New to solar

Intplm.

A friend a couple of months ago purchased a house with solar panels on the roof.

They had mentioned a tech stopped by unannounced weeks ago and mentioned that there was a fitting that didn't pass inspection, but said it should have passed.

I took a look at the solar panel meter and noticed that the solar meter was missing from the meter socket and the slots had "Bypasses?" installed. They had mentioned that their electric bill was high, around three hundred dollars.

What should they do to get this corrected. I haven't had solar and am not sure how to advise them. How would this work between the solar company and the electrical supplier. Should the solar company be responsible for this higher cost? They are worried that they might get caught between the electrical supplier and the solar company.

Jamie Hall

That is going to be a nice can of worms.

The first step is going to be finding out who owns the solar panels. Just because they are attached to the roof doesn't mean the party who owns the roof owns the panels. They may be owned by a solar company — which may or may not still exist — and the company may — or may not — be paying the property to lease the roof.

Then you need to find out who gets the revenue from the panels. The homeowner, as a credit on the electric bill? The solar company? Someone else who bought the power from the solar company?

If there truly are bypasses on the meter for solar production, then you need to find out who put them there and why. Then you need to find out whether the installation is net metered or separately metered for usage and production.

You will also need to go over the agreement between the local utility and whoever benefits from the solar panels — as I say, not necessarily the homeowner.

You also need to at least take a look at the State public utilities regulations regarding who gets connected who gets paid, and how much. That varies by State and, in some States (e.g. California) may change with time; the changes may or may not already installed panels.

I might add that all of this should have been straightened out by the title search and by the new owner's real estate agent…

Have fun…

hot_rod

It seems very odd that a tech would stop by unannounced? Why would they do that? Maybe this is a leased system?

I would contact a local or close by solar PV company to come by for an assessment. Most should have a licensed electrician on staff or on contract to assure code compliance.

The building department should have a file with permit information. I doubt a electricity utility would allow connection without a permitted, inspected installation.

I'm not sure what they meant by "fitting"? certainly something that could be corrected.

Perhaps this was an attempt at a diy, under the radar, installation.

Intplm.

@Jamie Hall This installation is in yours and my original home state of Ct., Middletown. What would be the best next move for them from there?Im pretty sure they own the panels but I will verify that.

@hot_rod I used the word "fitting" because I could not remember what exactly was described. It sounded much more descriptive than" fitting" for sure.

Larry Weingarten

Hi, I'd check first with the title company that issued title insurance. See what they have. If nothing, the system is probably owned by the new owners. Then I'd do a public records request for anything at all related to the house. that should give them permit records etc., which will help in knowing who installed it and what actions may have led to the system being bypassed. In my neck of the woods, directly asking the building department can lead to enforcement actions, and red tags, so I try to know the facts first. I'd want to know who installed it and have a talk with them.

Yours, Larry

Jamie Hall

Well that helps — a little,, @Intplm. First, there must be a meter on the output from the solar panels, and there must be a rapid disconnect/rapid shutdown mechanism (often part of the solar panel meter base). There must also be a separate circuit breaker rated the same as the main house breaker between the main house breaker and the solar connection. All this must be outside the structure, easily accessible to both the utility and the fire department and clearly labelled (there are code requirements for the labelling).

Nest, you still need to find out who owns the panels. It may be the homeowner, but in CT it is equally likely that the solar company (there are several, of varying quality…) owns the panels and the arrangement is to pay a lease to the homeowner for the lease of their roof. That you need to find out. A title search should have found it — but should have informed the homeowner.

Next, if the panels are owned by the homeowner there should be a document specifying what the utility (probably Eversource) will pay to the homeowner. This may be a 100% net metering agreement, but some older ones are not. If the panels are leasing the space, this agreement may be between the solar company and Eversource, not the homeowner.

The existence of a bypass in place of metering concerns me, as it may indicate that this whole installation was not approved by Eversource, in which case it is most likely that it will have to be disconnected and the various agreements worked out retroactively, which is likely to be very messy.