Future Energy Savers

Great initial experience and so far, great energy saving results! We interviewed five different companies before we installed solar and after an analysis of all factors, we decided to go with Future. Their rep, Mitch, was very knowledgeable and showed convincing evidence of the value of their product. The overall package — efficiency of the system, price, rebates, guarantees — was very satisfactory and we decided to sign a contract. The engineer came very promptly and worked out the technical details, then the installers were here exactly as promised and finished within the agreed time. They role a couple of shingles, but they came prepared and fixed everything. We were very happy with the timeliness of the project — within 3 weeks we had our solar. The permit process actually took a little bit shorter than they said, and even though the city inspector had to come twice, everything was very prompt and resolved with professionalism and timeliness. We have been producing solar energy now for about a month and it seems to be working great. I would recommend Future, and will update my review about how efficient their systems are after we have some summer temperatures exposure and let the AC and the pool pump run for a while.

First time I inquired, the person who came just stepped out of his prius and didnt even bother walking. He just yelled saying I got a big tree on my front yard and left in less than 5 minutes. Then after a few months they started calling me and when I said «We’re not interested anymore», the rep kept insisting offers. So I said «please take me off your list, if that’s okay?» and she just drops the call! Great customer service.

My wife and I have discussed solar since buying the house last year. We had many questions but the companies that were quick to give information seemed to be more concerned with signing a contract and not directly answering our questions… until one day… when a Future Energy Rep came to our door and asked if we wanted more information on solar. We made the appointment and within the week a sales representative came to the door and gave a complete pitch about Future and what they can provide. I had my past SMUD bills ready for him he showed me how I could save money and build equity in my new house and receive tax credits. He was able to answer all of our questions and hesitations about getting solar on the house. The best selling point, THEY take care of ALL of the permits and arrange the inspections and the 30 year warranty panels!
Within the week a representative came out to the house to evaluate our roof and where to place the panels. After they had the measurements and blueprints, they waited for the permits from the city. Within 2 weeks, the city approved the permits and they scheduled for the solar to be placed on the roof.
The 3 installers were prompt on their show time and were professional. 2 guys prepped the roof and one worked on all of the wiring. The 3 of them seemed to work well together and within 4 hours, the panels were installed and I was generating my own electricity! The installers did a good job at hiding conduit and wires. My only complaint is they left sawdust piles and insulation mess in the house after getting access to the attic.
Again, Future made the arrangements for the city inspector to inspect the system. They handle everything and it is very nice that I did not have to deal with a thing. It seems like there has been a seamless transition from all parties involved; the finance company, installers, inspectors and the electric company. I am very impressed. So far I am very happy with my decision to go solar and I am recommending to my friends and coworkers also look into it.

First things first: my wife and I agreed to write this review in exchange for some promotional goodies offered by Future. That said, I’m going to do my best to provide the unvarnished truth.
Last November, we were introduced to Future via a door-​to-​door salesman. Normally we turn the solar people away (often they seem a bit sketchy), but since we’d been considering going solar, this time we allowed them to send a sales rep to our home. The rep was really friendly (perhaps overly chummy, but fairly professional and likable) and showed us how much money we could save on our energy bill if we purchased a solar system. He proposed a deal where they would provide 15-​year financing for a 6kW system, expected to produce 33kWh a day. The numbers worked out such that we would pay about the same amount of money as we currently pay to PG&E, except that instead of paying money to the electric company, we’d be paying off our loan, and after 15 years, we’d be paying effectively nothing for power (his actual proposal, written on a piece of yellow paper is at
). We agreed to the deal and Future promptly sent out installers to give us shiny new panels on our roof.
For the most part, the installation went smoothly with some mild irritants, such as the piles of installation debris left scattered about the property. We did, however, run into a bit of a relationship challenge when we were asked to sign loan papers which stated in bold, «DO NOT SIGN THIS DOCUMENT UNLESS YOU ARE COMPLETELY SATISFIED WITH THE INSTALLATION». How could we be satisfied with the installation when we didn’t know how much power it was generating? From what we could observe, the system was generating 4kW at it’s peak, not 6kW like they promised. My wife and I received near-​daily calls from the manager. His position was that if we didn’t sign right away, they would be unable to send the city inspectors out to sign off on the job. To us, it felt like they wanted their money ASAP. We asked for explanations about the discrepancy between the observed output and the promised output, and they didn’t provide much in the way of specifics other than to assure us that the system was fine, and they’d keep an eye on the production, and if it wasn’t meeting expectations, they’d come out and fix it by adding additional panels. I signed the paper, but was pretty annoyed that they didn’t provide any concrete evidence that our system was up to snuff.
I decided to do my own analysis. I measured the energy production of our system on a daily basis and compared it to other similar systems in our area. Based on historical data of the comparable systems, I projected that the system would produce more power in the summer (see graph at
), so on average, the system probably would meet our expectations (details of the analyis are at
). Looking at our net energy consumption over a year from a PG&E report, it’s clear that the solar system is making a large impact (graph at
). Also, as evident from the daily charts, we’re producing more energy than we’re consuming in the day (see
). Are we producing the promised 33kWh per day? On virtually all of the days, the answer is no, but on our best day we hit that number (see
). However, as previously mention, I expect that output should go up in the summer, so for now, we have a wait-​and-​see attitude.
Another annoyance is that the sales guy told us we would benefit from «time of use» billing, where the higher-​priced overproduction of energy during peak hours (where we get paid) would disproportionately offset the lower-​priced consumption in off-​peak hours (where we pay). When we switched to the solar billing with PG&E, time-​of-​use billing was not set up for us, and Future offered no assistance to help with that transition, which appears to be non-​trivial.
Overall I think Future is a decent company, but there is definitely room for improvement on customer treatment, communication, and support. At any rate, I’m thrilled that we’re generating our own power. I’m giving them 3 stars, but am willing to bump that up if the system performs as expected and they prove that they’re as customer-​focused as they claim.

We have a posted no soliciting sign on our front door and yet their door to door salesman still rang our doorbell. When my husband answered the door and pointed to the sign, the salesman stated that he wasn’t soliciting. I work from home and these interruptions are exactly what I’m trying to avoid during the day with the sign. Completely inappropriate action on their part.

Very professional and customer friendly. The salesman, Roy was very informative and not pushy at all. We decided to purchase and within a couple days the panels were up and saving us money. The 17 panels installed are working great. Our first smud bill sealed the deal.
Thank you a bunch!

I just had the unfortunate experience of encountering a visit from their salesman who rang and knocked ferociously on my door. I had to tell the person four separate times I wasn’t interested. He rudely spoke over me when I told them I wasn’t interested and I had to raise my voice and tell him I wanted him to leave my doorstep immediately. You should be ashamed of allowing this kind of disrespectful soliciting at a persons private residence. To make matters worse I had my 16 month daughter in my arms and he still spoke over me and didn’t listen.

Future Energy Savers is a great company to handle all of your solar needs. They are the #1 one solar company in California! Our experience with them was great! They were on time, respectable, dependable, and quick! I didn’t have to miss a lot of work during the installation process. Our solar was installed appropriately and efficiently and we can already see the difference in our energy bill. They have staff available to answer any questions and everyone has been so helpful. It’s been an overall good experience & I highly recommend Future Energy Savers if you are looking for a solar company especially in the Elk Grove, Ca area.

The door to door salesman was well informed and answered some of my tougher questions. I have a metal roof and many solar companies will not touch metal roofs. I have talked with most of the main solar company sales people. The actual salesman that we made an appointment with to talk details and get quotes was also awesome. He offered multiple quotes on different size installs, and even offered different brands! Most solar companies wont discuss brands. We were also shown different payment methods, and helped to estimate monthly payments (lease, loan through them, HELOC). They weren’t too pushy on getting the loan set up through them which I ultimately did.
We also needed a new electrical panel and connection to our older existing panel and they were able to set up an electrician to get that done as well.
Install was quick. Just a few hours for the panels. But we mostly waited on the city and utility to sign off before turning the system on.

We were thinking about going solar when Dale happened to show up to ask if we were interested in solar. My wife made an appointment for the next week and he showed up on time and walked us through the process. The engineer called the next day and made an appointment to size our system. A few days later Dale called to make an appointment and walked us through what would happen next. 16 days later the work team showed up at 7:00 am and we were producing kilowatts by 11:00am. 12 Days later Matt showed up to walk us through the final sign off and give us copies of the City final inspection and answer any question about how to turn the solar power on or off. He explained the online monitoring system and how to use the monthly report to track SMUD’s monthly report. We are very happy with the whole process. It was simple and easy. Thanks Future Energy Savers.

I set up a home estimate and called to confirm 3 days prior since I did not hear from them. The day of the appointment at 10 am I was called at 9:30 to confirm but was told it will be around 10:45. No problem I told them since I will be home all day. He said he would call to confirm when the sales guy was coming. At 11:00 he called back to say the sales guy was running late and that he would be there at 12:00. I told him fine but I didn’t want to keep answering the phone since I was working on the house. He said that if he can’t make it at noon he would cancel and reschedule. Guess what didn’t hear from them, so I assumed it was canceled. The next business day I get called and the girl on the phone starts off saying that she understood the original appointment wasn’t convenient for me which I quickly corrected her stating it wasn’t convenient for them. After talking to her my bill amounts were stating which is apparently too low for them to deal with and she stated «I’m glad we got that cleared up» as I started to speak, she just hung up.
I’ve never experienced a situation where the salesman’s or appointment setter’s time in more important than the customers. Good luck if this is how we are treated.

The only reason they got one stars was because of Kathy their appointment coordinator. She called about an hour before the time to confirm that the appointment was still good and then once again to let me know their salesman was running behind. And lastly once more when he was on his way. When I read the reviews about a company I usually take it with a grain of salt and most complaints on here were because of missed appointments. So for that I would say they fixed that portion of the business. Now onto the sales pitch, Kevin was super nice and he pulled out his booklet of A+ BBB and the 25 yr guarantee mumbo jumbo and how they are the best. So naturally everything seems to be great. He goes over the size of the system I need and how much my savings will be for 6kw system. Everything was awesome right up until the $ 46,900 price tag. Naturally my jaw dropped and and he went into his salesman mode. –14k for tax credit and $ 500 smud rebate and $ 500 future energy saver rebate. Even still that’s a $ 31k over 15 yrs at 9% interest. A simple google search of price reveals a 6kw system should be 15−20k. Yet my price is 47k? Thanks for the ripoff attempt. I feel sorry for people who fall for their garbage. I would love a call back from them so I can give them a piece of my mind…

If you run into these guys, do not give your real phone number unless you absolutely know you are going to do business with them.
I decided we were not ready to go solar, and told the guy to take me off their call list. I made the mistake of giving my real number and now I get repeat follow up calls from them at all hours. It’s freaking ridiculous!!! I just got a call from them at 9:50pm. Not cool.
Future Energy Savers… you suck.

Sitting in a cool house on a 104 degree afternoon thanks to Future Energy. We had 14 panels installed in about 4.5 hours. The service techs arrived early and had the panels installed by 11AM. They answered all of our questions during the install and explained the equipment in detail. The installation is very clean and professional.
The whole adventure started with a knock on the door by a very knowledgeable and friendly guy handing out ads for solar. He answered our initial questions about the benefits of solar and provided some contact info for the company. Because he wasn’t the typical pushy salesman I decided to give them a call. Dale came to our house a few days later and reviewed our PG&E bill and mathematically detailed the savings of going solar. Numbers don’t lie and after hearing the rest of the guarantees and warranties we were sold. American made and free monitoring for military plus the tax rebate. Done deal.
It was a month and one day from the time we spoke to Dale until they were installed on the roof. We are very happy with the installation and Future Energy. I honesty can’t think of a negative thing to say as I am writing this review. Saving money while sitting in a cool house is a wonderful thing.

The service was great and friendly. They completed the job quickly. From start to finish it was done within two weeks and less than a month PG&E notified us that we are on solar. Fast and friendly service. With solar we have been saving lots of money being that we have a pool, running it and running the AC for the house with out the huge cost of it. Cant wait to see how much more we will save.

We had solar installed on our Lincoln home. We were contacted by a door to door sales person. She was very polite. Next we received a phone call from a gentleman to set up an appointment, also very nice. Dale was the consultant that we met with. He was very nice and knowledgeable. Was able to answer any of our questions. We ended up signing up that day. All of the FES staff we encountered have been wonderful! We just were notified this week by PGE we are officially on solar! Can’t wait to see our first bill! Highly recommend FES if you’re looking for a professional, punctual and a company that has been in the solar biz for quite sometime!
Doug&Lisa Cook

Although I stand by my original comments, the company has been very responsive to service calls. No complaints about the after install support.
As far as your business being word of mouth and referrals only… I’ve continually been solicited by your door-​to-​door sales blitzes in my neighborhood. Because my panels are on the backside of my house, your sales staff assumes that I do not have a system and constantly knock on my door, which has prompted me to put up a «no soliciting» sign. Not so much word of mouth, as evidenced by your Unilocal rating which is a true «word of mouth referral»

Reliability and integrity. This company has neither. I was ambushed by two of their solicitors one day while doing yard work. I’d been looking into solar for my home, but DESPISE door to door salesmen. But, I decided to give them a shot anyway (against my better judgment).
I scheduled an appointment for 5:30 on a Thursday. At 3:30 that day, a man called to confirm the appointment. He said that I would be called again closer to the appointment time. Nobody ever showed.
How much is your time worth to you? Mine’s worth $ 70 an hour. Wasting my time costs me money. And it pisses me off. How reliable can they be if they can’t make a consultation appointment? Looking at other reviews, though, I think I dodged a bullet. So, I guess I should say thanks.
Until about a half hour ago, the incompetence stopped there. That’s when I got a phone call from a young woman who wanted to talk to me about the benefits of going solar over the phone. She was pushy and talked over me (I don’t like that). When I told her that I would no longer be requiring their services, she was pushy and asked why. Like she didn’t already know.
So, I told her. That’s when she proceeded to make excuses and quasi blame me for the missed appointment. Integrity: doing the right thing for the right reasons, especially when nobody’s looking.
I’m not big on second chances, but when you’re not big enough to admit your mistake, we’re done. Don’t give this business the time of day.

I do not do business with any company that does not abide by the Federal Do Not Call Registry. They call my cell phone every week or so. I can’t imagine actually doing business with these people.

We meet with them and after a high pressure sales situation we did sign on for a 3 kw system for $ 23k. Add their financing at 9.99%. Thankfully we did not qualify for their financing. After thinking about it, I decided to pay for solar by taking a loan against my 401k. But I did my own research this time, called another company who is just down the street from them. Future Solar is way over priced. This other firm put a 4 kw system on our house for $ 14 k with American made panels. Very happy now, bigger system and $ 9k less. Call the other solar company on Grantline in Elk Grove.