We interviewed a Freedom Solar Power customer in Colorado Springs to learn how his install went, what incentives he used, and whether installing solar in Colorado was worth the money.
In Colorado Springs, Jonathan Levitt, 32, is a competitive runner who’s run the Boston Marathon and Bolder Boulder, a 10K race closer to home, and host of For The Long Run, a podcast about the hows and whys of long-distance running, where he interviews runners from the author of the bestseller Born to Run to the daughter of Beyonce. Despite his initial doubts about the cost of solar power, after thoroughly doing his homework he ran to Freedom Solar Power, and has been delighted with his choice ever since.
For his three-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot split-level home, where he lives with his girlfriend and dog, a beagle/Labrador/coonhound mix, he chose to buy a 7kW system with 17 solar panels for about $27,000, which was installed a year ago. Since the Federal solar tax credit was increased to 30% from 26% in August 2022 for people who own their solar power systems, “I got $7,000 right off the bat,” says Levitt, who chose a lump sum payment over a financing option. Two things drove his decision beyond his research: advice from Mom and Dad, and an employee of Freedom Solar, a fellow runner, who he connected with.
His parents, who live in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and adopted solar power back in 2016, said their panels from SunPower were the highest-quality and degraded the least over time, and advised him to look for a dealer who offered them. (Freedom Solar Power is the biggest SunPower Master Dealer in the country, as well as LeafScore’s top-ranked solar provider in Colorado, praised for its 25-year warranty and in-house installation crews.)
The savings have added up
Levitt also likes the SunPower app that tracks his solar power usage and how much money he’s saving in real time. His old electricity bill averaged $130/month, and he’s saved $550 since his solar installation in March 2022. In that time, he’s produced 6,800 kW of energy, consumed 5,700 kW and sent back 1,100 kW to the grid. It’s really sunny in Colorado, and getting warmer with more drought, requiring lots of air conditioning, he notes “I had one week last August when I ran the A/C 24/7, as it was 100-104 degrees,” he recalls. “Most of the summer I use the A/C 12-18 hours a day.”
But then he’s an app guy: his day job is senior sales executive at InsideTracker, an app that gives data-driven action plans on living healthier and longer based on biomarkers in your blood and DNA.
Shopping around for solar companies was important
His journey to solar began when he walked into Home Depot and met a rep from Sunrun, a solar provider, in the smart home section. “Three days later he’s in my living room,” says Levitt, who then talked to more solar providers and ultimately got price quotes from four. Freedom Solar was in the middle price-wise, but “I was impressed by everyone I talked to there, and one guy was a fellow trail runner, so we connected. I like dealing with good people who are happy in their jobs, and trail runners are interested in protecting the environment.”
The learning process “dispelled my preconceptions that solar was super-expensive and took forever to pay off,” he says. It was smooth sailing from signup to installation – he took time to upgrade his electrical work first, to install a sauna in his backyard and upgrade the box on his house.
Solar as one aspect of a green lifestyle
Going solar isn’t the only “green” thing Levitt does. “I bike commute to work often, and compost,” though it’s not mandated by law in Colorado Springs. The former doubting Thomas has also become a bit of a solar evangelist – he’s convinced other people to go solar, getting a $500 referral bonus each time from Freedom Solar. “I’ve gotten seven people so far.” But then, he’s a sales guy.