Spruce Power has added batteries and EV chargers to its financing portfolio offers. Formerly known as Spruce Finance, the company already serves 80,000 homeowners with leased solar energy systems or energy efficiency upgrades.
“Spruce Power is extending our business model and product offerings to deliver comprehensive energy solutions to our large customer base,” said Christian Fong, CEO of Spruce Power. “The future of power is distributed, clean and smart. As early adopters of solar, our customer base is eager to add complementary technologies that make their homes more resilient and equipped for an electrified future.
“We are uniquely positioned to support homeowners who want to maximize their clean energy impact with home energy management systems,” said Fong. “Spruce manages a network of more than 100 maintenance and installation partners in 16 of the leading states where rooftop solar systems have been deployed. This infrastructure provides our customers with local support services ranging from performance analysis to solar maintenance, and battery sizing to back-up power installation.”
The expansion of Spruce’s business model aligns with the needs of the changing residential renewable energy market. Spruce pivoted from loan origination to asset ownership and created a servicing arm Energy Service Experts (ESE) for asset management and maintenance in 2017 after restructuring and receiving an investment from HPS Investment Partners. This announcement follows a series of large portfolio acquisitions and capital raisings, with Spruce most recently acquiring two portfolios totaling more than 10,000 solar PV systems.
News item from Spruce
Nina Heugas says
Unfortunately I have also inherited the solar panels on my home just this past June. I wish I could rip them off. What I had to go through just to get my, not even ex-husband’s name off the bill, just to add my first name. This company, by far, is one of the worst companies I have ever had to deal with. They try to extort money from costumers by telling them they have to pay the bill before the due date. I have spoken to this company on several occasions because the paper bill stopped coming to my home, even before it was transferred to my name. I don’t understand how this happened, but the problem is the company has the zip code converted between 2 numbers and even though I have called about this to have it corrected, I still have not had a bill sent to my home. They still have the zip code wrong. The other issue is when it was in my husbands name (and I was paying the bill anyway) the bill was always due on the 15th of every month. The account number and home address is still the same, I was told by at least 5 spruce employees because the account number and address is the same the bill should be due on the same date, the 15th. Come to find out it is now due on the first. Not that it’s a big deal, but I don’t get the bill at home. Also, this company offers to pay the bill online, which is what I did every month. Now, if you want to pay on line, they charge a fee for that. All by bills are payed on line and not one charges a fee for this. Even people I know are not charged a fee to pay a bill online. There billing department also charges a fee if you make a payment by phone. Now I am being told by Spruce employees that my credit will be affected and my billing plan could change with them because I owe them money. So I will continue to send out a check with the account number on it with no attached statement for every 15th of the month. I will be reporting them to the BBB.
Don M says
Terrible, terrible outfit. Impossible to reach. Billing errors are not corrected. Avoid at all costs (I had no choice but to inherit the lease on the panels in a house I bought). Sure wish I’d been able to find another way. And getting service? Nah. No way.
Ray Plumhoff says
They took over my Sungevity lease. It expired in March 2021 and I informed them a month beforehand that I was exercising the lease option that required them to remove the system and restore the roof to its original condition within 90 days of lease expiration. They refuse to give me a time when that will happen, despite numerous calls and emails. It has been over six months since the lease expired and still nothing. As far as I can tell they are not registered with the California Secretary of State to do business in California; thus no way to serve them with a lawsuit…
Elizabeth says
I feel very validated reading this BS glowing story and then seeing how many customers are having the same horrible experience as I. I am billed for late charges for bills I never received, it takes weeks to try to reach someone at customer service. Last week I got a bill for a payment I allegedly missed plus a late fee, I immediately emailed the so-called billing department with an attached image of the paid bill which was cashed BEFORE the due date. No response other than the automated one. Today I stayed on hold for one hour to get… wait for it… their answering service. I don’t know what to do, or how to contact the BBB or sue them. Can we folks here start a class action???
Maritza Matos says
This is cute. Spruce/Energy Service Experts should consider addressing their issues with current customers before trying to branch out to other projects! No communication whatsoever from this company….hold times exceed more than 2 hours…email replies are automated….I did get a call once from a rep asking me about my late payment FOR A BILL I NEVER GOT!
I could only imagine how we are getting ripped off by this company!
Extremely unprofessional and continues to blame everything on Covid. Get it together!
Karen Norton says
I have tried to contact Spruce …I was on hold for 1 1/2 hours each time…I asked to speak to a supervisor, and I was told that I would have call back and ask for a supervisor….really?? This is a nightmare..I called NRG and they just say that you have to call Spruce…who can you call to get some help? Is there a government agency that oversees these companies ?
Jennie says
I’ve been on hold for over 3 hours. Then got a recording that claimed I contacted them outside of their business hours. Not true.
Richard Longenberger says
I received my first bill 3/4/21 for two months with a charge of 257.66 my last notice from nrg was the next bill would be from my new company and I am being charged 41.52 extra .why am I being penalized for not getting a bill.
Nate says
Look them up on BBB. Spruce power is a scam, they offer no real customer service and if you ever need to contact them, you will be on hold for hours. I have never gotten an answer for billing service in the hours and hours I have waited on the phone. If your solar lease company sells your contract to Spruce, I suggest you take swift legal action both against Spruce and the company that sold your information to such a predatory company.