Al - Rustico PEI

What were your initial thoughts of Sunly?

I had originally saw it on Facebook about people going to solar, so I just made a call to Sunly just to inquire about it, and one of the reps showed up, made an appointment, and came out and discussed it with me. So it was great. 

Why did you choose Sunly?

I got quotes from different companies, and all companies were really good in what they were doing. Sunly came out, and I really liked the presentation that they gave because they gave a couple of different options. They gave different size options, what you're offset, what you wanted to have, and where you wanted to go with it. So it was nice. Like they gave the most option, and it was really easy to understand their presentation. 

What was it like before solar vs now?

Before we had solar, we were on, well, Maritime Electric utility, as well as an oil-fired furnace. I was just looking at it that the costs were going up every year. I actually keep track of everything that we use for utilities. Back in 2020, I could see what we had spent on oil and electricity, and we were looking at about, probably, just a little under $4,000 for both per year. Now, in 2024, we didn't spend anything on oil because we made the transition to everything’s pretty much electric. I still have the oil furnace here. In 2024, we were just a little over $4,000, and that was including the price of the panels as well, the panel payment.

What made Sunly stand out?

I think what made them stand out, again, I got quotes from other companies as well. It's just that Sunly it was a little bit more. They gave the options, like the size of the systems. We have a 12. 6 system. They gave options of a 10. They gave options of a 14 kilowatt system. It was just all the options were there. Other companies, they came out and they quoted pretty much what I was using before, and they had the information there, but I just found Sunly gave a lot of information, and it was a lot of good information. A lot of questions were covered just in the presentation. 

How was your experience through the purchase and installation?

It was pretty easy. I mean, Sunly, they did all the applications for the grants. I did the federal grant application on my own, which was fine. But Sunly, they helped with the provincial grants, the work permits.I didn't have to worry about any of that stuff. Everything was just looked after. All my electrical needs were evaluated, and they just came back and said, This is what you need, this is what you don't need. And I really like that. They didn't try to oversell me. I didn't feel. 

How was the installation process/ clean-up?

The installation happened in January of 2023, the fiscal installation of the panels. I felt bad for the guys that were doing it because it was cold, but they were great to deal with. I went out and I just watched them and just got interested in what they were doing, and they were great to talk to, and they explained everything they were doing. The installation happened in January, and it was over a little bit of a time frame. The go-live went in April. But yeah, everything was great. There was really no mess. It was fine that way. 

What was your estimate offset vs current offset %?

I think my estimate offset was about I'm going to say it was about 110 %. Currently, I'm at about 90 because after I put in the solar system, I decided that I would take out my... I shouldn't say take out, but I would put in a hot water heater, electric hot water heater. Then I also put in electric rads in the basement as well. And then we heat the rest of the house with heat pumps, whereas before we were using the furnace for our hot water, domestic hot water. I knew it was going to … 110 was going to give me some extra to be able to do that movement of the other utility stuff. I would figure now we're still sitting at about 90% offset, especially with the price of electricity going the way it is. It's gone up 20% in the last five years. Like I mentioned a while ago, I keep a spreadsheet of every utility that we have. And whenever you take offsetting the oil costs that we don't have anymore and a little bit of added expense on the electrical side, yeah, my overall costs are down. And then if I looked at the future, whenever my panels are paid out, then there's more savings again. 

Would you recommend solar to others?

Definitely. I keep on telling anybody that I know if you're a young person that's just building a house, I would definitely put silver on it. Or if you're a person that's buying a new place or whatever, if you're getting into a situation where you have a mortgage and you can either factor that into your mortgage right from day one and eliminate a lot of your electrical costs, it's just, to me, it's a no-brainer.I would mention it to my kids if they were doing it. 

Why should other homeowners go solar?

Well, everybody's got their opinions on solar, but I feel that you have a flat rate. You have a baseline cost. So it's a little easier for budgeting with my wife and I, with the age that we're at now. And then you're getting towards retirement, hopefully someday, that you like to have as many bills looked after and know we have some fixed costs. 

Would you use Sunly again?

Definitely, yeah. They were great to deal with. Anytime I had questions about whether it was my meters, how to read my meters, how to adjust the panels or anything like that, all I've done is just send an email off, and within very short time, you get a response back. So yeah, they've been great. 

Could you sum your Sunly experience into one word?

One word? I would say perfect.

THINKING ABOUT GOING SOLAR YOURSELF?

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