Verified Project
Tick Tock Energy, Inc installed 30 solar panels on my roof in the Spring of 2019. At the time, I didn't know a lot about solar panels or how they should be installed. I did a lot of Internet searches and found an article that ranked Tick Tock Energy as the highest rated installer in the area. I met in person with Jason, a sales consultant for Tick Tock and he explained the number of panels I would need in order to achieve the savings I was wanting. He also explained how the Federal energy rebate I qualified for would work, as well as financing options. Perhaps the biggest selling point for installing Solar was the Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) that are part of Illinois's solar incentive program. Between the Federal Rebates, SREC compensation and low interest solar loan getting solar panels installed seemed like a no brainer. My 3,800 sq foot house is all electric, with two heat pumps, two water heaters, a pool, a commercial grade keggerator and other electrical appliances.
I saw instant savings once the system was energized, and those savings have honestly, only gotten better as I better utilize or learn how to conserve power. Having the Sense Energy monitor they also installed helps see what things are pulling the most energy and when. Using that information, I was able to unplug appliances that weren't needing to be always on or use them during the day time when my panels are producing the most energy, verses drawing (and getting charged for) energy I was pulling from the grid.
It's been interesting to see the various outfits out there installing solar panels on houses. Lately, it seems like there is a new company that I've never seen or heard of installing solar onto houses. A lot of times, they do the installations very quickly which at first glance sounds good, but you can tell they rushed to complete the job. One house in the neighborhood had a crew on the roof at around 8 p.m. installing the homeowners' solar panels with head lamps. Driving by in the daytime, you could see that they just slapped the panels on so they could move on to the next job because it looked sloppy. They didn't take the time to run the metal conduit through the homes attic for example. So, rather than the panels blending in with the roof, you see glaringly bright silver conduit run all over the roof and down the side of the house. There is a house in the neighborhood that has three or three silver conduits coming from the roof panels, down the front of the house (by the front door), then the conduit wraps halfway around the base of the house in parallel rows to the meter. How it should have been done was have the conduit hidden in the attic and then have one conduit extend from the roof directly to the meter. A majority of the installs I've seen locally have the conduit sitting on the shingles, verses run through the attic and to the meter.
I didn't know squat about solar when I contacted the Tick Tock team, and I have to tell you that I feel very, very fortunate (knowing what I know now) that Tick Tock was the company that installed our panels. Everything was professionally done...from the placement of the panels to the running all of the conduit inside the attic and down to the meter. Had I hired someone else, seeing what I see in the neighborhood and elsewhere as I drive around, I too would have likely had a system that from the road or from the ground would look thrown together and unsightly.
Thankfully, my system almost 6 years later still looks great and that's because the panels blend into the roof and all the mechanicals are hidden where they can be. That's what you get when the job is professionally done. I highly recommend Tick Tock Energy, Inc. In fact, a friend of mine saw my system soon after install and signed up to have panels put up on his roof. He's just as satisfied as I am.