SunStrong
High electric bill on top of your SunStrong payment
Updated November 1, 2026.
You pay SunStrong every month, and the electric bill is still high. Those are two bills from two companies under two different sets of terms, so the first question is why the electric bill is high. Here is what usually sits behind it, which company answers for which part, and the date to watch.
Why the electric bill can stay high
- The system may be making less than it should. Whatever the panels don't make, the house buys from the utility. A system that is down or underproducing can show up on the electric bill before anyone tells you.
- Your agreement doesn't depend on the utility bill. On a PPA you typically pay for the power the system produces. On a lease, the agreement sets what you pay. Either way, the utility still bills you for what the system doesn't cover.
- The utility's own terms may have changed. Rates, and how the utility credits what your system sends to the grid, are the utility's and your state regulators' to set. SunStrong doesn't control them.
- The house may use more than the system was sized for. A system is sized to a usage number at the time of the sale. If the house uses more now, the utility covers the difference.
Who answers for what
- SunStrong, as your servicer on a lease or a PPA, is who to ask in writing: whether the system is working, and what your agreement says is owed when it isn't.
- The utility answers for its rates and how it credits your system. A letter to SunStrong won't change those.
- Your agreement decides whether a shortfall counts for anything. Some include a production guarantee or a yearly true-up, and some don't. Some company-level guarantees didn't transfer to SunStrong, so whether one still applies to you is worth getting in writing.
The date that matters
In a public reply to a Better Business Bureau complaint, SunStrong wrote that eligibility for credits is decided through “the annual system evaluation, conducted on the anniversary of your systems activation” (September 10, 2025). So the date to watch is your system's anniversary: the day it went into service. Some agreements also give you a limited time after the guarantee year to raise a claim. Your agreement sets your date.
The free production check shows what a system your size should make at your address. If that is well above what yours made, that gap is the number that belongs on the record.
The letter that gets a written answer. I write it for you from your own agreement, bills and production record: a dated letter to SunStrong that puts the facts on the record, quotes your agreement and asks for a written answer by a date. It goes to SunStrong about the system and your agreement, not to the utility about its bill.
$99, one time. Ready in 3 business days. You read and approve it, then send it yourself. No written answer in 30 days? One follow-up letter is free.
Have it written for you, $99 or email jon@solarstillworks.com
More: SunStrong system not working, billed while the system is down, the outage credit, all SunStrong answers.
“After the letter was sent, it was mere days that they got back to me with a much more positive email looking into all our issues causing the total system to be down.”
Tami B., SunStrong customer
What happened next: after her letter, SunStrong answered in writing within days, saying it would put billing and collections on hold, cancel auto-pay and set up a deferment while it looks into the system. SunStrong then confirmed in writing that it recognized the hail storm as a Force Majeure Event and applied a three-month payment deferment. See page 1 of her letter.
What this page isn't
It isn't legal advice, and it doesn't tell you whether to pay either bill. Agreements and state rules differ, and your own agreement wins over anything general here. I prepare documents at your direction; you review, sign and send them yourself.