Rental homes in a Kalaeloa neighborhood where residents were once hit with utility bills as high as $700 a month are set to get a solar system.

Milwaukee-based EnSync Energy Systems said last week it signed a contract with Kalaeloa Makai Residential Development to install photovoltaic panels on nearly all three- and four-bedroom units at the residential development in West Oahu to power common areas in the complex.

“We’re pleased to have signed this power purchase agreement which provides electricity savings to the people in the Kalaeloa Makai residential development,” said Brad Hansen, CEO and president of EnSync Energy Systems, in a prepared statement. “EnSync Energy has multiple large-scale projects under development in the Kalaeloa area that will improve the lives of hundreds of people.”

Ted Peck, lead developer at Holu Energy, said the 670-kilowatt project will likely be complete within a year. Peck declined to disclose the contract price.

The Kalaeloa Makai rental homes are part of a larger community including two other neighborhoods, ­Mahana and Kaimana.

Residents of the community were plagued with high utility bills — which included water, sewer and electricity in one bill — until the owner and manager of Kalaeloa Rental Homes installed individual electrical meters at each home to give the residents control over a portion of the monthly bills. Previously, many of the homes didn’t have meters, and bills were based on square footage and number of occupants. The neighborhoods, which were built as military housing, used to have water, sewage and electricity paid for by the Navy and didn’t have separate meters.

In October the owners of the property installed individual electrical meters at all of the homes.

Since the installation, residents pay based on their own meters and a flat-rate charge for common areas. The solar installation will reduce residents’ individual electrical bills.

The solar power production will offset the costs for some planned common-area improvements, said Zach Bernstein, a spokesman for the property owner, Boston-­based Rockpoint Group LLC.

Rockpoint plans on putting in swimming pools, barbecue grills, a pavilion and a gathering area.

“That goal is to keep the common-area fee close to where it is right now,” Bernstein said.

Rockpoint is also looking to implement resource conservation projects at the property, substituting energy-efficient lighting for incandescent bulbs and changing to low-flow faucets and shower heads.

The Navy still provides water and sewage service to the three neighborhoods.

State Rep. Andria Tupola (R, Kalaeloa-Ko Olina-Maili), who hosted meetings for residents who were hit with high utility bills, said she plans to coordinate a meeting with Rockpoint to update renters on the new solar system as well as a potential change in the community’s water company.

“It would be a good time to retouch it because it’s been a year since the issue,” she said.