SunRun Home: Affordable Home Solar Power

Think home solar is still a pipe dream? Not so, say the folks at SunRun Solar Financing, a solar financing company that installs whole systems for as low as $0 down. Companies like SunRun not only make solar affordable, but literally spin the meters backwards for homeowners across the country.

Intrigued? We sat down with SunRun director Grayson Morris to talk solar, pricing, affordability and more. Take a look.

What exactly is SunRun and what are your typical prices for solar systems?

SunRun is a clean alternative to the utility. Historically, homeowners have not had the choice of who they buy their power from. They are stuck in a relationship with a utility that can raise rates at any time and that burns fossil fuels to get energy. SunRun finally gives homeowners a choice. For around $1,000, we will put a solar system on your home and then you simply pay for the clean solar electricity that the system produces. SunRun allows homeowners to benefit from clean solar energy for a low installation fee.

How many homeowners have you guys helped go solar?

So far we’ve helped almost 5,000 people go solar! We should blow by that number this summer, though.

What’s your favorite part about this job?

My favorite part is the stories we hear from customers about why they want to go solar and how easy SunRun has made it for them. Frequently, we get calls from people who couldn’t save enough to buy a system outright ($30,000+) and they’re super happy when they discover that SunRun can help them go solar for about the cost of a couple of airplane tickets. When they get the system installed and they’re standing in their yard watching the meter spin backwards, they’ll give us a call and laugh. That’s the fun part.

What’s your role in the process?

My role is to guide my team that talks to homeowners across the country about SunRun. Each day, we get calls, e-mails and inquiries from the five states we currently operate in. The folks under me have an individual conversation with every single one of them. We ask them why they are looking into solar, we view their home on-line to make sure their roof can accommodate a solar system, and we provide ballpark figures around the economics of going solar with SunRun. It’s important that we’re talking intelligently about SunRun and that we share a consistent message with homeowners across the country.

How did SunRun get started and where do you see the company headed?

SunRun was started by two classmates from the business school at Stanford. They saw that there were a bunch of companies doing this in the commercial sector (solar on Wal-Mart, Costco, Whole Foods, etc.) but no one was helping homeowners go solar. That was 2007. Their first office was in the attic of the co-founder’s home (I worked there that summer). Now we have 60+ people and we’re outgrowing our office space in San Francisco.

It has been a fun journey but we’re just getting started. There’s no reason 1 in 10 homes shouldn’t have a solar system on their rooftop.  A few years from now, you’ll be able to stand in the street of any neighborhood in California and I bet you’ll spot 5 solar systems and several will be SunRun systems. This is the way people will buy the bulk of their electricity going forward. It just makes a lot of sense.

Posted on July 9th in Solar Contractors by Brittany.