Sunwave Energy

I'd like to give a BIG thanks to Sunwave Energy for fixing the solar leak just in time for the opening of summer pool parties in our backyard.

I called about four shops to fix the leak on my pool solar and ONLY Sunwave Energy agreed to come over and assess the problem. Nicolas as came out as scheduled and replaced the bad connectors and resealed the joints which ultimately fixed the leak.

This review is an update to an initial positive review I had originally posted in September 2022 when I first contracted with Sunwave for a solar install. The initial install went fine. But when my solar panels went dark in January of 2024, I called Jose Alvarez, owner of Sunwave, to assist me in getting the system back up and running. Jose informed me that the installer, Penguin, had gone out of business and that my system was not ever under warranty with Sunwave because he acts as the broker for these companies. He assured me his Technician, Jeff Spitzer, would fix my system at a modest price.

Because I trusted Jose and this company, I went forward with Sunwave technician Jeff Spitzer, and this is where my problem really began. I was charged $1,200 to do a rewire and SolarEdge converter replacement. After two months and 4 separate visits by Jeff Spitzer, my system was not fixed. Each time Jeff Spitzer came to my house, he assured me he knew what he was doing and would have my system fixed in an hour. Jose Alvarez also visited my home on one of these occasions, but he does not understand the electrical aspects of solar and was also unable to assist me.

I eventually went with a professional company here in Sacramento, Capital City Solar, which promptly troubleshooted and fixed my issue and cost me $1,350. They determined that Sunwave Technician Jeff Spitzer most likely damaged my wires when he attempted to fix the problem. He damaged the homeruns when he pulled them out, and he did not put in new wires, which is what he told me was included in his price. He put the old wires back in, heavily damaged, and left the grounding lug disconnected at the roof JBox and all the bonding lugs disconnected at all the fittings.

Due to Sunwave's lack of expertise and follow through, my home was left in a dangerous state and potentially a fire hazard when the Sunwave team disconnected the grounding wire on the roof while the system was still running. Additionally, Sunwave conducted itself unprofessionally, yelling on the phone at Solar Edge technicians when they blamed them for the problem they created, and they yelled at me over the phone when I let them know that I got a second opinion and that they were wrong about just about everything pertaining to my solar panels. Sunwave also took my original inverter and communications panel, which were all still in working condition and no doubt are worth more than what they charged me.

In summary, I made a devastating and costly choice by doing business with this company, and I literally paid the price. Don't do the same. Stay away from this company at all costs. I will be taking Sunwave to court in an effort to get my money back. -Kevin

5 stars! We had solar installed and it was an absolute pleasure working with Jose and his team! Jose was able to come out to my house and give us a quote on the same day that we reached out. Very professional and easy to work with. We are very happy to say that the whole process was quick and painless. Great quality, great service, and great pricing. I would highly highly recommend Sunwave Energy to anyone and everyone I know.

I had an extremely disappointing and frustrating experience with sunwave energy, specifically with their sales representative, Jose Alvarez.

I was initially interested in exploring solar options for my home, but my interaction with Jose left me regretting ever reaching out. First, he tried to charge me an outrageous $2,000 fee upfront, which I later found out is illegal under California law. This blatant attempt to overcharge was not only unethical but also highly concerning.

When I called to clarify the charges, Jose was unbelievably unprofessional and rude. Instead of addressing my concerns, he was dismissive and condescending, making the entire situation even more stressful. His tone was abrasive, and he seemed completely uninterested in providing any sort of customer service.

I expected much better from a company in the solar industry, especially one that advertises itself as customer-centric. Unfortunately, my experience was the exact opposite. I strongly advise others to steer clear of sunwave energy and avoid dealing with Jose Alvarez at all costs.

This experience has left a bad taste in my mouth, and I will definitely be taking my business elsewhere.

I have been looking to upgrade my solar for some time. Initially, my solar was great, but as time went on and PGE kept raising rates, my bills got progressivley higher. I had a quote for 42k to ADD to my current system a few years ago, which I wasn't going to pay. I contacted these guys when my true up was almost 9k this year! Turns out my inverter stopped working a year ago and never sent energy to the grid...Arrghh, and I had no way to monitor this as my solar was put in over 10 years ago. They could replace just my inverter or ADD more panels and replace the inverter for just under 11k! They did the job quickly, too. Very happy.

I have to said I'm very impressed of way both Jeff and Jose go out of their way for their customer.
I hired them to remove and reinstall my solar panels and there were some broken roof tile when they are up there. Instead of walk away they took care of the broken tiles and replaced it for me with no charge even they didn't break it!! That is amazing.
Jeff is so knowledgeable and super helpful and nice. He goes the extra miles to make sure everything goes well and when he saw an uncap electric wire on the side of my yard he even cap it for me with no charge.
I'll definitely will hire them again and I think I also found my go to electrician for my house for our next project !

Definitely recommend both Jose and Jeff!

Sunwave was awesome. The subcontractor they assigned my project to was horrible. I bought by residential solar system through Sunwave. Since I didn't know anything about solar systems, I did a lot of online research to figure out what size system would be appropriate for my usage. I had a pretty good idea of the size system I required prior to talking to any sellers. I purposely don't mention that I did any research and "play dumb" when I talk to the sales reps to see if they try to upsell me a system. Jose was the most honest and straightforward person I talked to. SMUD is my electric provider, and they still have pretty good rates. Jose even recommended that I don't buy a battery system because the extra cost isn't justified with my energy rates and the current NEM structure. He recommended that I purchase just enough panels to meet my daily energy demand, and his calculations based on my past year's energy usage was spot on with my research estimates. When I committed to the sale, I was told it would probably take about 4 - 6 weeks for a fully operational system. My contract was assigned to Infinity Energy...and from there, my experience was frustrating. After signing the contracts and paying initial costs, communication basically stopped. I received an occasional call from Infinity stating they were still waiting for materials. Fast forward to 2 months later, I get a call from Jose, and he basically tells me Infinity is a sinking ship, they have the solar panels, but they can't get any installers to do the work. He offers to take the contract back over, and he has the ability to get installers out to my house within a few days. He meant what he said, and the installers were extremely professional and had my system installed within a few days. It took another few weeks until SMUD installed a meter and gave the OK to connect to the grid. My solar has been online for a few months now, and I am very satisfied with my system. The size is perfect, as it covers all my daytime usage and I am barely exporting energy out to the grid (as designed).

My wife and I shopped around for solar in West Roseville. We entertained a few quotes from local solar companies. José at Sunwave was the only one that got back to us within minutes and asked all the questions we didn't even think to ask or address. After meeting with the various companies we felt we wanted to move forward with Jose and his team. He was really competitive and knew his industry well without making us feel a certain way. Install day came and the crew got here on time and everything went according to plan. They even replaced some tiles that were broken from years ago! Communication was timely and we got approved for our system from Roseville Electric in a little under 4 weeks! His team took the time to walk me through how to monitor my system and now I'm up and running and saving money! My payback shook out to 7yrs for my system and I couldn't be happier!

I recently contacted a few solar companies to find out if it made sense for us to get solar on our home. Jose came out and spent a lot of time going over the benefits of solar with us. He was clearly very knowledgeable and we appreciated his expertise. We felt he was genuine and up front about what he could offer. We called him a few times with questions and he was always quick to respond with a detailed response. It was because of this, that we decided to go with Sunwave. Our panels and battery were installed quicker than he had estimated. We are very happy with our decision to purchase solar from him. We will be contacting him for our pool solar next!

Wasn't in the market for solar at all. Spoke with Jose and his team at Sunwave Energy and we were very impressed with his vast options for solar for my home!

My solar is installed and I got my first bill from PGE at zero dollars! Feels great to have renewable energy on my roof!

Thanks again!