PowerHome Customers Share Their Stories

What’s it like to have solar panels installed on your home? For many PowerHome customers, saving money is the main motivation to install solar panels at their home. For others, environmental concerns are at the top of their list. Our satisfied customers share why they chose PowerHome, what the installation process was like, and how adding solar power has changed their lives.

Bellaire, Ohio

Trio Case Study

Bellaire, Ohio, is known for a few bridges that have made their way into movies, but it’s now famous for having Eric Trio and his wife Andrea added to the ranks of PowerHome customers. All the homes nestled along either side of the Ohio River’s banks are part of what makes this city cool, but where you’ll find the Trio home is atop a bluff on the river’s west side. On the way to the top, a picturesque view of the valley can be seen through the trees.

But what really makes the Trios distinctive is that they decided to add 4 panels to their existing array of 8, now giving them a dozen on their home. Put simply, the Trios liked what they saw production-wise since the system was first energized late in 2018 and aimed to maximize it even more to offset their two biggest things that draw power – their air conditioner and pool pump. An evaluation of their first calendar year with solar shows that the system has produced at 101.5 percent of what was proposed, highlighting the quality of our projections throughout the changing seasons.

The Trios are also rather unique in the fact that when they initially added solar panels to their home, they used the 30 percent federal solar tax credit to pay off bills that needed more immediate attention. They appreciated that flexibility, which is something all PowerHome customers have the option of doing.

Brownsburg, Indiana

Haverly Case Study

For many PowerHome customers, the biggest driver in adding solar panels at their home is the opportunity to reduce their electric bills. For others, the opportunity to do something good for the environment is too good to pass up. Count Brownsburg, Indiana, resident Jeff Haverly in the latter category.

Haverly, a retired engineer, says he had no perception of what he was using in terms of the Earth’s resources until recently. With grid electricity primarily generated by burning fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, those resources emit thousands of tons of carbon dioxide into the air annually and add up to a massive carbon footprint for all. Haverly sees solar panels as a way of reducing that.

“Over time, my carbon footprint has probably been selfishly high,” Haverly says. “It’s time to do what I can to make up for that.”

So Haverly has an urgency to make up for that lost time, and that determination has manifested itself in several ways. Both he and wife Cindy drive Toyota Priuses, with each hybrid vehicle averaging about 50 miles per gallon. Shortly after he had solar installed in July 2019, he held two open houses to give those in his subdivision the chance to check out his solar panels, and he even attended an environmental conference.

Supply, North Carolina

Ruff Case Study

In September 2018, Ruff, his wife Jennifer and daughter Maddi rode out Hurricane Florence in their Supply, N.C., home, which is located about 30 miles southwest of Wilmington, N.C., one of the areas hit hardest by the storm and its flooding, and about a dozen miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. The storm brought the area winds of 100 miles per hour and rainfall totaling 30 inches, flooding much of the Ruffs’ backyard.

Still, as a veteran of riding out hurricanes dating back to Hurricane Diana in 1984, Matt wasn’t terribly worried about his own safety or that of his family because he knew his home was built like “a tank” and that his home sits on some of the highest ground in Brunswick County. But he was plenty worried about whether the 26 solar panels he had installed on a ground-mounted array by PowerHome would hold up, especially when earlier forecasts called for Florence to be a Category 4 storm.

As an electrician who has installed plenty of utility scale solar, he has seen what high winds, particularly tornadoes, can do to panels. Yet as he documented to friends and relatives on Facebook Live how he was holding up throughout the storm, he continually saw that his panels were always in their rightful place. You’ll see those panels in the photos above.

“These panels, they didn’t wiggle, they didn’t move through the storm. I can’t commend the installation enough. The guys that did it, did a great job.” Ruff said.

Wolverine Lake, Michigan

Rosenthal Case Study

He and his wife Wendi are both entrepreneurs, with Dana working as an architect and his wife running her own business that sells goods online and also from her own storefront. Given they work for themselves, it’s unsurprising to see they saw value in claiming some energy independence with solar panels.

But Dana didn’t realize his place in PowerHome history until we told him during a visit to his home.

“I didn’t realize I was Patient No. 1,” says Mr. Rosenthal, whose project was installed in late June 2017.

Dana has some experience being No. 1 or doing something before others. He guided three Michigan midget hockey teams to state championships in the mid-to-late 1990s, and he even started Virginia Tech’s hockey program as a student. As for his architectural practice, he calls himself a “one-man wrecking crew” because he rarely hands off any parts of his projects. He was even the first in his neighborhood to go solar, and he sold one of his neighbors on working with PowerHome after that family saw the value for themselves.

Mr. Rosenthal himself was sold on solar during his in-home consultation with PowerHome’s current vice president of sales, Brandon Goodnight. Rosenthal saw how the math works and how he would end up benefitting. With Michigan having among the highest rates of power in the nation, going solar is a way to significantly reduce that electric bill.

“I got a good feeling,” Dana says. “We got a good vibe from him, good information, we had good dialogue for a good couple of hours at my kitchen table. It seemed like it would be a good fit.”