If you’re exploring solar energy for your home, the first step is to schedule a consultation with a solar expert. But what happens during these meetings and how can you prepare in order to ensure you’re getting good information, and not just a sales pitch?
In this blog post, we explain what to expect during your solar consultation, including the steps involved, questions to ask your potential solar partner, and how to get the most out of your solar consultation.
A solar consultation is usually the first step in exploring whether solar energy is a good fit for your home or property. It involves meeting with solar experts to learn how solar works, what kind of system might suit your energy needs, what kind of financial relief and other benefits you could expect, and the potential investment involved.
During a typical solar consultation, the solar professional will review your recent utility bills to understand how much energy you use annually, including how your consumption patterns change throughout the day and various seasons.
A reliable solar partner should also conduct a complete roof and property inspection to evaluate electrical and structural integrity, roof orientation, shading, and available space. It’s critical that inspections be done on-site, rather than virtually. These walk-throughs help determine whether your site is suitable for solar or needs updates—like roof repairs or electrical panel expansion —as well as informing proper system size, design, and final project cost.
In most cases, your solar consultant will also explain available solar incentives, rebates, and tax credits, as well as how solar works with your local utility rate plans. By the end of your solar consultation, you should have a clear understanding of your options and a rough estimate of costs, system size, and solar ROI. You should also use this opportunity to get to know the solar company, evaluate their expertise, and decide whether they’re the right company for you.
At Sun Valley Solar Solutions, our Solar Integrators are always free with no obligation to move forward. Our goal is to educate and provide you with the best options to meet your savings goals so you can make an informed decision.
If you’re considering solar and have a consultation booked, here’s how you can prepare.
Solar consultants typically want to review 12 months of energy usage to understand your consumption patterns across seasons and times of day. While a couple of bills can work in a pinch, downloading a full year’s worth of data is ideal. To make it easy, we’ve created step-by-step guides for accessing your usage history from both APS and SRP.
SRP Usage Download Instructions
APS Usage Download Instructions
If you're new to the home or your utility isn’t listed, don’t worry. Our Solar Integrators can help retrieve available data—or estimate usage based on the following:
While not as precise as actual bills, these estimates provide a solid foundation for sizing your system and generating cost projections.
Solar energy systems are a long-term investment that will stay with you for decades, so it’s worth thinking ahead when planning your system. This can help you forecast any potential changes in your home’s energy needs.
Some things to consider: are you planning to buy an electric vehicle, install a hot tub or swimming pool, or build an extension? If so, it’s a good idea to let your solar installer know during the consultation so they can recommend a system that meets both your current and future energy needs.
Other considerations here might be solar energy storage or EV chargers. Solar batteries store excess solar energy generated by your panels so you can still use clean energy during periods of no sunlight (e.g. nighttime or cloudy days).
An informed solar consultant will understand how local utility rate plans may change—and how those changes could affect your system’s performance and long-term ROI. That’s why working with a local installer is so important. Local providers stay up to date on utility policies, have firsthand experience with regional conditions, and maintain relationships that help streamline permitting and planning. National installers often lack this local insight, which can lead to missed opportunities or costly oversights.
Learn more about solar batteries here: Should I Get Battery Storage for My Solar Energy System?
Most homes will install solar panels on the roor. A reliable solar consultant will ask about your roof’s age, material, and whether you’ve had any issues like leaks or repairs. An on-site inspection is typically conducted as well. Solar systems are designed to last 30+ years, so ideally you’d want your roof to last just as long or even longer.
At Sun Valley Solar Solutions, we take quality roofing seriously and conduct expert roof assessments before every solar installation. We’ve partnered with local experts Azul Roofing to ensure your roof is properly inspected and in the right condition to support and protect your solar investment for years to come.
Learn More: Why Quality Roofing Matters for Solar Panels Installation
If you’re gathering quotes from multiple solar companies, make sure you give each company the same information to get a consistent estimate. This includes sharing the same energy use information, potential home additions or changes in energy consumption, and anything else. By doing so, you’ll know the quotes you receive are based on the exact same data so you can make the most informed decision.
Prioritize companies that perform in-person inspections over those that sell virtually.
There’s no substitute for seeing the project site firsthand when it comes to locking in an accurate price and ROI. Virtual evaluations often miss key details, increasing the likelihood of costly change orders during installation due to unforeseen variables.
Solar consultations usually involve:
Below, we look at each step of the solar consultation process in more detail so you know what to expect.
Depending on the solar company, this can be in-person, over the phone, or a virtual solar consultation. The first conversation is all about understanding what’s involved in a solar installation and whether it’s suitable for your property. This is your chance to ask any questions, get to know your installer, and review your current energy usage, estimated savings, and eligibility for incentives and rebates.
In Arizona, you might be eligible for residential solar incentives like:
Depending on your utility, you might also be eligible for a solar net billing program. You can read about Arizona’s net billing programs (particularly for APS, SRP, and TEP) in our blog post: Net Billing And The Case for Arizona’s Solar Market.
Navigating all this stuff can be confusing, and a reputable solar partner will take the time to sit down with you and help you understand your options and the costs and benefits involved. At Sun Valley Solar Solutions, we can evaluate your eligibility for various incentives and rebates and help you get clear on how your utility manages solar installations.
After your first conversation, a solar professional will visit your property to evaluate its suitability for solar. This includes checking the roof’s orientation, pitch, condition, and any shading caused by trees or nearby structures.
The goal of this visit is to find the best place to install your solar panels to maximize energy production and efficiency so you get the most out of your investment. At this stage, a roof assessment will also be conducted to make sure your roof is strong enough to support the weight of solar panels for their lifespan.
After the site assessment, your solar provider will build a proposal based on your energy usage (gathered from past bills), roof layout, and available incentives. This proposal should be clear and transparent, outlining:
At Sun Valley Solar Solutions, our proposals are laid out clearly so you know exactly what you’re paying for. One of our team members will walk you through each aspect to make sure you understand what’s involved and are comfortable moving forward with the installation.
Next, you can review the system design and decide whether it’s the right fit for your needs and budget. Some things to consider in this step include:
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Solar consultations are a great opportunity to really get clear on the benefits of solar, installation process, potential costs and payback period, as well as the expertise and reputation of the solar company you’re considering working with. Don’t be afraid to ask your solar consultant any number of questions you need to make a well-informed decision.
Below are some questions to ask solar installers during the consultation:
Not all solar companies are the same. To help you choose a trusted and reputable solar installer, here are 10 Things to Check Before Hiring Solar System Installers.
Below are some tips to get the best value out of your solar consultation:
Ready to explore solar power? Click here to book a free, no-obligation solar consultation with one of our Solar Integrators at Sun Valley Solar Solutions.