Earthskyenergy.co.za

I purchased Solar backup system consisting of a 5kva invertor, 5,1kw battery and 6 x 650w solar panels from this company and regret it. I paid for everything including installation upfront, and was promised installation on next Friday. The Installers were supposed to be at my house at 10am but never arrived. I made repeated phone calls, only to be told every time that they are on their way. They got to my place after 5pm and stated they will have come back on the Saturday because of time (they just left the equipment). On Saturday they arrived at 1pm (they had said they would be there between 10-11am), and again couldn't complete the install. They finally completed the install on Monday at 5pm. Initially everything seemed fine, but the next day I realized that the solar system was pushing electricity to the grid, causing my municipal meter to run. I was therefore being billed for the electricity that was being the pushed to the grid. I took videos of the inverter screen, showing 0% power being pulled from the grid, yet the meter was moving ridiculously fast. I immediately called EarthSky to ask for help as I had already been charged for 11kwh power I did not use. He told me someone would call me back. No one did. I called back the next day and verbally vented my frustration. In frustration I cursed once, not at the person, but out of frustration. I was told he isn't going to speak to me and put the phone down on me. Fortunately, I managed to call another solar installer who was kind enough to talk me through the settings on the inverter free of charge. Earthsky had left the setting to "Sell Solar" on, hence the solar pushing to the grid and the unnecessary electricity charges.

I would not recommend this company. Terrible communication, not punctual and I believe they are not so familiar with the equipment they install. Another gripe I have is that they sold me bi-facial panels that are installed with the rear flat on the roof, rendering the rear of the panels useless. When I asked about this they told me the rear of the panels generates electricity from the heat generated by the tiles, which from my subsequent research, I don't believe is possible. I would not recommend this company unless you want to make repeated phone calls and receive zero responses. You would also have a very flexible schedule because they don't show up when they committed to, leading to a 1-day installation taking 3 days with substantial misconfiguration.