Blindsided by PG&E with true up bill $7K when Solar company failed to inform us system failed!

Generally, the GT solar bills from PG&E do list how much energy you use (and excess generated to) from the grid. Granted, the ~3 pages of billing information is not in a very friendly format (especially for their older customers).

What has happened/what would I have recommended--It is not of any use to you now (to others reading--If you are older/plan on leaving the home in 7 years or less, get some help to look at the pros and cons before buying a grid tied solar power system--They do work, but gt systems require monitoring, possibly maintenance, and a good rate plan to "save/make" money/economic sense).

Your mother's issue was the GT solar is totally transparent to the end user... If the system is working or not, the lights and appliances work the same (just fine). The only way to know if the system has failed, is to check the monitoring system and electrical bill every month.

For you--About the only thing you may have going for you is the monitoring system and if the contract with the installer talks about monitoring/maintaining the system. Possibly, if you can find a public advocate/lawyer to review the contract and sales methods--But since she has already died, this may be a difficult task to get going (short of you hiring a lawyer).

Assuming that the contract did not include "professional monitoring" (i.e., your mother had to monitor the system functions), it sounds like it would be difficult to get a lawyer and a positive legal result (for you).

The 2nd best outcome may be for you to negotiate with PG&E (if you are over ~50-60 years old yourself, perhaps you can get some free legal help with PG&E). Possibly arranging for a 1 year repayment plan or similar (just guessing, I am not a lawyer). PG&E will need the bill paid unless you can convince them about the confusion for a little old lady in poor health even having a solar power system in the first place.

So, going off grid--Will probably not remove the debt with PG&E by itself. And off grid power is usually more expensive than Utility power. More or less, utility power is ~$0.20 to $0.30 per kWH (California)--Off grid solar power (solar=>charge controller=>battery bank=>AC inverter) typically runs around $1.00 to $2.00+ per kWH.... It can be less (you have to work hard and know what you are doing) or it could be more (it is not hard to "murder" the expensive battery bank by over discharging/under charging/etc.).

In general, if you use less than ~100 kWH per month, you MAY save money going off grid solar (fixed costs for rural lines to isolated home, etc.). If you use >500 kWH per month--that is a large off grid solar power system and will exceed the $7,000 PG&E power bill (by a lot).

At this point, the power bill sounds high ($580 per month for electricity?). Getting a handle on the home's loads, and looking at conservation would be a first step.

Also, looking at getting the existing GT system repaired can help too in reducing the power bill... Do you know what "failed"?

-Bill