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Solar Installation, Maintenance, Repair, & Inspections

Solar Installations
Done Right

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Keeping Your Solar
Investment Working

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May 2023

In this issue:

*Welcome to our first newsletter to keep you in the know on your solar!

*Fed up with utility bills even though you’ve invested in solar?

*Introducing Raven’s Earth!!

*Do you have our Maintenance plan?

*Watch out for those pests that want free rent on your roof!

Welcome To Our Newsletter!

Hello Homeowner! We have a lot of good stuff to share with you!

The purpose of our newsletter is to provide specialized information to our customers and homeowners who have invested in a solar panel system to combat utility costs by sourcing from the beautiful Colorado sunshine! We have been in business for over 5 years and we want to share what we’ve learned to build awareness for you about issues and concerns that may be preventing you from fully enjoying the benefits of solar. We also offer many services to keep you producing at maximum efficiency.

If you have solar, you need Raven! Raven comes through for you!

**Fed Up With Utility Bills Even Though You’ve Invested in Solar?**

You’ve put in a solid amount of money into installing a solar panel system on your roof to take advantage of the 300+ days of Colorado sunshine! You deserve to see the fullest return on your investment in your solar system!

First of all, we recommend checking your bills regularly. We also suggest not using auto pay in case your solar stops working for 6 months and you don’t realize it and you burn right through your credits. Always at least peek at your bill and demand transparency from your utility company. Make sure your utility company is not making money from your power and robbing you of what is yours!

We have done a little investigating and found that some homeowners are producing more power than they are being compensated for on their utility bill. What we have discovered is that Xcel, in particular, is moving everyone to TIME OF USE.  Beware that if you get a smart meter, you will be charged these rates and this new structure.  Time Of Use essentially means charging people more when they are home from 2-9 p.m. (they say it’s peak use), but people are using power all the time.

So, we need to ask ourselves the following questions:

*Why is there such a “power crisis” when most power is now diversified from oil and gas to many other sources… Including solar?

*Why does Xcel have record profits if power is coming from these other sources?  *Why are all the utility rates increasing even though Xcel is not doing anything different?

The difference is they now have a lot more pots of diversifying their power… Meaning YOUR solar system is producing for them! And they are profiting, not you!

https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/as-energy-bills-continue-to-climb-in-the-denver-area-xcel-energy-reports-1-74-billion-in-profit-for-2022
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“While energy bills continue to climb for customers in the Denver area, Xcel Energy reported a net income, or profit, of $1.74 billion for the 2022 calendar year, an 8.7% increase over the previous year.”

One more questionable observation to note is that Xcel has a monopoly over the utility companies in the metro area.  That being said, you should know that they are wanting you to get solar so they can turn profits off YOUR production.  Currently, Xcel gives homeowners a bad deal.  The deal is simply that the homeowner makes .02 cents or less and Xcel resells the power at a higher rate of .07 cents.  So, they make .05 cents+ off an investment that they did not put money into. If you put money into this investment, then why aren’t you making the full return on that?!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya8DXxWdOJE
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https://www.xcelenergy.com/staticfiles/xe-responsive/Working%20With%20Us/Renewable%20Developers/Solar-Bank-Election-Form.pdf

Xcel should be capped and regulated!  If they claim they spent their record profits on new research and put their money back into the grid with technological investments … That sounds great and dandy … but they should make their invoices public, so we have proof of that! In this day and age where power is essential, they should not be making record profits and still wanting to raise your rates.  It doesn’t make sense.

Also, what is interesting is that the bills that Xcel sends to the homeowner with solar are hard to decipher and when Xcel is asked about this, they dodge the questions and say something to the effect of “Meters go forward and backward depending on the production”, but they never show or disclose what or how much the net meters went backward. They just say, “When it goes backward, the homeowner gets credit for the extra…” but how does this show on the bill? It doesn’t!

You deserve to know EXACTLY how much money you are saving and if the power you are producing is being sold.  We want you to be aware of your bill and make sure to check that you are being compensated for your investment.

So how is this affecting you and what can you do?:

We want your utility company to be accountable to us and the government, so here is the contact information for your local legislation:

CONTACT GOVERNOR POLIS:

Constituent Services Help Line: (303) 866-2885

Governor’s Office, Front Desk: (303) 866-2471

State Capitol Building

200 E. Colfax Ave., Rm. 136

Denver, CO 80203

Email the Governor: Governorpolis@state.co.us

CONTACT THE LT. GOVERNOR:

Lt. Governor Office Phone: (303) 866-4075

CONTACT MAYOR HANCOCK:

Mayor Michael B. Hancock. 1437 Bannock Street, Suite 300. Denver, CO 80202. (720) 865-9090. mayorsoffice@denvergov.org

CONTACT DENVER CITY COUNCIL:

Denver City Council

Telephone720-337-2000.

Email dencc@denvergov.org

**And there’s always Facebook and Twitter**

So, contact your mayor, your governor, the city council, etc. Bring up these concerns. Be a voice!

We are encouraging every homeowner we service or deal with to get involved by demanding transparency, making complaints, asking questions, etc.  Change can only happen when there is a lot of clamoring from the people. Is that you? Do you want to be compensated for the power you produce accurately? The link below is just one of many resources…Start here:

https://puc.colorado.gov/how-to-participate

**Introducing Raven’s Earth!!**

What do you do when you clean bird waste off of roofs all week?? Well, we’ve decided to turn it into nutrient rich compost to enrich planting soil! Why waste the waste?! We have an excellent composter and we have formulated a compost that will soon be available for sale. Let us know if you’re interested in purchasing these bags to help flourish your spring and summer garden! Coming in 2024!!

**Do You Know About Our Maintenance Plans??**

We do annual and semi-annual panel washings and inspections…our inspections include checking the inverters, inspecting any critter guards and wires and such, and making sure your system is reporting to the online monitoring portal. Here are the maintenance plans we offer:

Solar panel Inspection Cleaning/ maintenance plan options:

Semi-annual plan: solar panel washing and inspection of solar system

$250 for up to 25 panels with any additional panels at $20 each

Annual plan:

solar panel washing and inspection of solar system

$380 for up to 25 panels with any additional panels at $20 each

2-year plan:

solar panel washing and inspection of solar system

$380 for up to 25 panels with any additional panels at $20 each

Inspectable items:

1. Solar inverters

2. Solar panels

3. Roof mounting hardware

4. Is the solar system functioning at peak performance?

5. Is a firmware upgrade needed?

6. Panel Burns and cracking conditions

**Watch Out For Those Pests That Want Free Rent On Your Roof!**

So, you’ve installed a solar panel system on your roof to soak up the Colorado sun to supplement your utility bill, right?! … WELL, the squirrels and birds think you’ve opened a new community housing project for them, and their friends and they can’t wait to move in!  And boy can they wreak havoc on it in no time at all… Often causing much damage and expensive repairs to your system.

It’s time to evict them!

We offer bird cleanings, humane nest removal, waste cleanup, and panel washings to take care of the mess. We also strongly suggest getting ahead of the damage by installing a critter guard to prevent such intrusions in the future!

if you would like any services please fill out this form and we will contact you shortly.