1BOG and SunRun Sweeten the Deal for Home Solar Electricity

1BOG partners with SunRun and REC Solar, mixing steep community discounts, accessible financing and quality installation services designed to make solar go mainstream

SAN FRANCISCO, April 1 /PRNewswire/ — One Block Off the Grid (1BOG), California’s largest consumer advocacy and group purchasing program for residential solar, is taking the first step towards national expansion with the launch of its popular community program in Los Angeles. 1BOG, which aggregates and represents the interests of solar consumers, launched its first community program in San Francisco, subsequently expanding to the entire Bay Area. Riding on the success of its past programs, 1BOG has partnered with residential solar service leader SunRun to provide additional benefits to its members, designed to cause a national tipping point for residential solar. 1BOG also announced REC Solar as the installer for its Los Angeles program.

“Getting great pricing is only part of the picture for our members. We realized over the course of our past programs that good pricing by itself isn’t enough to trigger something like a 10x increase in solar purchases. People like a great price per watt, but they want to be able to get solar with as little money down as possible and they also want to know they are going with a trusted installer who installs high quality products. Solving these needs is our responsibility as advocates of our members and we believe that our new partnership with SunRun is going to be exactly what our members want,” said Steve Newcomb, CEO of Virgance, which runs the 1BOG program.

“We are excited to work with 1BOG to bring cleaner and more affordable solar electricity to Los Angeles and its surrounding areas. Most homeowners are not aware that solar is one of the best kept investment secrets. A typical solar electric system can yield up to 16 percent return compared to the stock market return which is dropping every day,” said Angiolo Laviziano, CEO of REC Solar.

1BOG’s partnership with SunRun creates a breakthrough in its effort to provide affordable solar electricity to homeowners. SunRun is the largest seller of residential financing solutions and solar electricity to homeowners. The partnership enables 1BOG’s members to get REC Solar installations for as little as $1,000 down, where previously consumers have had to pay more that $15,000 to get the same systems – even after state rebates.

1BOG participants who choose SunRun won’t have to pay to purchase or maintain solar equipment. Instead, they’ll pay SunRun a low, fixed rate for solar electricity that includes the 1BOG group discount. These homeowners will get immediate savings and receive lifetime maintenance, monitoring, insurance and a performance guarantee fully included at no extra charge. SunRun provides additional access to 1BOG programs for any homeowner who can’t or does not want to pay to purchase equipment.

“In this unprecedented economic time, it’s never been a better time for a partnership to make solar easy and affordable to homeowners. If just 10 percent of Californians went solar, we would collectively save about $70 billion over 18 years, and create about 180,000 jobs in the solar industry. Our partnership with 1BOG will help us get the message out to homeowners that not only are they helping our economy and the earth by going solar, but they are also making one of the safest and most predictable investments available today,” said Lynn Jurich, president and co-founder of SunRun.

“1BOG makes the whole process painless and simple. They explained everything to us before it happened, followed through during the process, and were always available when we had questions. I was extremely pleased with the whole process. We saved quite a bit of time and money using 1BOG to purchase our system,” said Mike Friedman, 1BOG member.

Beyond its partnership with SunRun, 1BOG also announced a new partnership with REC Solar, a leading national installer. REC won 1BOG’s rigorous RFP process to choose a partner in the region and did so by offering an unprecedented level of service and price reductions for 1BOG’s members. “One of 1BOG’s greatest responsibilities is to look out for our members’ interests by choosing a high quality installer. Most people don’t yet know who’s who in the industry and one of most important services we provide is using our expertise to choose quality installers with the highest level of customer service, and we are proud to have chosen REC as our partner in Los Angeles” said Newcomb.

About 1BOG.org

1BOG, a division of Virgance, is a community-based initiative – the largest in the country – focused on driving widespread adoption of renewable energy and sustainable solutions through education, community building and group purchasing programs. San Francisco-based 1BOG was founded in June 2008 and quickly demonstrated the power of community purchasing for solar energy in San Francisco. For more information please visit http://www.1BOG.org.

About Virgance

Virgance is a for-profit company that takes new activism ideas and uses the power of online social networks to scale each idea into a large-scale, citizen-powered global campaign to improve the world. Founded in May 2008, Virgance is releasing a series of products that focus on using online social networks to create positive social change. By acquiring 1BOG, Virgance adds an externally-created campaign to its portfolio for the first time.

About SunRun

SunRun is a home solar company that provides a smart, affordable alternative to purchasing a solar system outright or renting solar equipment. SunRun purchases custom-designed home solar systems for its customers, who pay a low fixed rate for the solar electricity produced by their system. All SunRun customers receive money-back annual performance guarantees in addition to professional-grade monitoring, maintenance, repairs, and insurance, which removes the complexity and risk from going solar. SunRun’s goal is to provide every home direct access to clean, affordable electricity. SunRun currently serves communities in California. Additional information about SunRun is available at www.sunrunhome.com

About REC

REC Solar, Inc. specializes in grid-tied solar electric design and installation, offering affordable solar solutions for all residential and commercial customers. With a local presence in all major solar markets in the USA and millions of watts installed, REC Solar is committed to lowering the cost of solar power through efficient processes, innovative products, and outstanding customer service. In 2007 REC Solar installed more solar electric systems in the US than any other company. REC Solar is among the nation’s largest solar integrators and currently has over a dozen offices throughout 6 states (AZ, CA, CO, HI, OR and NJ). REC Solar is continuing its rapid expansion into other states and has the capability to implement solar installations in every location as incentives become available.

SOURCE SunRun