Alba Energy of Katy - Katy, Texas

Karlien S.

I ran into Sheldon (who works for ALBA) at HEB, where I nicked a pamphlet to get his details, since he was answering other customers’ questions. Called him and he came by and talked us through all our concerns. Alba solar did everything for us!! Filing with HOA, Centerpoint, paperwork, all applications - and set up everything in a day. The guys who did the setup were so wonderful, helpful and engaging. We really enjoyed their company!! Everything was done so quickly, and they made sure that it looked aesthetically pleasing! Sara at Alba made sure that we had regular updates, and further eased any concerns we had.
Since installation, Alba has followed up with us on multiple occasions to make sure that we were ok. They also have access to our solar panel production, so that if anything goes wonky, the system alerts them so that it can be repaired. Sheldon has popped in months later to make sure we were satisfied with everything, and that everything was moving along smoothly. The service provided by this company has been outstanding, and I highly recommend them!!
As far as having solar goes: we got it installed end October, our bill has been in the negative values (~ -$50/month average). On cloudy days it does still produce energy, something I didn’t know!! Rainy days -not so much, but sunny days more than make up for it! The real test will be summer- we are excited to see what happens then!! Our electric bill was in the $400 in summer, which is why we made this decision. We are on a payment plan, so it is an investment, but mathematically (assuming summer bills stay the same or go higher) we pay less on electric and solar payments combined than the couple of high electric bills in summer 😊

Cheyenne Q.

Working with Alba Energy was such a fun experience. From the moment they knocked on our door to installation time was a great experience. Sheldon has been awesome to work with along with everyone else who helped out. I love dealing with companies that make you feel like you, as a consumer are important. We are still getting emails and text messages and home visits from Sheldon just checking in and making sure everything is going good with our system. Since going Solar with Alba Energy, we have saved money! Our normal bill with another company was around $126 and since switching it is now $46!! Thank you Alba Energy and Sheldon for helping us along the way with our switch.

Jose R. R.

I'm comfortable with the process so far. Everything was professional. Solar is the way to go! Don't take my word for it, you will have to see it for yourself. We have had the solar panels for about 11 months and it is paying us back. It's a good plan your home. Sheldon was very helpful, I had question about my electric company and called Sheldon 9pm and to my surprise he showed up the same night to answer my questions. During Harvey I had issue with my solar system connect to the internet, for me to be able to see how much energy the system is producing. I call Alba Energy and they came out immediately to fix the Internet connection. Thanks Alba and Sheldon for helping me going solar and saving money. My current summer energy is negative $43.

Schuyler R.

Sheldon came to my house for a proposal this past week. At first the visit was a normal run of the mil sales pitch, nothing overly wrong with it. But once it came time to discuss payment and costs, Sheldon quickly wanted to ignore the fact that their financing charges are absurd and didn’t like when I started to become less interested in their finance options and wanted to pursue my own financing. I was told all the downsides of doing so ( no warranty unless using their finance company. Big red flag.) and I politely started ending the visit by saying I would go to my credit union and discuss a home improvement loan with them and come back to Alba after I had obtained my own financing.

Sheldon didn’t like this at all. He suggested I sign with him immediately and pursue financing at a later date because I was “throwing my money away paying an electric company”. I attempted to end the visit yet again by letting him know I wasn’t going to be signing anything today and would review the numbers and come back if everything was up to par. Sheldon became even more aggravated and told me 90% of his customers never return and that they all say they are different but that he sees this all the time and didn’t want me to make a huge mistake. Finally done with the “I won’t take no for an answer” sales pitch I told Sheldon “95% of made up statistics are false and I would evaluate the numbers on my own”.

Sheldon became angry, yes ANGRY and crossed his arms at my kitchen table with my 2 year old son and wife and told me I was calling him a liar and that he was trying to help me but I obviously didn’t want to be helped. I told Sheldon it was time for him to leave and that we were done here. He got up from my table and as he was gathering his belongings, Jenny, his assistant sales person asked my wife if she would like the quote emailed to to her and before anyone could respond Sheldon answered for her and told Jenny “no, they aren’t going solar. We are wasting our time”. I immediately told Sheldon to leave my house and not to return. He did so with a smug attitude and no remorse for his childish actions.

After this experience with Sheldon, I will still be pursuing solar energy, but not from this company. I will not purchase 25 thousand dollar system from a man who throws a tantrum next to my 2 year old son when someone won’t blindly sign a contract with him on the spot.

I would like to point out to anyone reading this review, part of Alba Energy’s contract is no money up front in exchange for a review of their services on social media. They literally pay for positive reviews. Be cautious and review numbers on your own and never sign a contract before reading it throughly and understanding the conditions and terms. While the financing percentage of 6% looks low on paper it is compounded interest, our system was going to cost 22k cash and we were going to pay 17k in interest alone on top of the 22k. Sheldon didn’t want to discuss this part and insisted that I should sign with him now and try to obtain my own financing at a later time. This company is also not up front about the way the tax credit works. Yes you receive a 30% tax credit for going solar... NO it is not a check for 30% from the government. If your 30% equates to 10k and your taxable liability for the year is 5k you will receive a 5k tax refund for the next 2 years.

Be a smart consumer, shop around, and never trust a company that won’t leave your house before you sign a contract they haven’t offered you to read through thoroughly.

UPDATE: We are now being harassed by Jenny, the original sales girl who came to the door and arrived with Sheldon to take down or edit this review. She has come to our door, unannounced at 7pm and now called.Last we spoke on the phone we told her we would not be editing the review and that we would be updating it that the company is harassing us for the change. To note the CEO contacted us over this review and requested no changes or for it to be taken down.

Abass A.

About 2 years ago, Sheldon Wilkins came knocking on my door. He was then with another company. I had been looking at the possibility of having solar in my house prior to that. Even though I was not yet ready to make that jump at the time Sheldon came, I was intrigued about his professionalism and his knowledge of his stuff besides my prior research gave me a basis to judge if it was just the usual salesman's pitch. I gave him my word I would call him when I was ready. About a year and a half later, I gave Sheldon a call and to get things going. He was now with Alba Energy and had brought his energy and professionalism as well. Once I got my contract signed, Amanda Adair helped me throughout navigating the rest of the process and worked impressively with the HOA to secure approval to install the Solar Panels. I had my solar panels installed in January 2018 and from that time till now, I have not paid any phone bill. Instead, I have credit with the electricity company. Also, going solar has eliminated the Center Point Energy charges you normally see on your electricity bill. Alba Energy has made a difference in my life!

Meagan M.

Jenni showed up to our door and we expressed interest. From there, the process was really fast and relatively painless. Sheldon and Jenni set up and appointment with us so we could discuss the details and they could answer any questions we had. They have both been very pleasant and helpful throughout this experience.

If anything was unclear due to us not knowing what to ask at the time of our initial chat, Jenni was able to answer all of our questions very promptly, even after the install was complete. Speaking of the install, that was incredibly fast and smooth going. We have so far had no issues with the solar panels or Alba Energy's services. The longest portion we waited was for Centerpoint to inspect the panels and sign the interconnect agreement before we were able to power on, but that still was not too bad.

Two things that were a little unclear were a) how the credits work towards the next month's bill and b) what exactly the energy efficiency package is and when we expected to get it. These are pretty small issues in the grand scheme and both of these issues were resolved very professional and promptly to our satisfaction.

Melissa S.

Alba energy is a great company. Our sales manager Sheldon Wilkinson is great at what he does. He is very informative about the product he sells. Whenever we had a question he knew the answer. If you want to save money on your energy bills you should definitely get solar panels from Alba.

A D.

I recently got solar panels here. Before you do look at the plan and how conduit is hidden or you will have an eyesore of a roof. After emailing multiple times about this and getting my solar panels turned on which I have had installed and ready on my roof for over two months now, neither has been done.

My solar panels were done in November and it is already half way through January.

I really wanted to like this company because they had great rates and at the beginning worked so well with me. But the moment you sign they became more withdrawn. If you go with this company be ready to follow up and check up on them constantly.