Customer Support Center
How may we assist you?
Unable to find what you need? Contact us at info@solsystems.com
Getting Started
You can get started on your Sustainable Choice sign up by visiting our website’s home page at www.thesustainablechoice.com and selecting any of the “Yes, I Want In” buttons on the page.
First, you’ll enter in your name and email, then confirm acceptance of the terms and conditions.
From there, you will receive a Welcome and sign-up email from Sol Systems guiding you to the next step in enrollment process. Once you create and verify a password, you will gain access to your personal dashboard where you will complete account set up by entering the service address of the property you wish to enroll in Sustainable Choice, followed by setting up your preferred payment method and making a plan selection.
Your service will begin at a default electricity consumption amount of 907 kWh. This is the average electric usage of a U.S. household. You will also find an option to connect directly to your electric service provider to sync your electric consumption data with Sustainable Choice.
If you have any questions, please be sure to reach out to our Customer Support team for assistance by emailing us at info@solsystems.com. You can also reach out to us by phone at (888) 235-1538 between 9am and 5pm EST, Monday through Friday.
Make sure you are entering the email address used to create your Sustainable Choice account. The system will only accept the valid email address on file with Sustainable Choice. If you have forgotten your password, click on the “Forgot Your Password” link on the sign-in page. We also recommend you clear your internet browser’s cookies and cache. You can also try logging in using a different browser. When trying to access directly from an email in Gmail, you may need to copy the link and try in a new browser outside of Gmail. If you are still unable to access your personal portal, call us at 1-(888)-235-1538.
If you have forgotten your password, click on the “Forgot Your Password” link on the sign-in page. If you are still unable to access your personal portal, call us at 1-(888)-235-1538.
The personal dashboard is where you can track your renewable energy progress, as well as the cumulative progress of the Sustainable Choice community. Within your dashboard, you can also perform the following actions:
- Review, download, and print statements
- Add, change, or cancel your renewable energy plan
- Add new service addresses and new plans
- Update or change payment methods
- Check payment status
- Connect to and update the connection to your utility energy data
- Refer friends and family
Sustainable Choice will continue to add new features and functions over time based on customer feedback.
Plan Management
Please login into your personal dashboard and scroll down to “Your Plan”. Your current plan will be shown here. If you wish to upgrade or change your plan, please click “Change Plan” and follow the prompts.
Note: that when you click “Change Plan”, a window will pop up entitled “Choose Your Plan”. Within the “Choose Your Plan” window, you will find the available options with a comparison to your current plan. If you decide to remain with your current plan, simply close out of the “Choose Your Plan” window by clicking on the “X” just above the top right of the “Choose Your Plan” window.
Sustainable Choice does not have any cancellation fees and you are welcome to cancel your account at any time.
If you wish to cancel your account, there are three ways you can quickly accomplish this task.
Self-Service: You can easily log-in to your Sustainable Choice personal dashboard. Scroll down to “Manage Your Account” and underneath you will see each property you have enrolled in Sustainable Choice. Click on the property where you wish to cancel Sustainable Choice and select “Manage Address”. Your address will appear and you will see a link entitled “deactivate address”. Click “deactivate address” and your plan will be canceled for that particular property. If you wish to cancel more than one property repeat this process for each address.
Email: Please email us at info@solsystems.com from the email on file with your account and use the subject line ‘Cancel My Account’. Our team will process these requests in the order they are received.
Phone: You can also reach out to us by phone at 1- (888) 235-1538. One of our renewable energy experts can assist you in cancellation.
Statements & Payment
You can always find your Sustainable Choice statements at any time in your personal dashboard. Once logged in to your dashboard a “Statements” link appears at the top of the screen. Click the “Statements” link and you will find all your statements for each property address with Sustainable Choice. Each statement can be downloaded as a pdf.
Each month Sustainable Choice will send out an email where you can also find a view of the monthly statement.
Please login to your Sustainable Choice personal portal and click the “Statements” link at the top of the screen. All your statements can be found here. Each statement can be downloaded as a pdf and printed out for your records.
If you have connected your Sustainable Choice plan to your utility energy data, we determine your bill date by the day that your utility issues your monthly bill. Our system is automated to send out your Sustainable Choice statement by email as soon as we receive the monthly electricity usage from your utility. Within 24 hours of sending your email statement, Sustainable Choice will begin to process payment. If the payment does process properly, we will send you an email and retry the payment again in two (2) days. Sustainable Choice will make three (3) attempts to process payment. After three (3) attempts, your Sustainable Choice plan will be temporarily suspended until such time as payment method can be updated.
If your plan is not connected to your utility energy data, a new statement is generated on the first day of every month and an email statement is sent to the email address you used to sign up for Sustainable Choice. Seven (7) days later we will process payment. If the payment does process properly, we will send you an email and retry the payment again in two (2) days. Sustainable Choice will make three (3) attempts to process payment. After three (3) attempts, your Sustainable Choice plan will be temporarily suspended until such time as payment method can be updated.
If your Sustainable Choice subscription is connected to your energy data, the statement and payment process follows your utility’s billing schedule. Most utility billing cycles are around thirty (30) days. Several factors may cause the monthly billing cycle to be cut short or extended. Factors such as holidays, weekends, severe weather, or utility business disruption events may affect your billing cycle.
To update payment method, please login to your Sustainable Choice personal dashboard. Scroll down to “Manage Your Account” and view the left panel entitled “Latest Payment”. In this panel you will find your current payment method and underneath a link called “Update Payment Method”. Click the “Update Payment Method” link and follow the prompts to update your current payment method or to add a new payment method.
If you encounter any issues, please contact us at info@solsystems.com or call 1-(888) 235-1538 to speak a renewable energy expert.
Each month, Sustainable Choice will process your payment automatically using your preferred payment method. If your card expires, is reported stolen, you obtain a new card, or you place a freeze or hold on the card, then Sustainable Choice will be unable to process your payment. To resume your renewable energy plan, please update your payment information.
Unsuccessful payments may also occur if your bank or credit card provider denies the transaction. This can happen if the financial institution suspects fraud or other suspicious activity. In some cases, when traveling abroad or attempting to update payment while overseas, can trigger a payment failure. To resume your renewable energy plan, you will need to contact your financial institution directly to approve the transaction.
Former Arcadia customers can find answers to statement and billing questions, and a host of other questions, at: Customer Support Center – Sustainable Choice (thesustainablechoice.com).
Energy Data
Note: Before going through these steps you will need your utility account number, as well as your utility account username and password. Once you have this information at your fingertips, you should be able to quickly connect to your energy data.
At the setup of your Sustainable Choice account, a default energy usage value of 907 kWh was established for you. 907 kWh is the national average household electricity consumption, according to the Energy Information Administration.
If you wish, you can connect to your actual monthly utility data. Within your Sustainable Choice portal, under Energy Usage, you will find the option to establish a utility connection. Click to connect to your utility. You will be prompted to enter the zip code for the property you wish to enroll in energy data sharing. Once the zip code is entered, you will see a list of supported utility connections in that zip code. Find your utility and proceed to the next step.
Please enter your utility account username and password, as if logging into your utility account. We will then connect your energy data to Sustainable Choice. Once connected you may to refresh your browser to view the energy data connection.
If you encounter any issues, please contact one of our renewable energy experts at info@solsystems.com or 1- (888) 235-1538
Sustainable Choice can establish an energy data connect with most, but not all U.S. electric utilities, electric co-ops, and municipal electric providers. If you cannot find you electric utility in our pre-populated menu, then we are unable to support a data connection to that particular utility at this time.
In case, where we cannot connect to your utility data, your Sustainable Choice plan will use the default 907kWh (the national average).
Gifts and Referrals
Coming Soon
Shortly, Sustainable Choice will provide customers with the ability to refer a friend, family member, or colleague directly from your personal portal. This new capability will provide a link that you can share in an email or other electronic message to others that want to join in accelerating renewable energy. More updates to come.
Coming Soon
Yes, Sustainable Choice is working to make it possible to gift renewable energy to others. We expect to have gifting capabilities available prior to the 2024 holiday season.
RECs & Impact
Please visit our knowledge center to learn about Renewable Energy Certificates, how they work, and how they accelerate the transition to clean energy.
Sustainable Choice matches your electric consumption with Renewable Energy Certificates. If you are connected to utility energy data, we use your actual consumption. If you are not connected to utility, we average U.S. household electric consumption of 907 kilowatt hours (kWh) as a default. We track energy usage each month. At the end of every quarter, Sustainable Choice procures and retires RECs for the entire customer portfolio. The quarterly process ensures we can find the highest-quality RECs for each Sustainable Choice plan type while keeping prices affordable.
In our first year of operation, we will produce an annual REC report and make it available to all customers. In this report, customers will see the number of RECs retired and the source facilities. The report will also include the cumulative impact of the REC purchases made.
After the first year, Sustainable Choice will produce and share the REC report on a quarterly basis. Additionally, we are exploring how to best make the reports available in your personal dashboard to make them easy to find and review.
Joining Sustainable Choice not only helps transition the U.S. energy supply to cleaner sources, but also supports community impact projects. A portion of every purchase contributes to the Sol Systems Community Impact Fund, which invests in job creation, environmental education, restoration projects and energy efficiency in underserved communities. Sustainable Choice will report on progress as projects are funded and delivered.
To learn more, please visit: Impact – Sol Systems
Can’t find what you need? Contact an expert!
Email our team of renewable energy experts at info@solsystems.com
or call us at 1-(888) 235-1538
Monday-Friday 9 am – 5 pm EST
FAQs for Former Arcadia Customers
Account Access
The most likely cause will be your password. Please review the following recommendations that will
address most of the password issues you are likely to encounter:
- Use of New Password: Ensure you’ve received the email to set a new password after your
account migration to Sol Systems. - Attempting to Use Old Passwords: Avoid using any autosaved or autofill old passwords.
- Clear cookies and/or cache:
- For Chrome: Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data > Choose
‘Cookies and other site data’ and ‘Cached images and files’ > Clear data. - For Firefox: Menu > Options > Privacy & Security > Clear Data > Select ‘Cookies and Site
Data’ and ‘Cached Web Content’ > Clear. - For Safari: Preferences > Privacy > Manage Website Data > Remove All.
- For Microsoft Edge: Settings > Privacy & security > Choose what to clear > Select
‘Cookies and saved website data’ and ‘Cached data and files’ > Clear.
- For Chrome: Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data > Choose
Please also note that on the Sol Systems’ company website (www.solsystems.com) there is a button labeled “SREC Login”. This is different from the Sustainable Choice login. The SREC Login on our company website is for installers or owners of solar installations participating in our solar aggregation programs. These programs are different from Sustainable Choice. To access your Sustainable Choice account please navigate to and bookmark https://dashboard.thesustainablechoice.com/
For continued login issues, please contact our Customer Service team at info@solsystems.com or
1-(888) 235-1538.
Access your personal dashboard by logging into: https://dashboard.thesustainablechoice.com/
Please use the email address associated with Sustainable Choice as your username and the password you created at sign-up or most recently updated.
If you forgot your password, simply click on “Forgot Your Password” and you will receive an email at the email address associated with your Sustainable Choice account that will enable you to set up a new password.
For continued login issues, please contact our Customer Service team at info@solsystems.com or
1-(888) 235-1538, Monday through Friday, 9 am – 5 pm ET
Billing
Some former Arcadia customers enrolled in a service called AutoPay. This service has also gone by the name Bundle and BillPay. For consistency we will refer to the service as BillPay.
Customers enrolled in the BillPay service enabled Arcadia with 1) access to their electric utility account and 2) the ability for Arcadia to consolidate the customer’s monthly electric bill with the Arcadia Renewable Energy Credit membership fee into a single bill.
Customers with this service maintained electric service with their existing utility or electric service provider. The BillPay service did not switch their electric provider.
For example, if a customer receives electric service from ACME Energy Utility and customer signs up for BillPay service, the customer is still an ACME Energy Utility customer. When problems with electrical service occur, the customer reaches out to ACME Energy Utility to restore electric service.
Yes. Sustainable Choice has relabeled AutoPay and Bundle as BillPay to avoid confusion for customers. Sustainable Choice will continue to offer BillPay to former Arcadia customers for as long as it is supported. If previously enrolled in BillPay for electric utility bills with Arcadia, you will continue to enjoy the BillPay consolidation service as a Sustainable Choice customer as long as it remains viable. Per our arrangement with Arcadia, Sustainable Choice will continue to use Arcadia’s ARC Platform that connects members with their utility accounts. The Sustainable Choice platform is connected to the Arcadia platform. This is the same platform used when you were an Arcadia customer.
Sol Systems’ Sustainable Choice program relies upon the Arcadia ARC software to provide timely and updated electric billing information, so that we can properly perform the BillPay service. There are situations beyond our control that may disrupt our ability to process timely payment. The common issues are as follows:
- Utilities may upgrade or make changes to their billing systems or billing format
- Utilities may take their billing platforms or websites down for scheduled maintenance.
- Utility billing platforms may go down or otherwise become unavailable.
- Utilities may change their account login procedures such as requiring multi-factor authentication (MFA), no longer accept customer-created usernames, change password strength requirements, or take other measures that may disrupt account access.
- Utilities may change account number frameworks.
When these issues occur, Sustainable Choice will make every effort to send notifications alerting customers to these types of problems. In some cases, if the utility connection is interrupted when your monthly utility bill is created by the local utility, it may result in an inability for Arcadia’s Arc platform to send the necessary usage and billing information to Sustainable Choice. While rare, this can result in a missed utility bill. In such cases, Sustainable Choice may need customers to pay their local utility directly for a particular period to avoid any issues until such time as BillPay service can be restored.
Yes, you will still be able to log into your utility account.
Please be advised that some utilities require the utility account username to be an email. If your utility account username was not an email at the time you signed up for Arcadia BillPay, then Arcadia changed the username on file with your utility to a unique Arcadia email. Arcadia took this step to ensure that their billing system received your e-bill and generated your consolidated statement. Your utility password was not changed.
If you need the email username Arcadia created for your local utility account, you can find it within the welcome email sent to you by Arcadia from when you first signed up for their services. There will be a line in that welcome email that includes the Arcadia email. If you need your unique Arcadia email, please contact the Arcadia Customer Support team at support@arcadia.com or by phone at (866) 526-0083 between 9am and 7pm EST, Monday through Friday.
Payments
If you are enrolled in BillPay (consolidated billing), we determine your bill date by the day that your local utility issues your monthly bill. Our system is automated to send out your Sustainable Choice statement by email as soon as we receive the monthly electricity usage from your local utility. After 48 hours, Sustainable Choice will begin to process payment which will be scheduled for the nearest Tuesday or Thursday. If we are unable to process the payment, we will send you a notification email, then retry the payment again on next Tuesday or Thursday. If your payment continues to be unsuccessful, your Sustainable Choice plan will be temporarily suspended until such time as payment method can be updated, or other issues preventing payment can be resolved. In such cases, we will notify you if you need to pay your electric utility bill directly to the local utility during the period in which Sustainable Choice is unable to process payment on your behalf.
If Sustainable Choice becomes aware of any inability to process your consolidated bill in a timely manner, we may reach out to BillPay customers to pay the local electric utility directly. This is done out of an abundance of caution to prevent utility bills from being missed, late fees being applied by the utility, or disconnection of electrical service by the utility.
This situation may occur if any of the following happen:
1. The payment method provided to Sustainable Choice has expired, is incorrect, is missing information, has been reported stolen, is frozen or blocked, or your payment method is otherwise invalid.
2. Your payment cannot be processed due to insufficient funds.
3. The payment is denied by your bank or credit card company.
4. The connection to your utility account has been disrupted either temporarily or permanently. See “What types of issues may disrupt the BillPay Service“.
5. A technical error occurred during the retrieval or receipt of your utility data.
If any of these issues occur, the Sustainable Choice system will alert you with a notification that may request a direct payment to the utility until such time as the issue is resolved.
Specific Utility Issues
Unfortunately, if you were signed up with Arcadia for BillPay or to connect your utility usage data, those services have been discontinued. As part of the agreement between Sol Systems and Arcadia, Sol Systems will continue to use Arcadia’s ARC software platform to interact with utilities. However, Arcadia has decided to no longer support a utility connection to Ameren.
We understand that you may have enjoyed one or both of these services through Arcadia in the past, and we sincerely regret that these changes are beyond our control. If signed up for BillPay with Arcadia, we must return utility bill payment back over to you, including any pending utility statements if you previously participated in Arcadia’s utility bill payment services.
To ensure all local utility bills are paid in a timely manner, you will need to take the following steps:
STEP 1: Log Into Your Ameren Account. Please visit www.ameren.com, select “residential” in the menu, then your state. This will take you to the customer login page. From here, please enter your username and password to access your Ameren account.
STEP 2: Update Your Payment Information and Preferences. Once within your Ameren account, please navigate to payment information and update your preferences such as auto-pay to ensure your existing and future utility bills are paid on time.
Completing these steps promptly will avoid any disruptions in your utility services.
You may remain on as a customer with Sustainable Choice to have your estimated energy usage matched with Renewable Energy Certificates. Since Arcadia will no longer provide a connection to actual energy usage data from Ameren, Sustainable Choice will use an estimated monthly energy usage of 907kWh, which is the amount of electricity an average home in the United States uses each month according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
We understand that changes like these can be inconvenient, but please be rest assured that they are necessary. Should you encounter any difficulties or have any questions about accessing your Ameren account or updating your Ameren payment information, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our dedicated customer support team via email at info@solsystems.com or by calling 1-(888) 235-1538.
Connecticut
In 2020, the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) proposed multiple changes to the rules and regulations concerning renewable energy certificates (Docket No. 16-12-29).
The proceedings around the regulatory changes have been ongoing for a years with multiple motions and extensions granted for the rule. This year, PURA took steps to establish February 29, 2024 as the final enforcement date of the rule.
In its final form, the rule is unclear on whether providers of voluntary renewable energy certificates (RECs) are considered suppliers of electricity and thus subject to a myriad of regulations formerly reserved for electric suppliers only. During the rulemaking process, the PURA was asked to clarify the treatment of voluntary RECs under the rule. In the final rule, the matter was not resolved. As a result, we believe we can no longer provide Sustainable Choice in Connecticut in the same manner as was provided by Arcadia. Accordingly, we have made the difficult decision to end our services in Connecticut until such a time the rules are clarified.
To that end, we are ending all sales of RECs in the state and cannot match RECs for customers going forward as of the effective date of February 29, 2024. This means we will not be able to match RECs to our customers’ March 2024 usage or any time thereafter.
Similarly, discontinuing our REC service means we will also stop BillPay, utility bill management services for Connecticut. Connecticut customers will need to pay power bills directly to their utility providers, as we will no longer be permitted to provide this service. It’s important for customers to update their utility account details to ensure bill notifications are sent directly to their personal email or home address, preventing missed payments.
Portable Panel Program
In the past, Arcadia offered a community solar-like service known as the Portable Panel Program. Subscribers receive a utility bill credit for the value of the electricity that the subscriber’s “Subscription Amount” produces. The Subscription Amount is the percentage of the total capacity of the solar panel system to which the subscriber subscribes.
Portable Panel customers were moved from Arcadia to Sol Systems’ Sustainable Choices during the transition. To honor Portable Panel Program customers, Sustainable Choices will provide a one-time payment to address any remaining balances customers had with the Arcadia program.
