Can Arcadia help you save money on your electric bill? Is the company legit? And can you get clean energy cheaper than the price you’re paying today?
I signed up to see what the company offers and put together this Arcadia review to answer my own (and readers’) common questions.
Arcadia provides a simple way to help increase the demand for renewable energy while potentially saving you money. Their community solar program, available in seven states, saves you up to 10% off standard utility rates by applying solar credits to your bill for no extra cost. Residents who don’t live in a state that supports community solar can join their wind energy program — for a $5 per-month fee — and effectively cancel out their carbon footprint. So, while the service has the potential to save you money, most people will pay slightly more to support a good cause.
- Residents of certain states can save up to 10% off their electric bill at no extra cost.
- Increases the overall demand for renewable energy.
- New users can get $20 off their next utility bill.
- Does not send renewable energy directly to your home.
- You can only save money if you live in a state that is compatible with Arcadia’s community solar program.
What Is Arcadia?
Arcadia (formerly known as “Arcadia Power”) is a company that gives consumers throughout the country the ability to support clean, renewable energy sources — such as those provided by solar panels and wind farms.
Arcadia has a somewhat unique — and at first, hard to understand — business model. It doesn’t help that many Arcadia reviews online are outdated and that Arcadia has switched up its pricing models quite often over the past few years.
So, to help clear things up, let’s go over some key facts about Arcadia.
- First things first: Arcadia is not a power company or an energy supplier. They do not produce or sell electricity.
- As an Arcadia customer, you are not getting green energy sent directly to your home. That’s impossible, because all energy sources — whether from fossil fuels or clean power — get pushed to the same power grid, mixed, and distributed evenly via power lines.
- What you’re effectively doing as an Arcadia customer is increasing the demand for renewable energy.
- Arcadia has two offerings. First, their community solar membership saves you up to 10% off your total bill with no start-up costs or contracts. Savings depend on your utility provider, in addition to factors like weather. However, this is only available in seven states. Their wind energy membership (which is available everywhere else) charges a flat $5 per month fee. This fee allows your energy consumption to be matched with Renewable Energy Credits purchased from wind farms. This increases the amount of clean power your local utility company has access to and, theoretically, also increases the long-term demand for renewable energy sources.
Arcadia Community Solar Projects Overview
If you’re eligible for a community solar project, you can sign up through Arcadia at no cost. This doesn’t mean you’re consuming clean energy. Rather, it means that more clean energy is flowing into your local power grid.
Once you’re signed up, you’ll then pay your utility bill through Arcadia. You’ll get a monthly bill credit (applied to the amount you pay Arcadia), which corresponds to the local solar farm’s amount of energy. This can range from month to month based on the weather. Arcadia then guarantees that your bill will be lower than what you would otherwise pay directly to your utility provider (between 5% to 10% due to these credits).
So how does Arcadia make money?
Community solar farms pay Arcadia to find people like you who are interested in supporting clean energy to put on their farms. Plus, community solar farms can often generate more than a 10% savings by supplying the power grid with clean energy.
For example, according to citizenscommunityobard.com, in Illinois (the state where I live), some community solar companies offer up to a 20% savings. As such, it’s worthwhile to look for other community solar programs where you may be able to potentially save more money than by going through Arcadia.
This potential 5-10% savings is by far the most intriguing aspect of Arcadia. Unfortunately, it’s only available in a select few states, and there’s only a limited number of energy providers within those locations.
As of the most recent update of this article, Arcadia community solar programs are available to select residents of:
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Illinois
- Maryland
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- New Jersey
- New York
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- Virginia
- Washington D.C.
We update this article periodically throughout the year to add any states that become newly eligible for the program.
Arcadia Renewable Wind (RECs) Program Overview
For those who live outside of a community solar state, joining Arcadia allows you to increase the overall demand for renewable power by using something called Renewable Energy Credits.
We’ll touch on those in a minute. But first, it’s essential to understand why the company doesn’t physically supply you with electricity from a renewable energy source.
In short, there’s no way for them to do so because all sources of power — coal, nuclear, wind, solar and natural gas — eventually end up mixed in the same place: the national power grid.
This energy may be derived from different sources, but it all looks and functions the same.
For example, there’s no way to tell the difference between wind energy and coal energy.
Once energy is pumped into the grid, it gets distributed to individual homes and businesses.
And right now, only about 20% of the total energy that goes into the grid comes from renewable sources.
Arcadia’s goal is to increase that figure.
Only around 20% of our energy comes from renewable sources because it’s more expensive to produce (although this is changing fast, as renewable energy is becoming cheaper). And that makes it more costly to consume.
In the long-term, clean energy will be much more cost-effective. But that’s not until we have the infrastructure to generate and store it. And what’s going to help create that infrastructure is consumers demanding clean energy.
Renewable Energy Credits (also known as Renewable Energy Certificates or RECs) are a way for people and businesses to subsidize renewable energy generation by paying extra for their electricity.
How RECs Work
Every time an energy provider produces one megawatt-hour of clean energy — such as a wind farm or solar panel — they get one renewable energy certificate.
That renewable energy certificate (a unique serial number) can then be sold.
This allows the buyer to signify that their money directly supported clean energy instead of fossil fuels. It will enable the producer to sell their clean energy into the grid at more competitive rates.
In other words, RECs are a way to distinguish between the types of energy that get pumped into the grid. They allow you to choose to pay for one type of energy over another. And by doing so, you can claim to “use” clean energy.
Long-term, as a consumer, the goal is to increase the demand for this type of energy by making it more cost-competitive with so-called dirty power.
Arcadia essentially acts as an energy broker, identifying and partnering specifically with wind farms and utility companies by purchasing RECs.
Once you’re signed up for the program, Arcadia will show you the exact amount of wind credits they’re purchasing on your behalf (and demonstrated in the screenshot below, from my Arcadia account).
So, as an Arcadia customer, you’ll still be using the same electricity company and power source you were using before you signed up. But those wind farm RECs allow you to effectively cancel out your carbon footprint and support renewable energy projects.
Thus, Arcadia gives ordinary citizens a way to make a positive environmental impact without taking more expensive and difficult steps like installing their own solar panels.
Arcadia Membership Options
Arcadia has two separate membership plans, which differ based on whether you have access to their community solar program.
If you have access to community solar, you pay nothing upfront and are not required to sign a contract.
However, the $5 per month wind energy program is what most customers will find themselves in.
With this plan, you’re paying a flat fee of $5 per month to Arcadia to ensure that 100% of your energy use is matched with clean energy. There is no surcharge assessed based on your electricity usage — it’s just a flat $5.
With both plans, you no longer pay your utility company directly. Instead, Arcadia essentially takes over the management of your electric account. You’ll link your energy provider account to your Arcadia account and then pay Arcadia your electricity bill plus the $5 membership fee.
Is Arcadia More Expensive?
It depends. This answer can be yes or no.
Arcadia’s community solar program is a guaranteed savings product. You’re not charged to join, there are no contracts, and you get guaranteed savings off your bill — likely between 5% and 10%.
Those on the wind energy program pay a $5 per-month fee. The amount of energy you use will “retire” RECs purchased from wind farms on your behalf for this fee. No credits are applied to your bill. In this case, you will pay more by signing up for Arcadia.
How Does Arcadia Make Money?
Arcadia charges you a monthly fee of $5 per month with a 30-day free trial; while a portion of the fee is used to purchase RECs, Arcadia does operate as a for-profit business.
Arcadia also generates revenue through:
- Earning money by connecting you to community solar power projects.
- Sales of products they partner with, like the Nest thermostat.
Arcadia Pros And Cons
Like any other service, there are good things and not-so-good things about Arcadia.
Arcadia Pros
- Community solar members get a guaranteed savings off their utility bill of up to 10%.
- It’s a cheap way to make a difference compared to buying your own solar power panels. You’ll (indirectly) reduce your carbon footprint and help lower CO2 emissions.
- It gives you an easy-to-see dashboard. The tools available in your Arcadia Power utility account are light years ahead of those provided by most local utility companies. If you’re an online type of person who loves using cutting-edge tools, this will be a great perk for you.
- It can save you on credit card transaction fees. A lot of utility companies charge fees to customers who pay their bill with credit cards. That can be a nuisance for people who like the ease of paying with credit cards. If you have a cash-back credit card, or are trying to earn a credit card bonus, you can earn money back for paying your power bill with your card every month (assuming you’re on the wind energy program).
- It’s free to cancel. You won’t be locked into a long-term contract or have to pay a fee if you change your mind about the membership.
Arcadia Cons
- You’re not getting clean energy delivered to your home, but instead, increasing the overall demand for clean energy indirectly.
- If you’re on the wind energy program, they only offer auto-pay options. If you’re cutting it close on having enough in your bank account to pay your utility bill, you can delay your auto payment with a three-day grace period. The bad thing is that you have to take extra steps to do so.
Is Arcadia Legit?
If you’re worried about doing business with a fly-by-night company, you can relax. Arcadia is a legit company with a solid 3.6 rating on Trustpilot. Last reported in 2019, they have over 300,000 members. In May of 2022, J.P. Morgan led a $200 million investment round, valuing the company at $1.5 billion.
Arcadia Review: Final Verdict
Should you join Arcadia? That depends on you, your personal values and your individual situation.
If you’re fortunate enough to live in one of the states where community solar is offered, joining Arcadia is a win-win decision. Not only will you save a few dollars per month, but even better, you’ll be saving while simultaneously supporting clean energy.
Though I would make sure to shop around to see if a different community solar provider can save you more money.
If you’re not in a community solar state, then the decision is more difficult.
If you care deeply about cutting your carbon footprint and have the room in your budget to potentially pay a little more as a regular member, then consider the $5 per-month wind energy plan.
I’m a big fan of the concept behind Arcadia, and appreciate the opportunity to support wind power, solar farms and other green energy projects over fossil fuel plants that pump CO2 emissions into the atmosphere and contribute to climate change.
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Really nice overview – appreciate it. One bit of feedback though is that you lead with saying it’s also a review because you used it yourself. Only at the conclusion do you say that you ended up not even signing up. When it comes to stuff like unpredictable bills, one useful piece of info for consumers is probably to hear other personal experiences; for example compare/contrast with their old bills and how they changed while using Arcadia. If you get any input from readers that are also customers it might be cool to include some of those anecdotes to supplement your overview. Cheers!
Hey Rob. Fair comment and agreed. Should have specified upfront that I signed up for the free account only. That’s now been clarified.
(Update: To avoid confusion, I become a paying customer after the above comment, and have updated the post to reflect that.)
You can add Minnesota to your list of states. And there is no $5 monthly fee…at least in MN. It is completely free.
I’ll have to ask Cory. I’m still seeing the same states listed here: https://support.arcadia.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043322653-Where-is-Community-Solar-available-
You say you are a carbon footprint type of person, but you don’t pay the bit extra to put your money where your mouth is.
Their old business plan never made much sense. The plan was for free but it let me pay with a credit card, which saved me 5 percent cashback. I will probably cancel next month. It was nice while it lasted.
I signed up in January, connected my utility, and started paying 28.88 each month to Arcadia. This is the amount selected by them, not me. I was promised a $25 gift card to sign up and told I would save money on my “clean energy”. After several months I reached out. Found out my utility company was not available so I have simply been paying $28.88 as a donation every month and not saving any money at all. I also was told I did not receive my $25 due to an error and would receive it in 30 days. In 30 days I was told there was another error. Another 30 days I was told my account was not connected (they disconnected it when they changed the amount per month to $5) Bottom line, misleading information, false advertising – I have “donated” about $300 under the assumption I was saving on my utility bill and never received the promotion promised. BEWARE
Hi Ellen,
I agree. It is quite confusing if you’re not funneled into their regular plan.
In my case, the amount I ended up paying was $10.66 a month. It was only after asking customer support, where I understood where this came from. So, I can see how it’s easy to find yourself surprisingly paying $28..88 a month.
For other readers, know that if you’re not a fit for their regular plan, you can adjust the amount you pay each month. So, if you only want to pay $5, you can adjust that amount.
I appreciate your article and have a quick suggestion: it would be nice if you would put this information (that you can adjust the amount you pay each month) in the body of your article. It’s helpful, and not everybody reads the comment section. I was lucky I happened on it. Thanks.
Done and thank you!
Well its is a lot cheaper than solar panels on your roof and Its is less expensive in Chicago with ComED since Com Ed charges you more per KW the less you use. So If you have a super efficient house that uses significantly less than your neighbors ComED just Charges you .17 cents per Kw instead of .13 cents per. Thats a $20 difference in a 500 kw/month usage
Thank you very much for this easy to understand and concise explanation of Arcadia.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for this thorough explanation and article. I learned a LOT from
reading it, and am going to pass it on to my neighborhood email list-serve.
You’re welcome Len. Thank you so much for sharing as well.
Thank you! I just signed up for the $5 minimum plan.But questions I still have are: (1) Who receives my money? (2) Am I still supporting the coal power of my local utility?
My utility company has a “base charge” of $14.50/month which I assume covers the cost of restoring power after a storm, setting up and closing down accounts, reading the meter, and generating the monthly bills. (Is this correct and do you know what else a “base charge” covers?) Then they have a kWH rate of $0.13.
I believe Arcadia’s rate is $0.015/kWH.
Under my plan Arcadia collects my monthly payment and (based on what you wrote) keeps the $5 fee. Setting the $5 aside, how much goes to my utility company (more than the $14.50?) and how much goes to the wind energy provider?
Assuming a chunk goes to my power company, am I supporting their coal power generation?
All good questions.
Who receives the money and how much they receive depends on your local utility provider.
In the end, your local utility provider is always getting paid. If you’re on the regular plan, which sounds like you area, you pay Arcadia which then pays your utility provider. There’s an additional $5 per month added to the amount you owe Arcadia. This $5 goes to increase the amount of RECs your utility provider must provide.
If you’re on the basic plan, that’s where you pay your utility bill, as well as a monthly fee to Arcadia.
My understanding was the kWH price would be the same but I’m double checking this!
___
Base charges are typically an admin-like fee you pay to have access to the specific utility provider. This accounts for access, setup, monthly meter readings, service, etc…
___
Finally, you’re still supporting your power company, but the idea is you’re making them increase the amount of clean energy they must provide.
My utility provider is Alabama Power, if that helps. They, along with several other states, do not have a mandate to buy ANY renewable power.
Alabama Power, does however, have an internal REC program where the monthly charge depends on your home’s electric usage = $1.25/month/REC. They have their own solar and wind facilities, so as a participant in that program I was paying extra to encourage them to build more, I guess.
I know this is lots of details, but I want to understand what difference it makes whether I use AL Power’s REC plan or Arcadia’s. The Arcadia $5/month plan is cheaper than what AL Power charged, but does one program do more than the other to incentivize renewable energy?
Any help will be appreciated!
Ah…interesting. Wish my local utility had an option for RECs.
The two programs sound very similar in how they operate, e.g. increasing demand for RECs.
I’d touch base with Arcadia on this one ([email protected])…I’ve reached out a handful of times to that email address to verify information and they’ve always responded within a day. Would love to know what you find out.
Love the article. Extremely informative for my decision to sign-up or not. I did want to make one critique about saying that renewable energy is currently more expensive. Currently, renewable energy ~generation~ is cheaper per KW/hr than traditional methods such as coal-fire power plans. The vast majority of new power plants are renewables because they are cheaper. The expense comes in because of the fixed costs of building these renewable power plants, which is part of the reason why services like Arcadia charge you a premium for “renewable electricity”/offsets. Perhaps gnit-picky, but I think saying renewable electricity is more expensive is at this point a bit misleading and continues a narrative that renewables are a luxury good, which was true several years ago, rather than a cheap alternative that just needs capital investment.
Realized I was not really constructive there. I’m mainly suggesting changing the line from “The reason why only 17% of our energy comes from renewable sources is because it’s more expensive to produce” to something like “…because generation only recently became cheaper per Kw/hr than coal and still requires building a lot of infrastructure to build capacity and meet demand.”
Solid point Eric. Made some revisions. Thank you.
With all due respect, Arcadia is a scam. In regards to community solar, they advertise 5 to 10% off of your utility bill when in reality it is only 5 to 10% of the credits generated by your solar farm. They keep the other 90-95%. This equates to about 1% off of your electric bill.
This is TRUE. In some areas with solar projects, Arcadia sales folks are verbally advertising anticipated savings of 10-15% off your residential energy bill. But the written contract states you will only receive 5% of the **solar credits** and that’s on the portion of your electric bill that was generated by the solar farm. If some of your electric bill was generated by non-solar source, and/or you also use gas, then your monthly energy bill savings will likely be considerably lower. In fact, a billing example on the Arcadia website actually illustrates a savings of just $4.15 on a $326.11 energy bill. That’s only a 1.3% bill reduction, and a huge difference from the 5-10% reduction that’s being communicated by sales people. https://support.arcadia.com/hc/en-us/articles/360047502313-How-is-My-Bill-Calculated-with-Community-Solar-In-Colorado-
Would love to see a chart comparing services among other area community solar companies as a guide to consumers on how to select a community solar company. It is all so confusing and difficult to find a good resource for questions.
With the number of companies offering services, the average consumer doesn’t know where to begin researching their service providers if they have an interest in renewable energy.
I read your analysis after speaking with an Arcadia dealer at our local Home and Garden Show. I was told that I would save at least 10% off my electric bill. They would pay my bill so when I received the bill it would say how much it would be and reflect 0 owed. Then they would bill me 10% less and that would be reflected in Arcadia’s bill which would be sent to me with a 7 day payment window. I heard and read nothing regarding an additional $5.00 fee, in fact they were very specific in saying there are no fees associated. Also I can cancel at any time if unhappy. Have things changed since your review. Our Home Show was in Massachusetts. Thanks, Joe
Hey Joe. I’m assuming then you were discussing the community solar plan, where there is no additional fee. Massachusetts is one of the few states where community solar is available.
Based on conversions with Arcadia, it’s up to 10% off your bill with community solar, not a minimum of 10%.
I enjoyed your well-written review of Arcadia. I read it a few days *after* signing up. I’m going to try it for a few months and maybe I’ll keep it. I didn’t like that they require auto-payment. I’ve gotten in big trouble with that system and so I’m a little leery about that—especially with monthly charges that are so variable and unpredictable. I don’t know yet whether I signed up for the Basic vs Regular—I’ll check on that. But so far, I feel good about choosing it. And especially after reading your review.
I interviewed Arcadia today. In Massachusetts it will give you 10% of the value of credits it gets from the electric company for your slot of a farm (10% of the value it delivers to the electric company). The electric company decides the rate it is going to pay for the credits. There is no leverage over what the electric company provides! Note: It is NOT 10% off your bill. It is 10% of the savings derived from credits earned. The interviewee said the actual savings ranges between $5-10/mo. That remains to be seen. Something is better than nothing but consumers and the state DPU that should be protecting consumers need to know the way the 10% is being swung around is misleading, and that is unacceptable.
Thanks so much for this excellent explanation of how the process works. I did not have a thorough understanding of Arcadia from their website offer. Good to hear from a reliable source that the company is reliable as well.
Hello,
I appreciate the review, but I will say my experience has not been great so far. I signed up through my building and was promised a no-contract, monthly savings off my electric bill without any additional fees, in addition to a $100 sign-up promo credit to my Arcadia account.
While I received the credit, my Pepco bill (electric supplier) was double paid because autopay was not turned off — so while Arcadia was paying the bill each month and charging me (i.e., deducted from my $100 credit), Pepco was also withdrawing the amount from my bank account, so I actually was accruing additional credit to my actual Pepco account.
However, once you sign up with Arcadia, they change your username to your electric billing provider (e.g., Pepco in my case) so I couldn’t even log in until I reached out to Arcadia and they gave me the updated credentials.
Interestingly, Arcadia does not change the autopay setting (per company policy), but I was definitely not instructed to do so when I signed up. Anyway, my July Arcadia bill was very high and I found out when I logged into my Pepco account (using the new credentials) and spoke to Arcadia directly who essentially informed me that because my community solar farm just started (or I just joined it — still a little confusing), I had to pay for the solar energy that was created. So while my “Pepco” part of the bill was $0, there was a community solar (“CNM Credit” on my bill) fee that I was responsible for — and I only get a 10% savings from that. So I was charged ~$150 for the solar farm and then given back $15, or 10%.
But what I’m having a hard time understanding is if I did not use Arcadia, I would not be charged that $150 at all (and obviously would not receive back 10% of the savings) so I’m not convinced that Arcadia is really saving me money. They keep telling me I will see savings later but it has not happened yet. This has happened for two consecutive months, and at this point, I think I may cancel and just take this potential loss.
Has anyone else experienced something like this?
I just discovered this myself. I’m cancelling. While I’m happy to support green energy, I just discovered I’m paying more for community solar farm than my actual energy bill from Pepco (ex: Pepco bill $23.96, Community solar farm “credit” aka charge–$29.78. According to Arcadia my “Pepco Bill” was $53.74). I had been under the impression that perhaps my Pepco bill–from the company and my energy usage– was $53.74 and a part of that was directed towards solar. A check with Pepco (couldn’t sign in because of Arcadia changed my username) stated I only owed $23.96 for this months bill.
I live in DC and signed up with Arcadia in the spring of 2022. Once your electric bills start coming from Arcadia, the “Pepco bill” you refer to is *after* the CNM credit. So in the instance you cited, your Pepco bill *would* have been $53.74 without the solar credit. Your Pepco ‘bill’ of $23.96 is not really a bill because you don’t owe Pepco anything — you owe only Arcadia. I am averaging savings of ~5% a month with Arcadia (compared to what my Pepco bill would have been without Arcadia). Hope this helps.
I’ve just had a similar confusing experience. So confusing I don’t think I’ll be able to restate it here. I too would like to support solar and renewable energy, but so far, I am paying more than my actual usage. I too was told early that I didn’t need to change anything with my provider (CMP). So I didn’t and kept my budget pay plan in place. Apparently that was wrong, and even though my electric bill clearly shows the actual usage/bill amount, I have to pay for the solar credit I didn’t use? Question mark because I am still confused. I’ll wait and see if there is a change in next month’s bill. I wouldn’t mind if there’s hardly any change, but not ~$70 more.
This business model is still not clear to me. In the electricity supply chain there are:
1) “Generators” – these are the coal plants and solar farms, etc.
2) “Suppliers” – these are the companies that sell the energy to the customer.
3) “Customers.”
Is the “utility” here the “supplier”? And if yes, then does the Arcadia effectively ensure that the generator (community solar farm) sells energy to the “supplier”? Is Arcadia buying the energy generated by the community solar farm? And if not, who is buying that energy (and who gets the proceeds)? Where does Arcadia get funds to purchase and retire RECs (is this just a portion of the fee paid to Arcadia by the community solar farms)?
It’s a good question, James. I would classify Arcadia as a middleman between suppliers and customers, that aims to increase the supply of renewable energy demand.
I agree with RJ’s description of a middleman. More specifically, Arcadia is a technology company. They are all about aggregating ‘big data’ and analytics… see their website for a description of what they call the ‘Arc Platform’.
Only sign up for Arcadia if you want to fork out $620 to Arcadia for a bill that your electricity company charged $119 for. True story. Arcadia is genuinely a scam.
Shelby, the same exact this happened to me. I was charged almost $800 within 50 days (yes they just kept withdrawing money from my account a couple times a month!) I had to jump through hoops for 60 days to get them to deactivate my account. I was with them for a few years with no problems and then all of a sudden last summer I was bombarded with over charges that they could not explain to me. They kept passing the buck when I demanded proof of these high bills. I have overpaid on electric being with Arcadia.
It is not clear to me that Arcadia is legit. I am in Maryland. I signed up for community solar in May 2021 and here it is December 2022 and I am still not on solar. Not clear what their problem is – they keep telling me it can take a “month or two to see your savings”. A month or twenty seems more like it.
Solar is available in D.C.
Thank you Carrie.
Truth in advertising is lacking here. When I checked on the Arcadia website for “Community Solar availability” in my zip code, it told me “Good news! Community solar is available in your zip code XXXXX”. When I checked my account, it now states that the solar option is planned for May 2023. So it seems that I’m basically using Arcadia as a middle-man to pay my utility bill…I’m not helping the environment, nor saving any money. Disappointing to be sucked in with a false advertisement.
Stefan, I too got sucked into it in the same way! Yes, using Arcadia as a middleman to pay your utility bills. I did hear that I will be getting some savings this month (Jan 2023), so lets see. They had some reps go door to door to enroll people into some credits, so I will see how that works.
Thanks for taking the time to post this- found it very informative. Happened to find your article while searching if Arcadia is a legit business or if I got suckered into a scam. Now I feel better as your article helped me understand what the business is all about.
I’m always confused by the comments about how Arcadia is a “scam”. I’ve been with Arcadia for a couple of years now. I don’t remember exactly how or when I signed up with them, but I did it specifically for the environmental impact. I like the idea of promoting clean energy. Where I live solar panels are not an option so this is my way of trying to give back. I pay the $5/month as I’m not in a “community solar” area. I have not done a side by side comparison but my electric bill is certainly no higher than typical. I don’t know if I’m getting scammed or not, but I do know that going with my local energy company would mean ZERO renewable energy options.
I live in Washington DC, and therefore I am eligible for Arcadia’s community solar program. I signed up with them in March 2022 based on a flyer I got in the U.S. mail. I received a $75 signup bonus from Arcadia – enough to cover two month’s of my electric bill (which averages around $35 a month). My experience with Arcadia has been good overall. Here are specific pros and cons:
Pro 1. Signup was very easy and I can cancel at any time,
Pro 2. I got a $75 credit just for signing up (and this is before my monthly savings).
Pro 3. Over a period of about 9 months, I have saved 4.84% off what the electric utility in DC (it’s called Pepco, for Potomac Electric Power Company) would have charged me.
Pro 4. Arcadia has a slick feature where they provided me with an Arcadia-unique email address that I can use to log into my utility company (pepco.com) and see the content of my Pepco account. This enables me to independently verify what’s on my Arcadia bill and what my monthly savings are.
Con 1. I found Arcardia’s marketing material to be a bit misleading. I thought I was going to save literally 10% off my monthly Pepco bill. Instead, I am saving 10% of the CNM (Community Net Metering) credit that Arcadia earns. This 10% will vary from month to month depending on the performance of the solar farm to which my account is associated. I have seen my savings fall going from summer to fall to winter. As spring 2023 approaches, I hope to see the savings rise as the solar farm becomes more productive. As noted above, my actual savings has been 4.84% (not including the signup bonus, which covered two months of electricity for free).
That’s it. Knowing what I’ve learned over the past 9 months, I would still sign up with Arcadia. I’ve saved (and will continue to save) money every month, and every penny counts.
They over allocated credits to my account by 100% for 6 months straight, causing me to overpay the utility by nearly $700, double what my actual usage charges were. This is despite my having called them multiple times demanding they reduce the amount of credits they were allocating to me. Then when I moved with this credit balance an agent sent me copy pasta about how the credits were not transferrable to my new address. Thankfully I was able to get the credits transferred by contacting the utility directly, but all this company cares about is getting your $$$$. Not worth the hassle, avoid them.
We joined Arcadia in February and have been extremely disappointed regarding savings. In actuality, we’ve paid hundreds more than we were paying with budget billing through our utility company. While I am certainly all for renewable energy, we can’t afford it. We have a solar water heater, there are only three of us in a 1500 sq. ft. townhouse. We shouldn’t be paying nearly $500 a month for electricity! Hubby is canceling tomorrow!
Anyone considering signing up with Arcadia should take a look at what the BBB (Better Business Bureau) website has about them.
Last year, something happened and they stopped paying my bill. I had bills from my supplier in the hundreds.
Then, all of a sudden, they came back saying I was now being enrolled in a new way to pay and I would be on a side-by-side payment method. This meant I was about to pay them and my supplier around the same amount, theirs being higher than I had been paying all year to my supplier.
I asked about it and they just kept coming back with no real answer. I found that my credit card had had expired so let it run. Now they have cancelled my account.
Signed up last summer (2022) via a door-to-door solicitation in Chicago. I have 4 meters, so that should have gotten the salesguy all excited. Its been 15 months. I cant see how they calculate the bills. The only data they give you is KwH each month. The final monthly bills for 15 months are all over the place (not a straight line relationship with KwH used) though bills are reasonably similar to before. Only prob is that only 1 of my 4 meters is actually connected to a solar farm so far. Been over a year — could solar farms be that in demand?
I live in Rockville, Md. I started with CleanChoice Energy, and this year they switched me to Arcadia. I seem happy with the change, but would like to know the connection between CleanChoice and Arcadia. Both seem to be suppliers of green electricity, but not producers themselves. I get my electricity still through PEPCO.
I enrolled in a service in NY, and it did not live up to its advertisement. Immediately after signing up, my electric bill surged by $180. Furthermore, they mandate a 90-day period to fully terminate the service, meaning I’m expected to pay approximately $400 per month for the next three months. This is exorbitant compared to my usual bill of around $200.
While they might be a legitimate company, their advertising tactics and staff approach are misleading and seem predatory. They give the impression that your bills will decrease, but in reality, they increase. Their business model is intentionally vague, leading to unpredictable expenses.
I was considering becoming a client until I read these recent reviews. Arcadia’s marketing information appears to be suspect, as their calculated savings for customers are based on a metering system that has minimal impact on the final Pepco bill. Even more detrimental to the customer is that the accounting system computes bills in a manner unrelated to usage. So, thank you to the reviewers for saving me a considerable amount of time and potential headaches.
Just wanted to let you know that in NY as a customer of National Grid, I am billed by my provider and not Arcadia. Arcadia is on my National Grid bill as a credit. I don’t think I would have signed up otherwise. I realize we are one of a very few places this billing is available for. It’s only been two months so I haven’t seen any savings yet, but I do have shares on a solar farm in Brockport NY so time will tell if this is going to be beneficial.
That helps Cheryl. Thank you very much. Interested to see what you find. Seems experience is vastly different across different state lines.
I tried to get behind this solar community idea. After being a customer for 6 years, I can confidently say I ended up losing money. After countless “issues with my solar farm” and being bounced from farm to farm with little to no benefits, I wanted to cancel, but still stayed since it was difficult to cancel, and they take control of your utility provider account (COMED in my case). Arcadia routinely charged me erroneously high bills higher than direct from COMED (some were exactly double my bill ) and refused to refund it. I spent many hours talking to them on the phone and via email, without any explanation or resolution.
So as a customer in Colorado while yes technically you save know it’s only like 3 bucks a month . It took 4 months to get on a farm. But they were still charging you and if you wish to cancel because you’re really not saving money, it will take them another 3 to 4 months to let you cancel while you still pay them so kinda not really worth the hassle of joining