Occidental Power Solar Company

The response posted is a pathetic lie. THEY offered to find the financing. Nowhere in the contract was any allocation for design. Every penny of the contract was for materials. In researching this firm in the current period, I found that they posted a «partners» flash on their home page and included a firm owned by a friend of mine. It was done without permission and is another evidence of the misrepresentations and untruths these folks are willing to perpetuate. Give me my money back!

Truly outstanding company that combines a deep professionalism with honest, personal attention. The GM of the company (Greg Kennedy) paid us several visits to make sure we understood everything about going solar, the pluses and minuses of various styles of installation, and whether certain modules made sense or not for us given our specific situation. (We were pleasantly surprised when he recommended against certain modules or ideas, even though these would have added to OxyPower’s work/​bottom line.)
The rest of the team was just as outstanding from soup to nuts – getting the contract set up, doing the construction, and ensuring we received the permission to operate etc. as recommended. Best of all they make the process easy and headache-​free.
For anyone installing in SF – and particularly those close to the ocean, where their space-​grade aluminum racks will be most resistant to briny oxidation – I recommend them most strongly for their outstanding work.

I highly recommend Occidental Power. We interviewed 4 solar companies, chose Occidental based on their competitive price and our own gut instinct, and couldn’t be happier! The entire process was incredibly professional. Right from the start Greg went out of his way to answer my questions, explain pricing, describe the various components and generally make sure I had all the information necessary to make an informed decision. Once we signed the contract, Sarah & Shane were very responsive via email and kept me updated every step of the way. The guys who installed the system were pleasant, friendly and hard working, despite working in blazing hot sun. Keith the electrician was patient, knowledgable, and went above and beyond to make sure I understood what he was doing and how the system worked. Our system is brand new so I can’t comment on performance yet, but I’m confident that Occidental will stand behind their work! I highly recommend them for your solar project.

I could not be happier with the work or the service I received from Occidental Power. Everyone I spoke with was extremely professional. I especially liked a proper hand off from my initial sales and architecture contacts to the project manager. I was kept current on all activities and expected timelines, even whey they changed due to a short delay on the panels.
I have an old victorian home and was a bit particular about where and how the conduit was run and the team met every expectation without hesitation. I can see the quality of the work just by looking at it.
Once the initial plan was in place, I didn’t have to get involved in the project at all. I also appreciated the in-​person lesson on the system and how to read and manage the inverter once it was all up and running.
I have worked with a lot of contractors and proprietors and i highly highly recommend these guys.

I had an 18 panel 3.7 kw solar system installed using Enphase micro-​inverters back in ⁶⁄₂₀₁₁. I always say that anyone can sell you something. What really matters is what happens when things go wrong and if they are there to help you. In the last year, I’ve had 2 of my Enphase micro-​inverters start to fail. I reached out to Occidental and they went to Enphase, got the replacement parts and then came and replaced the inventers at my house without needing me to bother with anything. That’s customer service! I would highly recommend them for the quality work, but more importantly their proven willingness to stand behind their work, even when the issues are with the MFG.

Earlier this year we needed to replace the 30+ year old solar system for an 18-​unit apt. building we manage due to the old tanks leaking. Greg (Owner & GM), Shane (Production Dept. Mgr.), Jay (Design Engineer) and Sarah (Lead Admin.) were just great to work with — always timely and professional. They communicated with us extensively about the design, removal and installation process, and costs.
The size of the building made this a big job (4 holding tanks, a large solar array and a a long distance for piping the water from the array to the tanks). I can’t say enough about the quality of their workmanship and the equipment and materials used. It’s truly a thing of beauty. They even took care of the entire rebate process, making the entire experience that much better. These guys are pros and I’m happy to vouch for them and their company.

We had Occidental Power install a 4+ Kw system when we did a major remodel in 2007. They worked closely with us to maximize our array and there were no installation issues. A few years later, we began to notice some issues with solar production and worked with Oxy Power to determine that the problem was with our solar inverter. Once this was determined they contacted the manufacturer and got us a replacement at no cost as it was under warranty. As I write this, our total electricity costs for 2014 is $ 3.95! We love our solar system and are glad we found Occidental Power.

Got us into solar 7 years ago with the best bid and most thorough attention to detail, including helping us get a variance with the Fire Dept. to maximize our solar array. Kept us apprised of the project at every phase. No surprise that we sailed through inspection in about 5 minutes. Then, just this week Oxy responded to my troubleshooting call — our capacity more or less suddenly dropped by half. The same professional who was the lead on the initial installation came by, immediately isolated the problem and then diagnosed it with in seconds of crawling on the roof — an in-​line cable under a panel was unplugged. (Racoons tumbling underneath the panels and getting ensnared by the cable the likely cause.) He fixed the problem, made sure other wires were tucked in properly, and rinsed the panels as well. Back to full power. Great installation, great service. If you looking to go solar, I would say look no further.

We love our solar panels and Occidental too! Occidental installed our panels 3.5 years ago and did a great job. Recently something was not work and Occidental came out and fixed it without me even calling. A great investment and great people to work with.

I had Occidental Power design and install a PV system on my Redwood City home in October 2013. This was a system purchase, not a lease.
The entire process went very well from first proposal to final inspection and commissioning of the system. I highly recommend the Occidental Power Team of Tor, Jay, Shane and Sarah.
Specific areas they did well in that deserve mentioning:
–Recommended the right size system for my needs
–Professional site evaluation
–Very good communication. Listened to my concerns as we refined the design and layout.
–Handled all permits and inspections without any issues that required me to become involved.
–Used high quality materials, very workman-​like installation, interfaced well with my roofer and electrician.
–Good follow-​up, made sure system is working correctly.

Occidental Power is competent, gracious, and a pleasure to work with. I recommend them with no reservations whatsoever. William Rankin, Tiburon, CA

Ten years ago I had a system installed by a fly-​by-​night company that was long gone a few tears later when I had a new roof put in. I hired occidental to take the panels off and reinstall them. They found some errors in the initial installation and my production went up when they were done.
My inverter from the initial system failed, so I called occidental. They put in a whole new system and I now get three times as much power as with the last one. The installation went smoothly, with one minor exception. One bolt was omitted, and the panel made noise when the wind blew. I first heard it on the Friday of a three day weekend. The manager cut his vacation short to come back and fix it. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had such great service.
If I were to complain, it is that they’re so popular that I had to wait a few weeks for them to come out and give me an estimate.

My interactions with Occidental were first class, after moving into our new house the 30yr old solar system had sprung a leak. With no idea what to do I called Occidental who came out the same day and help me figure things out and correct the leak. After that they offered me various great options of how I could renew my ancient system for a more upto date solution. I highly recommend them.

Called to get an estimate around Sept 2013. I talked to someone and it sounded promising. They would look at my roof on Google and get back to me. Didn’t hear from them for a week so I called back. The person asked me to send my PG&E bill history. I did that. More time nothing. I tried calling left messages never got a call back. They didn’t get my business. It eventually went to Solar Universe and big solar system.
I guess Occidental is to busy and didn’t want my business. Don’t know how they do with design and installation but their customer service sucks. I hope this review pushes them to be better. They have only themselves to blame.

I did some research when it came to having solar installed on our roof, and was sent to Occidental by an old neighbor who had been sent to them by several of his neighbors. They put together a very comprehensive quote which explains, given our neighborhood, how much energy we could expect to get from our panels, and also how quickly they would pay for themselves. After having the panels installed, which was done expediently and with little impact on us, they also dealt with 90% of the rebate paperwork. Since having her panels installed, they have been very accessible and helpful with questions-​via phone and e-​mail. Really, I can’t think of how our experience with Occidental could have been better.

We couldn’t be more pleased with Occidental. We had our solar panels installed about a year and a half ago, and everything was smooth from top to bottom. The installation of the panels themselves was quick, and Occidental took care of all of the paperwork and bureaucracy for permits and credits. The whole process was surprisingly easy. I didn’t think we had a very big system installed since our usable roof space is limited, but we’ve managed to generate more kilowatt hours than we consumed over the past year. I’m seriously considering getting an electric car so we can use the excess energy we’re generating and save on gas $.
Occidental is great. Wonderful, efficient, helpful customer service.

Gregory, the owner, has commented and his rebuttal is full of lies in an effort to somehow discredit my review in lieu of not being able to change my mind about removing this review.
«It has been several years since this comment has been posted and I now feel it is time to respond to Tina Crane AKA „Spicy T“. Please note that I have reached out many times to this client to resolve differences but to no avail. The statements she has posted are actually false on many fronts»
It has been almost 3 years since we did business with Occidental. 8 months ago Gregory attempted to contact me to work something out about my review. I stand by it and provide the details, good and bad, so that other consumers can be informed.
«#1. In response to note one: We drove down the price to get the business and quite frankly the client was one of the more challenging customers to come to resolution with in the over 30 years of doing solar in the city. In fact the competition on the job told me later that they were glad they did not get the job.»
Its very easy for Gregory to state this after the fact. Like any astute consumer, we shopped around to make sure we got the best price for our installation. Like buying a car, we went out and asked each vendor what their price was and why we should go with them. This is all. There was nothing unusual about this unless you are someone who goes into a $ 26,000 purchase and accepts the first price given with no questions. If you didn’t want the business just say no. You came down in price to meet the competition’s price and now you report that we were «challenging customers»? We went with Oxy for price and your touted experience over the competition. Btw, the competition was Luminalt. I hope that they read this.
«#2. This statement is clearly false. I offered to carry the rebate through the manufacter and the cost of the fee was 150 dollars. I said we would simply pass that through. She is incorrect that we were asking 500 dollars for that service.»
Yes, my original stated amount was incorrect. Gregory came back and told us it would cost «100 to 200 dollars on the financed sum. » These are the exact words in the email message so Gregory should know we have the entire history of email and communication. However, in the process of bidding for this work, Occidental touted that the price would be apples for apples and it was clearly not. The competition all offered to float the cost of the rebate. Occidental hemmed and hawed and said they would match. In the end, they asked us for this payment and we asked about the financing — the response is that they would have to pass the cost of carrying on to us. This is after panels had been delivered and work had started.
«#3. In the agreement it stated clearly that the permit was an extra cost. I actually read the contract aloud with the client at the signing.»
Yes you did and you told us the permit would cost about $ 50 at that time on the phone. In reality, the permit cost $ 111.25 and we have to wonder, how many of these have you done and you don’t know what the cost of the permit is? The real issue here is when we made the deal we were told: «I will offer to match the competitors original contract price of $ 26,604» The competitor’s quote included everything and floating of the rebate.
«4. The Clients interpretion of this is incorrect as well. The job was complete and up and running and we had not been paid anything but the initial signing of 1000 dollars. The agreement states that after we complete a task we are to be paid. When I asked for the payments after the job was done she said she would not pay for at least 30 days since we could not charge her any more during that period and even though she signed an agreement saying she would pay upon receipt she said she would not. At that point I said she left me no choice but to apply a mechanics lien since I lost faith she would pay at all. Her response was „that’s unprofessional, but if so I will pay you for your services now“.»
The truth is we received an invoice for the work that was done that clearly indicated that payment was due within 30 days of invoice. Gregory called us and demanded payment immediately. When I pointed out that the invoice states payment is not due until 30 days he told us he’d put a mechanic’s lien on our home so we were forced to pay $ 26k cash immediately.
«I recommend anyone reading this complusive Unilocaler read with caution. If you read her criticisms of other business I believe you will find them quite disturping at times, This is the kind if Unilocaler that gives Unilocal a bad name in the business world. «
I am thankful for Unilocalers like me who don’t believe that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. I have plenty of nice things to say when the business deserves it. In fact, your installation staff were very nice and professional and I stated that in my original review.

I checked out 3 providers for solar, Oxy, Luminalt and SolarCity. SolarCity seemed to be a scary big business with a «just sign on the line and all will be peachy!» sales pitch that turned me off. I wanted the system installed quickly and Oxy and Luminalt seemed most able to do that. Also, Oxy had installed self-​power systems before and is a small company, both things I want to support. So I went with Oxy.
They took about 2 – 3 weeks prep’ing and designing the system then about two more weeks for the install. So I was generating electricity just over a month from signing! The SF inspector said the work looked great and it looked well done to me as well. Also, they respected the design elements I outlined (roof access and a clean appearance on the front of the house). So I was quite happy with my experience with them and look forward to years of generating enough power for my electric vehicle (s)!

All the people from Occidental Power were great to work with – very attentive to detail, very professional in their work. Greg thoroughly explained the process to me, Paul orchestrated the project very efficiently, Francois was very helpful giving me information about the rebates, Keith was prompt and efficient in his work, the installers did a great job.. .I highly recommend the folks at Occidental!

After interviewing several solar companies in May 2008 we selected Occidental Power because they had great customer service and pricing. They quickly returned all my phone calls and patiently explained the answers to my questions in simple terms that I could understand.
They made the process easy by keeping me informed what the steps were going to be and letting me know ahead of time when they would happen. They coordinated the solar system installation with the roofing company that had just put a new roof on our house. Their excellent service made the whole process very ‘painless’ for me!
I’m thankful they have an outstanding and professional team working on the roof and in their office. Everyone there is helpful and easy to talk to. They have taken care of all the paper work for us to receive our State and City rebates. I’m very happy with their service and the solar system. I love watching my electric meter go backwards and getting an electric bill that’s a fraction of what it used to be. I highly recommend Occidental Power to install your solar power system!