What would you do with an extra $5,000?

The Sungevity customer who won our February sweepstakes faced that happy question last Friday when he received the congratulatory call. His answer? Though briefly tempted to add to his collection of old fast cars (he already has one), Mike M. of San Leandro, California plans to contribute the winnings to his retirement fund. A smart choice – what else would you expect from a solar homeowner?

For the month of February, our customers received a sweepstakes entry for each friend they referred to Sungevity.* Up for grabs was a cool $5,000 cash to go towards fulfilling a dream of the winner’s choosing. Mike, a customer of four years, chose the perfect time to make his first referral. He posted a response to a question about solar on his neighborhood website and, after sharing his experience and referral code, the rest is history.

A big congratulations to Mike and thank you to all of our participating customers! To learn more about how you can join the Sunshine Network of Sungevity customers, or to learn how you may benefit from spreading solar even if you can’t go solar yourself, check out www.sungevity.com.

Here’s to spreading the solar love!

*Official sweepstakes rules

Finding The Sunny Side Of Winter

Susan and Gregg J., Sungevity solar homeowners from Milford, Massachusetts, snapped this photo after another snowstorm hit the northeast this record-breaking winter. They explained that their solar panels have reliably shed any accumulated snow within one day after the snow stopped falling – without any effort on their end – allowing them to take this beautiful shot. “And, since it has been so cold, our solar production has been fabulous, despite the winter weather!” they added.

Do you have your own snowy solar photos you’d like to share? Send them to us at content@sungevity.com.

Live from the Rooftop! A California homeowner tells his solar story.

Solar homeowners: they’re just like you. Tom L. is from San Diego, CA with a background in science and engineering, and he worked for a defense contractor for most of his career. He keeps informed of technical developments, travels a lot, and enjoys spending time with his family and grandkids. His solar system was recently interconnected to the grid.

Q. Why did you start looking into solar?

I started thinking about going solar when our rates increased and more increases were expected. We were typically in Tier 4 so electricity was getting rather expensive. A friend had installed solar and was very happy with the results. About a year ago, I obtained three bids which were similar in design but a range of prices. None of them had a satisfactory payback time. Recently, a family member recommended Sungevity, so I applied on their website.

Q. What were your first impressions of solar?

I’m a retired engineer so I recognized that Sungevity had a better system design for our house, a better price than the others, and a shorter payback time. Over 20 years, we will save a lot of money.

Q. How did your friends and neighbors react to you going solar?

A friend who was also a Tier 4 user was interested in our system and purchased a solar system from Sungevity soon after we did.

Q. What’s the coolest thing about going solar?

It was cool when we turned on the solar system and watched the meter run backwards. I can monitor the system performance on Sungevity’s web site and track my hourly net energy use on SDG&E’s website.

Q. Do you have any advice for people thinking about solar?

Solar doesn’t work for everyone. A family member also applied but due to the roof design Sungevity said they couldn’t install enough solar panels to help much. An alternate design was possible but Sungevity showed their integrity in that they would not install such a design, as the risk of severe wind load was unacceptable. I recommend Sungevity and solar to anyone who is tired of high electric bills and is concerned about them going even higher.

A Sunny Act of Kindness

Here’s a story to warm your heart. John’s retired neighbor Mary needed help keeping her electric bills under control, so he helped her go solar. Read the story in his own words. Thanks for Generating Positive, John!

Solar installers arrived at Mary’s house a few days ago

“Our neighbor Mary lives in a small house bordering our produce field. She’s retired, and lives modestly on a fixed income. Like many of us, she’s watched as utility costs have gone up year by year. A few years ago, we replaced her drafty single-pane windows. Last summer, we blew in insulation to make her attic and walls more weather-tight. And in the last few months we’ve insulated her basement ceiling to warm up her floors in winter.

All these efforts have had amazing results. Her daily electric usage has fallen a long way – by 20 percent in the last year alone. And her heating oil usage has come down by about one-third. But despite all these efforts at efficiency, electric costs just keep going up. Over the past decade, average electric charges in this country went up about 4% per year. With almost all its customers affected by back-to-back hurricanes Irene and Sandy, our local New Jersey utility – JCP&L – has repeatedly been granted rate hikes. Mary now pays 18.4 cents for every kilowatt-hour she uses.

But all that’s about to change. Just a few days ago, a work crew from Sungevity, a solar power developer, arrived to install solar panels on Mary’s south-facing roof. The system will provide 94 percent of Mary’s electric needs. She’ll be left with a monthly electric bill of about $4.00. So she can relax about ongoing spikes in utility rates…”

Read the rest on John’s blog, Beloved Planet: http://belovedplanet.com/2014/04/12/clean-solar-electricity-for-your-home/