Sutro Power reviews

Nicholas D. hired Sutro Power to design and install a 7.74 kW array — 18 panels — on the flat roof of his San Francisco home nearly two years ago. He watched the whole project move from contract to finished roof in just over three months, counting the time the plans sat in the city planning queue. JP and Juliano laid out the design, scope, schedule and price in plain terms, which made decision-making straightforward. The installation crew worked while he lived in the house and proved competent and respectful — easy to have in the garage and up on the roof. Midway through, he needed to finish other roof work, so Sutro agreed to pause and postpone two panels for almost six months; when he was ready they returned and attached the final two panels without delay or fuss. The experience didn’t stop at installation: Sutro invited customers to a year-end beach party in mid-December, where the food was abundant and the atmosphere felt genuinely friendly — a memorable way to see the team outside of the worksite. The detail that sticks most is their flexibility to pause and come back months later to finish cleanly.

Steve owns a four-unit, San Francisco apartment building and turned to Sutro for both system design and guidance on whether to tie multiple meters together. He found Sutro's local permitting knowledge invaluable and appreciated that JP walked him through the pros and cons of multi-meter setups while staying responsive through their back-and-forth on design questions. Installation hit one snag when a technician mixed up cable genders, but the wiring was sorted out shortly after the system was activated and didn’t cause prolonged downtime. A year after activation the array delivered roughly 10% more energy than Sutro’s quoted/guaranteed estimate, even with one panel having been temporarily disconnected. The one practical gripe he discovered: crews should try to do the hottest, “active” roof work earlier in the day so shingles don’t take unnecessary wear — something he blames on the realities of crew scheduling in San Francisco rather than the company. His clearest takeaway for other landlords: multiunit solar is often a poor fit here because PG&E imposes a flat charge per solar-connected meter, which can make solar uneconomical for tenants with low usage; he therefore opted to solar-

Aleck L. was in the middle of building a house on 27th Ave & Lawton in San Francisco’s Sunset neighborhood and wanted the solar array integrated into the construction rather than tacked on afterward. Most large installers balked at that timeline, insisting they only work on finished homes, so he ran into a real coordination problem — he didn’t want future finger-pointing between builders and solar crews if a leak or other issue cropped up. JP and his crew stepped into that gap: they listened, stayed responsive, and treated the install as part of the broader build, not an afterthought. Together they worked through design tradeoffs, kept Aleck involved in decision-making, and landed on a layout he was happy with — a collaborative process he found enjoyable. The system has been in place for nearly two years with no issues, and he’s still pleased with the performance. One memorable, very local touch: JP hosts an annual crab feed for customers, which Aleck appreciated as a sign that the company cares about the neighborhood as much as the hardware.