Additional Battery Quote - Price seems crazy
I received an email from Enphase about discounted pricing for adding an additional battery to our existing system (IQ8, 33 panels and a 10T battery in Northern VA). It said to call for information on the discounts, they in turn directed me to speak with an installer. My original installer (ADT Solar) is out of business (they were awful so honestly a good thing), so they referred me to a new company (Solar SME).
Speaking with them, I told them I'm not looking to make any changes to my electrical panel, I just want extra storage for coverage during outages and bad weather, I was originally hoping to add something smaller then the 10T, but they told me I can only add another 10T to the system.
I was looking to pay for this out of pocket, no financing and conveniently the cost he quoted me is exactly what I said the top of my limit was, $15k. They offered a $1k discount if we do pay entirely in cash.
There was a lot about the call that felt off, but the biggest red flag was that rather than show me an itemized invoice or quote to review he immediately launched into financing and leasing options. Specifically there was a hard sell for the leasing option.
I did finally get him to give me an itemized estimate via email but the pricing seems extremely high. On the Enphase website a 10T battery is $5,097, and my understanding is there isn't any additional hardware needed to add the battery to my existing system, but he is quoting $8,200 here for the battery.
I think he just asked ChatGPT to give him an itemized quote that added up to $15k. I ran it through myself and got a nearly similar answer.
I'm just looking for a gut check that this quote is insane and predatory.
- Additional Enphase battery unit (hardware + backup capability): $8,200
- Balance of Material (BOS.): $1,150
- Electrical labor & installation: $2,100
- System commissioning & reconfiguration: $850
- Permit & interconnection handling: $750
- Project management & logistics: $650
- Warranty support & service reserve: $550
- Contractor overhead & operating costs: $750
- Total Project Cost: $15,000
I've seen others here discuss going through the process in Enphase University to become a self installer, and I think I'm going to go that route now.
Update: I told them to kick rocks and called out the excessive cost increase and the BS line items and they are now claiming it was for a 10C, not the 10T which is not what they told me on the call. And as far as I can tell you can't mix those in the same system. So bullet dodged.