U.S. First. Combined Solar Electric and Solar Water Heating Lease for New and Existing Homes
FREMONT, California & WASHINGTON, Jul 03, 2012 Solar Thermal Magazine.
Today, WGL Holdings, Inc. announced an agreement to provide project capital to EchoFirst Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiary, WGSW, Inc., for the financing and nationwide deployment of up to $50 million of its revolutionary, whole home energy solutions. The arrangement will provide the nation’s first combined solar electric and solar water-heating lease for new and existing homes.
first combined solar electric and solar water-heating lease for new and existing homes.
“We are pleased to launch the newest Echo solar system and the nation’s first combined solar electric and solar thermal lease for the residential market,” said Terry McCallister, Chairman and CEO of WGL Holdings, Inc.
This unique lease structure allows homeowners to save more on their utility bills with no required upfront costs. Echo’s experience, combined with this exciting product, will allow more customers across the United States to enjoy the many significant benefits of using clean and efficient energy solutions.
EchoFirst Inc., based in Fremont, Calif., has developed an integrated solar energy system that combines basic solar electricity with solar water heating, resulting in the production of more energy while using fewer solar panels. This product represents a major leap forward in the evolution of solar energy technology. The Echo solar system captures almost three times the energy of a basic solar system. Homeowners will save on both electricity and water heating bills, therefore, saving more than they would with a basic solar electric system. This breakthrough technology will be available for both new and existing homes.
“We are very excited to partner with WGL Holdings to offer our customers a groundbreaking new product and a complete financing solution,” said Vikas Desai, CEO of EchoFirst Inc.
The Echo solar system delivers so much more than basic solar — electricity to power your home, thermal energy to heat your water — and the Echo CompleteLease translates both of these into savings for the homeowner. We value WGL Holdings’ long-term commitment to the distributed generation market and look forward to a long partnership to make complete energy solutions available to homeowners across the United States.
With previously announced arrangements with American Solar Direct and Skyline Innovations, as well as the offerings of its subsidiary Washington Gas Energy Systems, WGL Holdings offers both solar photovoltaic and solar thermal solutions to both residential and commercial customers.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., WGL Holdings, Inc. has four operating segments: (i) the regulated utility segment, which primarily consists of Washington Gas Light Company, a natural gas utility that serves over one million customers throughout metropolitan Washington, D.C., and the surrounding region; (ii) the retail energy-marketing segment which consists of Washington Gas Energy Services, Inc., a third-party marketer that competitively sells natural gas and electricity; (iii) the commercial energy systems segment, which consists of Washington Gas Energy Systems, Inc., a provider of energy efficiency solutions to government and commercial clients and (iv) the wholesale energy solutions segment, which consists of Capitol Energy Ventures Corp., a non-utility asset optimization business.
Additional information about WGL Holdings, Inc. is available on its website, wglholdings.com. Go to washingtongas.com for more information about Washington Gas Light Company.
EchoFirst Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets the Echo solar system. Echo supplements conventional solar electric PV panels with a unique solar thermal technology that captures the heat from the PV panels. Echo generates not only electricity, but also thermal energy for water heating. EchoFirst headquarters are in Fremont, Calif. For more information, please visit www.echofirst.com .
SOURCE: WGL Holdings, Inc.
Short URL: http://www.solarthermalmagazine.com/?p=19879
Posted by Gordon Smith
on Jul 3 2012. Filed under Press Releases, Residential Solar, Residential Solar, Solar How Water, Solar Thermal.
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We purchased an EchoFirst solar/hot water system in late September 2012 and it was installed in November of 2012. However, the salesperson neglected to advise us they did not have an agreement with SRP (local utility provider) so they could not commission the system until that agreement was worked out. The system was finally put into service on March 8, 2013. The system itself is working perfectly. Our complaint is how the service is marketed. We were told the system would produce electric power for 30 days before we would begin our first lease payment. In late March 2013 we got a notice that our first lease payment was due on April 1st. When I questioned the EchoFirst billing department, they advised the lease terms required the first lease payment be due on the 1st of the month following system start up. Since our start up didn't occur until 3/8/2013 I argued our first least payment should start on 4/8/2013 based on what the salesperson told us when we bought the system. Because a local EchoFirst representative had forged our signatures on documents in order to expedite the process with SRP, EchoFirst agreed to start our first lease payment on 4/1/2013 in lieu of any court action on our part. My recommendation to anyone buying this system is to get anything the salesperson tells you in writing and to check with your local utility to see if EchoFirst has agreements in place before you purchase the system. Again, the system itself is wonderful!