Hawaii Energy Connection, LLC

One of your drivers just ran a stop sign and failed to use a turn signal. I have a dash camera and have proof. My wife is 8 months pregnant and I had to slam on my breaks! I will upload a photo of the drivers vehicle with plate.

If you’re looking for an Honest, Local company Hawaii Energy Connection’s KumuKit is the way to go. My salesman was Richard K. (
) and he was able to assist me throughout the process. You should ask for him as he is a nice person who let me know all the benefits of solar and supported me throughout my process. I had several quotes from other companies and the balance of value and quality was easily the best with KumuKit.
Better get a KumuKit!!!

DO NOT HIRE Hawaii Energy Connection aka Kumu Kit. Repeat – DO NOT HIRE Kumu Kit. After researching PV systems and meeting with a few other solar providers, we decided to go with Hawaii Energy Connection because the salesman, Eddie Im, said our bill would decrease to below $ 20, like everybody else. WRONG! We live in a small house, compared to most, and have five people in our family (two of them small children). Our bills before we installed PV was well over $ 400, almost reaching $ 500 during the summer. Our entire roof is now covered with panels – maybe 30 panels – and after spending $ 45,000, we’re still paying HECO over $ 200 for electricity. When I called Hawaii Energy Connection, Eddie said that our family was using more energy. Uh, NO, we’re not. Our habits didn’t change and we didn’t expand our family recently. The company brought down their tech people to assess our house, but how am I supposed to know that what they’re telling me is true? They say it’s working. If it was working, then why am I still paying over $ 200 per month to HECO? Hawaii Energy Connection just wants your money and you’ll still end up paying for the system AND paying HECO. Not worth it! I should’ve gone with another company. Our relatives with larger families installed PV the same time we did (they fortunately went with another company) and they’ve been paying under $ 20 ever since they installed. But Hawaii Energy Connection doesn’t believe anything I say. They have my $ 45,000 now, so it doesn’t matter to them.
I’m like Chris in Aiea – I get ILL when I see their TV ad. I keep thinking about my wasted $ 45,000 and NO results. Paying half of my original bill is not bad, but when you think of how much I paid and was promised, NOT GOOD. Good luck with your PV installation. And if you want to save money, DO NOT HIRE Hawaii Energy Connection or Kumu Kit.
Now, HEC bought a sponsorship with the Honolulu Magazine trying to sell solar water heaters. Like I said, they’re just out for your money. DO NOT HIRE Hawaii Energy Connection!!!
Hawaii Energy Connection doesn’t deserve any stars…

The salesperson we dealt with was always knowledgeable about the solar industry and products available. However, I was quoted a price I would be paying the electric company maximum– and that was not true, our electric bill has been going up each month. A person in the company admitted to me the reason for this was because of the placement of the panels on the roof. When I called the office to speak with a manager, it took several calls to reach the manager, Staff at the office are noted laughing when you call. you would think there is a party going on. management
laughed at me when i gave my opinion regarding my situation. learned the sales rep I dealt with quit the company. The workers who placed the paneling were hard working, but I discovered they were overworked and were not treated well. The first day a ladder was smashed into my window. The window was replaced but I never did meet with a manager. I would not recommend this company to anyone.

Chris in Aiea… don’t go with Kumu Kit. My stomach actually churns everytime I see or hear a Kumu Kit ad. I gotta turn the station every time I see their ad. I actually stopped listening to Perry and Price entirely because I couldn’t stand to hear what a wonderful, local company Kumu Kit was when they REALLY screwed (sorry, I cannot think of any other word) my kamaaina family.
Like you, we took a lot of time to conduct a lot of research and spoke to about five different companies. To make a long story short, we finally chose Kumu Kit mainly because they promised to handle all the complicated paperwork required of our homeowners association. They had completed several other projects in our development and promised that they would be able to handle it all for us.
This was back in October 2012 when many homeowners were in a rush to take advantage of the multiple tax credits. Our family, however was planning on installing just one system… we weren’t trying to take advantage of any tax loopholes. We just wanted to address our family’s enormous utility bills, and get our tax rebate as soon as possible. Kumu Kit promised to have everything installed by the end of the year. Everything seemed to be going smoothly… October 1, 2012, we signed a contract, the engineers came to do the measurements (they said everything looked fine), and we were just awaiting our installation. Surprise… in mid November, our sale rep left a brief message on my cell phone that we would need a $ 5,000 electrical upgrade, so he didn’t think we would want to proceed with the installation. Huh? I checked with two of our other neighbors who have the exact same unit as ours (same floor plan; built at the same time), who had recently gotten their PV installed by Kumu Kit, if they had to get an electrical upgrade. They said «no,» they did not need an electrical upgrade. When I brought this up to our sales rep, his response was, «uh…maybe theirs was built after yours.». (Not a chance)
The sales rep tried to convince me to NOT do the installation. I didn’t believe him one bit about the required electrical upgrade. To pacify me, he offered to have someone come by to perform an estimate on an electrical upgrade. I said, «Okay, sure!». Nothing happened, it was very difficult to get my phone calls returned, and it was already mid December. While we were NOT trying to take advantage of tax loopholes (we were only going to install one system anyway), we still needed to complete the project by Dec 31, so that we could get our rebate.
Needless to say, we still have not gotten PV installed. I dont know if we ever will have the opportunity to do so again. The rebate that we expected was to go towards our daughter’s and son’s preschool tuition this year.
I won’t get into every detail, but my sincere feeling to this day, is that they just dropped us, with no other options because they got GREEDY trying to get as many projects as possible before year end 2012 (when the uncertainty about PV rebates were at its height), and we were a small potato installation. They needed to focus on the higher revenue, multiple PV systems. We almost went with another PV company, but put our faith in Kumu Kit because they seemed like a trustworthy, local company that promised to get our PV installed. We prefer to go local whenever we can to support the local economy, but more so, because we feel that local people usually take care of each other. This could be further from the truth with Kumu Kit. That is why, one year later, we still feel so scr*wed!
Sorry for the lengthy review. I’ve just been going by word of mouth, but when I saw the Kumu Kit ad on tv tonight, I was curious to see if anyone else had any similar experience to ours, and felt like I had to share our experience. Installing PV is such an enormous investment for most local people. Make sure it’s with someone you can trust over the life of your system.

This review will be completed as it is happening & the stars will definitely either stay the same or change by my experience.
Background
My wife & I decided to go with PV last summer 2012. I had RevoluSun & Sunetric come in. I liked both of the salespeople & were very knowledgeable. We live in a townhouse which the association is very friendly about PV installs. Because of the limited space on the roof, I really wanted to get solar hot water and PV. Both of course had very different ideas on how they were going to do it. I decided NOT to move forward at that time.
Fast forward to about 3 months ago in August 2013. Another bill from HECO reminded me why we should move forward finally with PV. Banks have joined the solar bandwagon & have started providing attractive loan programs.
I called Kumukit because of hearing them on the radio very frequently from The Perry and Price Show on the radio. The sales person I met was Steve. In terms of a sales pitch, not so great but I had already done enough research & knew about PV and its options before he came in so he didn’t have to explain much. I believe he knows enough to get by but definitely not an expert. He also seemed like a good guy.
He quoted me for 23 LG260 panels which would zero out my HECO bill at about $ 26k. We move forward. Pre-​Inspection guys came & said I had a bunch of vents on the roof so we can only fit 17 panels & would also have to upgrade my load center (my circuit breakers). Since our home was built in the 70s I agreed that it would be something I should do whether or not we did PV. 17 panels lowered the cost to about $ 22k but decided to go with the LG290 panels instead of the LG260 to maximize the power in a smaller space. At this point we just needed the loan.
Hawaii National Bank is the one KumuKit recommended for their «synergy» loan. However they took FOREVER. I understand there needs more info for self employed but it would take days before they would get back to you. Also Central Pacific Bank & a few others actually have BETTER loans like 0% interest AND 0 payments for first 18 – 24 months! You just have to make sure the company you go with is approved by the lender.
During this whole time I decide to shop around a bit & call Sunetric. I spoke to the same salesperson over the phone but he never really followed up. Revolusun came by my home again. The rep from RevoluSun Iolani Lewis was great! EXTREMELY KNOWLEDGEABLE! Their PowerSun panels offered a 25 year warranty for the power AND the panels! Most panels have a 10 yr warranty and 25 yr warranty for JUST THE POWER. Even the KumuKit rep Steve didn’t know that about his panels. He’s been saying its 25 yr warranty for both. But after looking directly at the LG website, it’s 10 yrs for the panels and 25 yrs for the power. Anyhow, as great as the rep from RevoluSun was, I still went with KumuKit because RevoluSun quoted about $ 40k & I just could not justify the $ 14k difference because of a longer warranty. In terms of install materials and service, they both seemed the same. RevoluSun does offer less expensive panels but still cost about $ 26k for a little bit less power.
By October, I decided to just pay CASH for the entire thing & bypass the loan. I really want to get this done before the end of the year but I haven’t heard anything from Kumukit. Honestly, I figured after I signed the contract the heavens would open up and everything would just go! But nope, nothing. Even after smoothly getting approved from HECO that everything was good.
Cece, from KumuKit called & explained a few things. At this point though, it seems NO ONE TALKS TO EACH OTHER in this company. I finally spoke & met Matt, the installation manager over the phone who apparently thought we could fit only 11 panels on the roof. He also was waiting for me to upgrade the load center, which I didn’t know it was something I had to have done! I thought Kumukit would figure it all out!
Matt sends another Pre-​Installation crew to re-​measure the roof and this time they come out with 18 panels! So either the 1^st crew or the 2^nd crew was wrong. I guess we’ll find out soon. How Matt thought it was only 11 panels confuses & worries me. Another thing, the 2^nd crew actually left their clipboard with his measuring tape on the floor right in front of my home! Apparently the crew was very eager to go home!
It’s now November 19 & we still haven’t done anything. I have my own friend come look at my load center. No one at KumuKit has followed up so far. thus the 1 star rating. Will update as this goes…

I was very happy with KumuKit/​Hawaii Energy Connection, with the process overall, and with my sale representative, Rony Yurong. As other reviewers have noted (and on Unilocal,reviews show up here and under a separate entry for KumuKit), these sales reps provide low pressure /​no pressure interactions and all the information you could possibly want or need.
Buying solar can feel like a very complex process. Once must either be an engineer or place a great deal of trust that your sales person is providing you accurate and trustworthy information. I did my own engineering calculations and then called HEC/​KumuKit. I found Rony and the information and data provided by HEC/​KumuKit to be accurate. The data he provided matched my own calculations, and, two months after the system has been installed, actual system performance EXCEEDS predicted performance.
The five stars for HEC/​KumuKit are for (1) no pressure sales rep; (2) quality, accuracy and completeness of information provided, with high level of correlation between predicted and actual system performance; (3) good, solid and competitive price point; (4) top-​quality components; (5) excellence in system design and engineering; (6) top-​notch installation by trained and competent employees; (7) smoothness of process overall; (8) financing partners (HNB); (9) after-​sales follow-​up; (10) complete and utter lack of surprise. Everything went more or less exactly as advertised.
Financing: HEC/​KumuKit is connected to two excellent financing programs provided by Hawaii National Bank (Synergy Loan) and American Savings Bank. Applying for financing was very simple and transparent process. HEC/​KumuKit does not (at this time) offer a lease option.
Cost per watt: Some advertisements for solar talk about number of panels. But number of panels isn’t useful. What’s useful is how much power is generated overall, and how much you’ll pay for the total installation. HEC/​KumuKit came in with a cost of about $ 4.76/watt. So a 5200 watt (or 5.2 kW) system was estimated at just under $ 25,000. I thought this was an excellent price point at the time. Note that this price point will vary related to the price and efficiency of solar panels. Also note that this cost does not take into consideration any tax rebates.
Central inverter or micro-​inverter? The inverter converts the output of the solar system (direct current or DC power) to alternating current, which is what is delivered by HECO. There can be either one or two central inverters to cover the whole system, or a small, «micro-​inverter» attached to each panel (so 20 panels equals 20 inverters). My going-​in preference, based on my own research, was for micro-​inverters. HEC/​KumuKit uses Enphase microinverters (and note: Enphase micro-​inverters are VERY common among solar installers). With Enphase, I can monitor my solar system from my computer and from my smart phone.
Permits: HEC/​KumuKit handled everything: permits with my home-​owners association; building permits with the county; and the Net Metering agreement with HECO. The entire process was ultra-​smooth from beginning to end.
Timing: This is not an overnight process. For me personally it was about a 3 month process from beginning to end (installed system). Timing is everything — miss a few days in returning paperwork, and a critical milestone (such as home owners association review) can be delayed a month, and with it, installation of the system. Actual installation by HEC/​KumuKit was two days and completely uneventful. The installation of the net meter by HECO, and not actual installation determines when your system is turned on. In my case, HECO installed my net meter a week prior to installation, and HEC/​KumuKit was able to turn on my system as soon as the process was finished.

I recommend Kumu Kit!
Got a quote from Revolusun for $ 65,000!
Friends told us we were crazy…
Called Kumu Kit … $ 34,000! 32 Panels
Went up in 2 days. a month total waiting for Permit to clear
and get Heco to change out meter.
Efficient Professional … Just got to
Make calls yourself to Heco and
State Inspectors etc…
And gets things moving faster!
After calls… Two weeks done !
New Meter … Going backwards !
$ 480 to $ 18 a month HECO bill!

First of all, I need to indicate that HEC, better known as Kumu Kit deserves 4.5 stars, but since Unilocal!can’t indicate ½ stars as such, I am presently stuck with the present grading system.
On behalf of our family, we had to do something as our average electricity bill over the last 12 months was about $ 423.00+ per month. I wanted to contact/​inquire with solar pv firms for a few months earlier, but finally got around to it in early October 2012.
We were met by sales rep, Wayne Oshima… who came over and gave me a low-​key/​no pressure-​at-​all presentation at my home on a Sunday. This began my journey into knowing more about pv systems and wanting to inquire with more firms to get their quotes on their products and costs.
As Kumu Kit was the first pv firm I called, I figured I’d call and meet with more… never thought that I would end up with six more quotes from 6 other pv firms. I was genuinely excited just to read up and know more about their systems, that their presentations held my interest. Yes, there were a couple of ‘pushy’ sales reps representing their firms, who’d call constantly over the next few days after meeting with me, which i disliked… come on… they may think they don’t want to lose a sale, but I think it has a negative effect and makes clients go elsewhere.
There was this one firm that felt their central inverters were better than the individual Enphase inverters, and bragged about how efficient and powerful their individual panels were, and there was one small firm (based in Kailua), who lazily (I felt) gave me a written quote, but did not take the time to come and meet with me…
After weeks of meeting with the sales reps, there was then the uncertainty of the State tax credits that were to be affected effective Jan 1, 2013. We laid low, and didn’t do anything… but then our interest soared again, and felt getting a pv system was the correct thing to do.
Imagine after meeting all different companies, it came down to the first company, Kumu Kit… which had the lowest overall costs, and I liked it when one had a further discount if I would pay the costs by cash or check, as they would pay the HI General Excise Tax.
Kumu Kit’s Customer Service Office and/​or my sales rep, Wayne was really on top of their A-​game and notified us as to what was going to happen… Yes, they took care of ALL paperwork (bldg permits, etc.)…sending us forms to just sign on the ‘x line’ for the Net Metering Agreement with HECO. It was no worries until then…
Prior to the planned pv installation, we had our lower and upper roofs coated, etc. by a roofing firm with Gacosil silicone coating (by the way, get this product!), and the roofer would do a post pv installation inspection once Kumu Kit was done with their install.
Our pv installation was scheduled for mid-​March, and was performed over a 2 ½ day period. The roofing firm then came back and discovered some discrepancies/​minor problems caused by Kumu Kit’s installation team and notified me immediately of these problems.
Here is where I had to (unfortunately) deduct a ½ star, for it ‘seemed to me’ that Kumu Kit was moving a bit slowly on following up with acknowledging and allowing the roofing firm to go back and do the touch-​ups and charge Kumu Kit.
I had to follow-​up with Kumu Kit to find out what the status was regarding when the roofing firm coming back and Kumu Kit absorbing the cost of the repairs to be done.
Now that this touch-​up was just done this past week, I can finally close the chapter on the pv installation. By the way, thank you Kumu Kit for finding a more cleaner way of routing the wiring from the panel boxes to the 2^nd floor rooftop – nicely done!
When it came down to paying the final 50% of the cost, I gave it to the installation team, but was told that payment collection would be handled by the sales rep who would come later in the week… how nice, it’s not like they needed their $$$ at the ‘exact moment’ of completing the job (even though their contract indicated as such).
Upon giving my payment to Mr. Oshima, we were given other goodies such as Kumu Kit t-​shirts, an Ala Moana Center gift card, and a energy saving power strip (they’ve got a good power strip with a battery operated remote that one can place anywhere convenient to activate the power strip). This specific brand power strip must be so good as we wanted to get another one and checked the power strip manufacturer’s own website… which indicated they were ‘completely out’ of that specific model.
When our first HECO bill came in, it wasn’t for the full period (being a few days short), and along with some rainy days during the period, the billing period amount was for $ 45.16! The 2^nd bill: $ 14.00! What a difference from the $ 423.00+ mnthly average!
Seeing the Enphase Inverter read outs as to how much watts are at any time of the day on my phone or computer is another plus!
Go Kumu Kit… I forsee more positive reviews for your firm shortly!

I love Kumukit.