t wait until the 1-​year true-​up bill.
They have a great referral program and I would not hesitate to refer them to friends and family.

We just moved to Placer County and were pretty shocked when we saw how high our monthly electricity bills were. Guess that’s what you have to expect when you are in PG&E territory (as opposed to SMUD or Roseville Electric). We were running a 2.0 HP pool motor, as well as using A/​C to cool down a large 2-​story home. When we talked to our neighbors, they said their monthly bills were sometimes around $ 400−500/month. We decided we needed to look into solar panels STAT.
When we looked online, there were a TON of companies that offered solar panels. We’d hear them on radio ads, in Giants game commercials, on TV, in magazine ads, in mailers, walking around Home Depot, everywhere. We wanted to do our research and make sure we chose an experienced company, not a fly-​by-​night one.
We knew from our research that we wanted to OWN the panels, rather than lease them, because you definitely don’t save money when you lease. Plus you can get more credits back when you own the solar panels. We knew that we’d have to get solar panels installed before the 30% government tax rebate was up in 2016.
We looked here on Unilocal and decided to have a few of the top companies come out and give us quotes. It got to be a confusing process because every company would tell us their company was better than others, etc. We talked to: Magic Sun, Solar Revolution, Energy Saving Pros, Hooked on Solar, Skyline Solar and also got info for Sunrun, Solar City, and Sunpower.
We learned that a lot of companies use polycrystalline panels, which usually tend to be less expensive than higher-​quality monocrystalline panels. If the prices were the same, we definitely wanted to stick with the mono panels (plus I like the little diamond shape they have on the panels!).
There was also a difference in the type of inverters that are used for each panel [My husband’s review will probably go more in depth with that later]. Apparently there’s a difference in micro-​inverters versus central inverters. We did some research with Enphase micro-​inverters and SolarEdge central inverters and decided that the Enphase product was a better quality than SolarEdge, which seemed to have a bit of a troubled past.
We also wanted a company that could help us finance our solar panels. We learned about the mPower program (thru Unilocal and thru Magic Sun) and decided it would be our best bet. You basically have to attend an informational meeting and then everything is taken care of thru Magic Sun (who is already an approved mPower contractor). It was actually a very smooth and seamless process. The interest rate for mPower is 6%, which isn’t too bad when we compared it with other loans like Enerbank, which had a lot of hidden fees that would add up to closer to 12−13%.
After weeks of copious research and meeting different solar companies, we decided that we wanted MAGIC SUN SOLAR to do our panels. They were topnotch and while they weren’t the lowest-​priced company, they were the most experienced and knew quality. Oscar was amazing – so knowledgable and helpful! He is a genius with numbers! We didn’t feel the used-​car salesman feel from him that we felt from other solar companies.
You’ll have to check out the Enphase app/​website that Magic Sun uses. This was actually one of the deciding factors for us. Other companies had apps and websites, but they paled in comparison to the Enphase app. You can actually see a playback of how much energy each panel produces from sunrise to sunset. It’s pretty fancy and my husband is on the app constantly to see how much energy is being produced. :) Perfect for people who are into tech and numbers.
We ended up going with 21 of the MonoX 305 LG panels. The Magic Sun contractors showed up at 8am and were done by 3pm. They took care of getting all the permits from PG&E and the City of Rocklin. We didn’t have to worry about anything, other than making sure they had access to the attic during the day of install.
The 3 guys that came to our house were all friendly and professional, despite it being a really hot day! The lead guy, Jim, was great. He was able to answer questions and get everything set up in one day. At the end of the day, I was looking at the panels and asked him, «How did you guys happen to find a pipe that matches the color of our house?» He told me that during lunch, the guys had gone to Home Depot to match the color of the paint to our house. To me, that was pretty impressive.
It’s been about 2 months now and our solar panels look amazing. We’ve only received one PG&E bill so far and it’s substantially lower. We are hoping to get a zero bill next month! Our cousin and uncle have also gotten their solar panels thru Magic Sun Solar and have had nothing but great things to say about this company.
We wholeheartedly recommend MAGIC SUN to everyone. Do your research and you’ll see why Magic Sun has the best quality panels, inverters and customer service.

You can read all the positive reviews about Magic Sun Solar, but let me summarize them all for you in one sentence «MAGIC SUN SOLAR IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST!».
Save yourself time and energy and just call or email them. Most likely Oscar will get back to you the same day. If you are tech savvy, Oscar is awesome with texting.
I had a 9kw system installed by them and it is perfect. Thanks Oscar and the Magic Sun Solar team! A++++++++

Like most buyers, I did lots of research into purveyors, solar technology, and return on investment. I got four bids and overall Magic Sun was the best combination of price, technology, and comfort. You are not dealing with a franchise of a faceless big boxish outfit, you are dealing with the owner and his own installers. They were great all around from working with me to refine my options to install and follow-​up.
Since July 2014, the system has out-​performed estimates by 12% and I’m on track for a small pay-​back from PGE at true-​up in a couple of months. My payback period will be a little over 4 years, and my return on investment will beat anything the stock market has to offer with no risk. The sun always shines and utility rates always go up.
I was excited enough about solar to create a web site that can help you figure out your options. See
to get started on the best investment you can make for your home.
Just a quick update. I got my yearly ‘true up’ statement the other day. I owed $ 2.54 for the year. Perfect.

Purchased solar system with them Dec 2014. They were efficient, fast and seemed very knowledgable. They do business efficiently (Leonna will answer e-​mails very quickly). Very customer oriented. Would recommend them to my family and friends!

I purchased a system from Magic Sun Solar in October 2014. Below are just some of the reasons you should consider solar. If you’re at all interested in solar, I strongly recommend contacting Magic Sun Solar.
1) If PG&E is your electric provider, solar is often a no brainer. Of course, you’ll need some decent sun exposure on your roof or somewhere on your property. If PG&E isn’t your provider, but you use a lot of energy, you should still give Magic Sun Solar a call.
2) Loans are available, most notably the mPOWER program available to Placer County and Folsom residents. So, you don’t necessarily need thousands of dollars of liquidity laying around. Also, consider a cash-​out refinance, have you seen how low interest rates have gotten!
3) Magic Sun Solar will take care of all the paperwork, including the construction permit.
4) The return on investment is amazing. What else can you invest in that is going to deliver a return on investment of roughly 15%, that’s essentially guaranteed and virtually risk free. I’m saving roughly $ 2,500 /​year on a system that cost $ 15,750 (after the 30% federal tax credit).
5) Don’t wait too long. The 30% federal tax credit isn’t going to be around forever. Last I checked it’s set to expire at the end of 2016. My system cost $ 22,500, and the IRS refunded $ 6,750.
6) Oscar, the Magic Sun Solar representative, is very knowledgeable, ethical, and professional. He will not sell you something you don’t need. If solar isn’t a good option for you, he’ll let you know and explain why. If solar is a good option he’ll design a system that will maximize the financial benefit for you by determining what type of panels are necessary, what type of inverters, where to install them, what angles to set them at, etc. He will also recommend what rate plan to use with your electric provider, and handle the necessary paperwork to get you switched to the correct rate plan. Before meeting Oscar and being educated by him, I didn’t even realize PG&E had a time of use rate plan. With a time of use plan, and a proper solar system design, you can sell energy back to PG&E at a high rate in the afternoon hours and buy low overnight.
7) Magic Sun Solar uses their own installers. You’re not going to have to worry about a salesperson making you all kinds of promises, and leaving it to an installer to tell you that certain things aren’t possible (and having to make last minute adjustments). The sales representatives and installers work for the same company and are looking out for each other, as well as the customer.
8) Be cautious of solar companies offering to lease you a system, or companies offering to put a system on your roof at no charge and then selling you the power at a reduced rate. While these arrangements may be a good fit for some people, the return on investment and long-​term financial benefits are no where near as significant as buying your own system.
9) Magic Sun Solar guarantees their work for 10 years. The products they use are also, for the most part, guaranteed for 25 years via manufacturers warranties by companies that are very likely to still be around in 25 years.
10) Do you think electricity is going to get cheaper or increase in price over the next two years, five years, ten years, twenty years? The consensus is that it’s going to get more expensive, and not at the rate of regular inflation, but higher. With solar, you can protect yourself from these price increases.
11) Are you worried about maintenance? The system does not require any maintenance. Just hope it rains every once in a while so dust can be washed off.
12) Are you worried about the County re-​assessing the value of your house and the property taxes going up? Nope, not going to happen. Laws are in place to protect homeowners from such a scenario and to encourage energy independence /​renewable energy.
13) Are you worried about buying a system and it underperforming and not delivering as much energy as promised? Oscar and the experts at Magic Sun Solar know what they’re doing and they know how to estimate energy production. Magic Sun Solar is conservative in their energy production estimate assumptions. My system has been active for ten months now, and my energy production is at 112% of estimated.
14) Are you worried about those noisy expensive inverters wearing out? Things have changed, Magic Sun Solar uses micro-​inverters that don’t wear out (and are backed up by warranties). Zero noise.
15) Are you worried about having a problem with your system and not knowing it? Technology allows for the energy production to be tracked in real time, down to the individual panel. If a panel is under producing others, Magic Sun Solar will send out a technician to assess the problem. You can also track production yourself with the Enphase Enlighten webpage or app.

I spent about a year researching the various aspects of solar power before I even started to look for reputable contractors to do my install. I did the usual and got four quotes before I decided to have Magic Sun Solar do the work. Aside from the obvious price differences between the companies, the deciding factor was Oscar! He was so genuine, truthful and knowledgeable about the solar industry and its products that going with Magic Sun Solar was a no-​brainer.
Our system was going to be pretty big since I wanted to be 100% solar and technically off the grid (originally 43 panels and micro inverters). Well SMUD wasn’t very happy with that idea and I can tell you that after dealing with SMUD it truthfully made me want to rethink the whole solar concept. I know it was his job, but Oscar kept up with every request and document that SMUD was looking for throughout the whole process. It took 6 weeks of Oscar working tirelessly with the SMUD representatives to finally get our approval to start the install. We compromised a bit on the system (42 panels and micro inverters) but in the end it was worth our while since Oscar was able to reconfigure everything to make it a better deal for us. Oscar also reimbursed us for our first 2 loan payments due to SMUDs delay. Who does that in today’s day and age? Truly amazing customer service!
We were scheduled for an install 2 days later and I was very impressed with the Magic Sun install crew (all Magic Sun Employees). They walked me through the entire install process, showed me the brackets, cabling, mounting hardware and when the panels arrived, pointed out the model numbers and wattage. I went into the attic to take a look at the conduit runs after they were done and they were clean and mounted/​routed away from anything that may cause issues in the future. The roof mounting brackets were installed exactly as the manufacturers spec sheets required. The install went off without a hitch! So, after two days they started the system up to give it a test run. The system is 12KW total and on a cloudy and less than optimal day at 4PM in the afternoon the system was pushing 8.7KW.
A few days later the system was inspected by the City and passed with flying colors. About a week later I had my new SMUD meter (after our initial issues SMUD was much easier to deal with) and the system has been producing power since. So with winter upon us, my system has produced 120% of its expected generation based on the time of the year. I couldn’t be happier!
Like the other reviewers have already stated; if you are looking for a reputable solar company that does outstanding work for a fair price (lower than the others I got quotes from), will be an advocate for you and delivers on its promises… you don’t need to look any further than Magic Sun Solar. Give Oscar a call!
If you are on the fence and want to look at a Magic Sun Solar install. Make that call to Oscar and I’ll work out some time for you to see how great their work is. That’s how happy and satisfied I am with the work the company has done!

There are so many options when you go solar, that I decided to ask my friend for a reference and he recommended Magic Sun Solar… so I went with them. Sounds like a leap of faith — but my buddy literally spent years talking with people and getting quotes.
First thing first — I financed my solar system through mPower in Placer County. If you’re not aware of the system, GOOGLE IT! It is the best thing ever. That said, Magic Sun Solar did all the paperwork and I did not have to do anything. It was a seamless transaction.
The guys showed up at about 8AM one day… and they were done by 3PM. We did have a slight issue with the permit being pulled for 22 panels (yet we were putting in 26). Magic Sun Solar got that taken care of.
We went with LG solar panels and enphase micro inverters. Both of these companies will be around in 25 years to honor their warranties… and that was really important to us given all the bankruptcies).
After we installed the system, it took 1 week for PGE to «approve» our system. We got it a bit oversized because we plan to add a swimming pool in the near future. My system has been producing a TON of energy and exceeding my expectations.
Leona in the front office has been great communicating with me… Jim the installer was really awesome. Guys who have dropped off paperwork, etc have been nothing less than professional. I highly recommend these guys.
I hope this review encourages you to just stop your research and hire these guys. I promise you, you won’t regret it.

Super impressed with Magic Sun Solar. We looked at many companies but didn’t find numbers that made sense until Magic Sun. We wanted a ground mount system and they were able to come up with great ideas for placement and production. Customer service and workmanship are top notch. They worked around our busy schedule to accommodate times/​dates to install. I wouldn’t hesitate a moment to refer Magic Sun to anyone.

After researching the internet for literally years I convinced myself solar was not yet affordable or cost effective. However, sending between $ 200 — $ 600 a month to a giant electric company leaves one wondering. So, my wife and I sat down with Oscar, Magic Suns sales rep, to talk numbers and details. Oscar has a vast technical knowledge, is down to earth and, my personal favorite, straight forward and honest. After having all of our questions answered, and seeing the savings in simple black and white, the decision to go solar was a complete no-​brainer. Not only is solar cost effective, it is (in my opinion) one of the best investments our family has made. It has now been 3 months since our switch to solar and we absolutely could not be happier. The system itself is state of the art, made from the best products available, and looks fantastic on our roof. Magic Sun Solar has a tremendous team of technicians and staff that provide a worry free, streamlined service. In my opinion Magic Suns work ethic and transparency is what all businesses should strive for.

So we moved back to Rocklin from Auburn one year ago. Both big homes (3200 sq. ft.) We built Auburn in 2005. Newer windows, doors and insulation qualities. Purchased a 1987 «quality» built home in Rocklin. Average PG&E bill in Auburn, $ 250. Average PG&E in Rocklin $ 500! $ 660 last December and that’s after the additional $ 100 per month in wood pellets for the stove we purchased this time last year! And we are still COLD! Just the opposite in the summer months. So after hearing about the tax savings program on the radio, I jumped on Unilocal to see who was the highest rated solar company in the area. I found Magic Sun Solar had 5 stars and they were literally in our backyard. 5 stars is not an easy task to achieve for a business, but we quickly learned after our initial telephone enquiry, how they had achieved that elevated status. They young lady who answered the phone was very professional and polite. She indicated that Oscar, the company representative, would be in contact with us shortly to set up a consultation at our home. Oscar arrived promptly and was a fountain of knowledge pertaining to his product and its value. We knew this was going to be our company and had no plan to shop further. Oscar returned in two days with a proposal that seemed fair, and after comparing it to the cost of our sons system that he had installed on his home by a different company last year, we knew it was a fair price. Other than the fact that it had not rained for 52 days and it started to on our install day, everything went smoothly. Two and one half day install, flip the switch and we are making power! Oscar educated us on how we can see what level we are producing on a simple web based program that indicates when, where, how and what we are producing. Awesome! And the Placer County tax refund will reimburse more than 25% of our cost!
MAGIC SUN SOLAR, YOU ROCK! THANK YOU!

I had considered solar and talked to a few companies in the past and the return on investment just didn’t make sense. I then met Oscar at Magic Sun Solar through a friend who was also looking at Solar. Oscar provided a number of different options that offset or completely covered the cost of my PG&E bill. In July 2012 I decided on a configuration with a goal of covering the total PG&E bill and after being installed for over a year I have achieved a 90% savings against my PG&E bill. Magic Sun’s estimated saving were fair and very close to the outcome that I am now achieving.
Oscar and the entire team as Magic Sun Solar are complete professionals. The installation was done on time, efficiently, and with no mess. Give Oscar a call if you want an honest and accurate calculation of what you can save.
Thank you Magic Sun Solar!

If you know my husband Kris… you know that he does extensive research before making even a small purchase. When we decided to look into getting a Soar system on our home the research, quote, research, more quotes and more research began.
After five companies quotes we decided to go with Magic Sun Solar for many reasons, here are some of the big ones: Oscar was professional, extremely knowledgable and personable and came in with a very competitive offer. Not only was the proposal price competitive, but the products they were using were the best on the market.
All said and done in just a few short weeks and our solar system is performing at 115% of why they guaranteed us. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about this company and all if its staff. I give them my highest rating and would recommend them to all my friends and family.

We had Magic Sun perform some electrical work at our home in Sacramento. We were super pleased at how smoothly and easily they took care of everything.
We expected the job to be messy and time consuming. Brandon and Cameron fantastic. They were polite, quick and efficient. They were done in no time. Didn’t make a mess. Everything has been working beautifully. Great Job
Thanks you guys very much.

Save yourself the time. If you’re looking for a residential solar install, Magic Sun Solar is the only way to go.
Oscar is top flight: knowledgable, personable, energetic, and instructive. He followed through on everything.
We’ll probably save around $ 3000 annually. The panels look terrific. Futuristic. Much better than the typical panels around. I’ve had many compliments on the way they look on our house.
Brandon is conscientious and hard working. He did a great job installing my EV charging station. Using the E-​9 plan, I can schedule my Tesla to be charged at a rate of 4 cents/​KWhr. This will save about $ 2000 annually, as compared a gas powered vehicle.
In all, I couldn’t give a higher recommendation.

Oscar and Brandon of Magic Sun Solar are best! Once permitting was complete my 9 kw system was up and running in 5 days! Cannot say enough about their professionalism and work ethic. Job site was always safe and clean at the end of the work day. If your in the market for a Solar System, let Magic Sun Solar be the first place you start.

I can’t say enough about these guys and the benefits of solar in our home. Magic Sun Solar is locally owned and their crew is extremely knowledgeable, professional and friendly.
We just had a system installed on our roof and we’re looking at adding more panels soon. The panels look great and the Enphase microinverter solution they provided is the way to go according to everyone I talked to in the industry. Oscar explained everything along the way making this experience completely turnkey including proper placement, permitting, inspection, PG&E processing, etc.
It’s a great feeling to see that meter spin backwards. We’ve already noticed our power usage drop a considerable amount compared to last year… and we’re still in the winter months!
I’m very happy with Magic Sun Solar and the work they did for us. They have my highest recommendation.