OwlWhat you get
The full report
Expected versus actual production for your most recent completed contract year, the methodology, and the contract clause it was measured against. Earlier completed years are shown as a range. Written so your installer, a mediator, or a judge can follow it.
Exact figures, not a guess
Your shortfall (or surplus) in kilowatt-hours and in dollars at your own electric rate, exact for the most recent completed contract year. The numbers you would put in a letter.
PVWatts-based expected production
What your roof should have produced, modeled with the public NREL PVWatts model from your panel count, wattage, tilt, orientation and install date. Reproducible by anyone with the same inputs.
XLSX audit trail
Every daily figure, every input, every intermediate step, in a spreadsheet you can open, check and hand to someone else. The report is only as good as the evidence behind it, so you get all of it.
How it works
Upload your contract
The proposal or agreement with the annual kWh figure your installer put in writing. We find the production guarantee clause, the assessment period, and any cure terms. If there is no guarantee, we tell you and measure against the proposal estimate instead.
Connect your Enphase account
A read-only connection to the same production history your installer sees. No hardware, no site visit. The audit uses the vendor's own record, the number an installer cannot credibly dispute.
Get the report
Expected versus actual for your most recent completed contract year, shortfall in kWh and dollars, methodology, and the XLSX behind it. Earlier years appear as a range. You decide who sees it. We never contact your installer.
Optional: the OwlWatt Iris collector ($149) adds a second reading taken at your own gateway, for homeowners who want a watchdog on the vendor cloud. It is not needed for the audit.
My own result, first
I bought solar in 2024: a 12.75 kW Enphase system on my roof in Massachusetts. The first month's production looked off. When I asked my installer, they said it was within the expected range. When I asked what the range was, they said it varied. When I asked for the model behind it, they did not have one I could see.
So I pulled my own Enphase data and built the model myself. The 2024 data showed about an 11% shortfall against PVWatts for my latitude, tilt and panel specs. I sent a letter citing the model, the data, and the contract clause with the production guarantee. They acknowledged the shortfall and scheduled a panel-by-panel inspection within two weeks.
That is the audit: the same comparison I ran for myself, done for your roof. What happens after you send your report depends on your contract and your installer, and I make no promise about that. More on why OwlWatt exists.
Olivier Beauchemin, founder
Step zero: the free estimator
Before paying for anything, describe your system from six dropdowns and your ZIP code and get a modeled annual kWh range for a system like yours. Compare it to the total in your app. If you are within range, you may not need an audit. If you are well under it, you know the $79 is worth spending.
Run the free estimator →Honest limits
- Enphase only, today. The audit reads Enphase production history. SolarEdge is on the roadmap and not live. We will not sell you an audit we cannot run.
- Your system may be fine. That is a valid answer and a common one. You still get the full report, and it ends the nagging question.
- We do not recover money. The report documents the shortfall. Whether a claim is paid depends on your contract and, past a point, on a licensed attorney in your state. No recovery rate, no outcome promise.
- We never contact your installer. The report is yours. You send it, or you do not.
- It is a data audit, not a roof inspection. If the data shows a real gap, the report points a physical solar panel inspection at the right place. It does not replace one.
Questions people ask before they buy
Is this a solar panel inspection?
Not a physical one. Nobody climbs on your roof. An inspection checks the hardware: mounting, wiring, connectors, glass. The audit checks the output: whether the kilowatt-hours your system actually produced match what a system like yours, on your roof, should have produced. If the audit finds a real gap, a physical inspection is often the next step, and the report tells the inspector where to look. More on the difference in solar panel inspection: roof visit versus data check.
Do you come to my house?
No. The audit is done entirely from data. You upload your contract, connect your Enphase account, and we read the production history your gateway already recorded. There is no site visit and no hardware to install unless you choose the optional Iris collector.
What if my panels are fine?
Then the report says so, with the numbers. A clean audit is a valid and common result. You get the same full report: expected versus actual for your most recent completed contract year, the methodology, and the audit trail. It closes the question, and it is a useful document to keep if you ever sell the house.
Can I use the report with my installer or in small claims court?
The report is yours. It cites the contract clause, the model inputs, the data window, and the shortfall in kWh and dollars, and every figure is reproducible from the XLSX audit trail. Homeowners send it to their installer, attach it to a written demand, or bring it to small claims. We are not lawyers and the report is not legal advice; whether a claim is paid depends on your contract and, past a point, on an attorney in your state. See escalating a solar production claim.
What if I have SolarEdge or another inverter brand?
The audit works with Enphase systems today. SolarEdge is on the roadmap and not live; see the SolarEdge early-access list. We would rather say that plainly than sell you an audit we cannot run.
Do you recover the money or contact my installer?
No to both. We measure and document. We never contact your installer; you decide who sees the report. We make no promise about any dollar outcome, and you should be wary of anyone who does.
Why should I trust your number over my installer's?
Because we have nothing riding on the answer. OwlWatt sells no panels, installs nothing, and takes no referral fees or commissions from any installer or inverter vendor. Expected production comes from PVWatts, the public model published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, with every input listed so your installer can check it. The full method is on the methodology page.
What is the difference between the audit and the subscription?
The audit is a one-time report for $79 with exact figures for your most recent completed contract year; earlier completed years are shown as a range, not exact. The subscription, $9.99 a month or $87.89 a year, unlocks every year exactly, past and future, plus continuous measurement, alerts when production drifts, and each new year's report the day it closes. You can buy the audit alone and decide about watching afterward.
OwlWatt measures and documents your production. It does not determine whether an installer honors a claim, and it does not guarantee that you are paid.