Nautilus Solar Energy, LLC - Summit, New Jersey

Alex K.

EDIT - updating my review following the "response from owner" below. I DID go through the customer care team, as noted in my original review. They are the ones who told me they understood what had happened and billed me anyway. 0 stars, Nautilus. You suck.

Do not do business with Nautilus Solar. I do not like leaving negative reviews but this company worked hard to earn my disrespect.

I was a customer of Arcadia community solar, a failed project that Nautilus took over. When Arcadia shut down I declined to have my account transferred to Nautilus. However, Nautilus auto-enrolled me anyway and started charging me. When I reached out to customer support, they said they'd be happy to correct everything if I provided written evidence of my cancellation / refusal of transfer to Nautilus. I provided this, they reviewed it, agreed that everything I say here is true, and then told me that technically I still have to pay them anyway and they sent my bill to collections.

Are they legally in the right? Maybe. Are they jerks? Definitely.

Thanks Nautilus for being so unpleasant. Ugh.

Lynn T.

We’re on Eastern Shore of Maryland. Signed up for this program last year after a rep from Nautilus Community Solar came around the neighborhood saying they work hand-in-hand with the power companies and we would get 10% discount on our bill for the kilowatts the solar farm supplied Delmarva Power for our usage. I am normally very skeptical but signed up (you have some days to cancel). I called Delmarva Power to be sure it was legit. Their customer service rep confirmed it was, we would remain their customer, keep our account number, and they would still invoice us monthly, taking care of service problems, outages, etc. And that it would save us money! It took a couple months for them to coordinate billing, but now we get our monthly bill from Delmarva showing our total electric charges, less the charges for the kWh hours supplied by Community Solar. We pay for what Delmarva supplied, and later in the month we get an email statement & invoice for what the solar company provided, less 10%. They don’t send paper invoices, so you have to provide an account or credit card which they debit. You always get notice a week ahead what day your account will be debited. We have had no problems, but if I have called about anything, their service reps have been very cordial & efficient. Besides saving 10% off our bill and helping ease fossil fuel usage, another advantage is you don’t have solar panels, wiring, meters etc. installed on your property, home, business. No maintenance or repair! Plus I was reading fine print on our homeowner’s insurance policy, and they don’t cover replacement of solar equipment or damage or repairs to your property from solar power generating equipment on your building/property if you are selling energy back to a power company. Don’t know if they’re all like that, but ours is a well known insurer.

Camille P.

If I could give them zero stars, I would. Please stay away from this scam. They will charge you automatically without authorization, fall months behind on billing, and fail to send regular statements—I’ve only received two in nine months. They just finished charging me for December, making it impossible to escape this nightmare without paying two energy bills at once.

The so-called savings are minimal and not worth the constant frustration. Getting in touch with a supervisor is nearly impossible, as they are only available during business hours—meaning you have to hope for a callback during your lunch break if you work. They bill for multiple months at a time, whenever they feel like it, making budgeting impossible.

Please, I beg you—stay away from them. If you truly want clean energy, start petitioning for nuclear power, which is cleaner, more efficient, and has less environmental impact. If you are financially responsible, avoid this company at all costs. You can’t even plan a monthly budget because they charge you whenever they want. I’ve had to resort to ordering a new card just to stop them from making unauthorized charges, despite multiple requests for them to stop.

Morgan J.

Had a rep come by my place yesterday trying to get me to sign up. He wouldn’t leave until I completely finished singing up which gave me a weird feeling. He asked me if I was busy, I said yes and he still kept going! When I told him I would finish later because I had to go, he spit in my garden and was cursing on my porch loud enough for me to hear behind the closed door. He came back around about an hour and a half later while I was cleaning out my car, standing behind my car and scared the hell out of me, asking my name and wanted to continue the process AGAIN! As a woman this was very frightening and unprofessional for what he’s doing. I said I would do my own research and see if it’s right for me and he’s still standing at my car pushing me to sign up. I’m telling you right now, if I see him again there will be a problem because that will be the third time he’s approached me. Also who shows up to your door with NO BUSINESS CARD, NO PHONE NO NOTHING!! How could I not think it’s a scam?

Anthony P.

A representative from Nautilus was just at my house. I was out in the yard working and I took the time to talk to him. He started out the conversation making it sound like he was from Delmarva power. I took the time to look at the credentials he had around his neck. Then I realized it was another solar rep trying to drum up business. I've read all the reviews below and I'm glad I didn't sign up. I had signed up with Arcadia a year or two ago and it was a real nightmare trying to get it canceled. From what I've read here Nautilus isn't much better. Keep your guard up, and beware.

Michele B. R.

I was involuntarily switched from Arcadia to Nautilus. The transition wasn't seamless and I was billed by both companies in one month.

After creating and accessing my Nautilus account to pay, I noticed a CSV file for my billing history, but no actual bills with breakdown. Local utility company must be paid separately, something I didn't have to do with Arcadia. When I was finally able to regain control of my online utility account, I noticed NO credit for the last 2 billing cycle.

I'm environmentally friendly, but not if all I'm paying for is staffing.

The positive of closing the account was customer service. Kevin was friendly, helpful, and time efficient.

Darrin R.

I am sorry to say that Nautilus is a predatory company perpetrating a scam on unknowing "customers". If supporting community solar and getting a discount on your energy bill seems too good to be true, it's because it is. Six months after moving and cutting ties with Nautilus, I'm still getting bills for services I never signed up for.

Response to owner: I have spent so much time and effort communicating with Nautilus via phone and email and never got a satisfactory answer. Months after providing documentation showing that I did not sign up for Nautilus and that I canceled my Xcel services before the billing period in question, I continue to receive bills and even a letter from a collection agency. Nautilus, you are running a scam and you know it.

Brian G.

A few years ago I was approached by Acadia to buy into a community solar program. I have solar on my home but it's not enough to cover 100% of my utilities, so I was interested in buying more solar credits to be more mindful of my energy consumption. Acadia was "o.k.", if anything it was a rough start because they didn't actually have the capacity they promised, so I wasn't charged for anything.
As I understood it (and how it worked when it started) was they sat between myself and the power company. So I only had to pay them. It worked and I didn't have any issues. They then sold my account over to Nautilus Solar. After that my energy bills became super whacky - sometimes they were hundreds of dollars a month and somethings there was nothing. To top it off Xcel wasn't getting any payments. The only way I discovered this was because I started getting cancellation notices from Xcel, which I thought was weird.
So I said screw it, tossed in the towel and canceled my service. Now I hadn't received an invoice from Nautilus since September. I cancelled in January. Here it is March and I've now received a bill to which they refuse to do anything about because of a 90 day cancellation policy because somehow billing started back up in January again.
I am generally happy to try new businesses that are trying to innovate and provide services that help both the climate and make things better, but when they start jerking me around that's when I start getting upset. Thus my feedback.