Solar Freedom State Law

California Solar Contract Rights: What Every Homeowner Must Know (2026)

Review solar-contract consumer information for California, including records to gather and official sources to verify. Options depend on facts and current law.

California Gave You More Rights Than Any Other State. Did Your Solar Company Follow the Rules?

The Golden State has the most detailed solar consumer protection laws in the country. Most homeowners have no idea how many boxes their installer failed to check.

Home Improvement Contract Law + Home Solicitation Sales Act

Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 7159 / Civil Code § 1689.5

Extended to 5 days for seniors (65+) under SB 784 (2026). If the Notice of Cancellation was not provided in 10-point font, the window may be legally extended indefinitely.

Let's be clear about something: solar energy is one of the best things to happen to California homeowners in decades. The technology is real. The savings potential is real. The environmental benefit is real. What is not okay — what has never been okay — is the way thousands of California families were sold these systems. Rushed signatures at kitchen tables. Savings projections that assumed utility rates would triple. Tax credit "refund checks" that never existed. That is not solar. That is fraud. And California law has very specific tools to address it.

#1

State for solar consumer protection laws

5 days

Cancellation window for seniors under SB 784

80%

Change in export credits under NEM 3.0 vs. legacy net metering

§ 7159

The California code that voids most bad solar contracts

The Question Every California Solar Homeowner Should Ask: Did They Follow the Law?

California Business & Professions Code § 7159 is the most detailed home improvement contract law in the country. It requires solar contracts to include specific language, specific font sizes, specific disclosures about the right to cancel, and a specific "Solar Energy System Disclosure Document" — all before you sign. If any of these elements are missing, the contract may be legally unenforceable. Not "hard to enforce." Unenforceable.

What § 7159 Requires (And What Most Installers Skip)

• The Solar Energy System Disclosure Document must be provided in 16-point bold type before signing — not buried in an appendix
• The contract must clearly state the total price including all dealer fees, finance charges, and soft costs
• The "Notice of Right to Cancel" must be on a separate page in 10-point font — not part of the main contract
• The installer's CSLB license number must appear on the contract — if it's missing or invalid, the agreement may be unenforceable
• If the salesperson spoke to you in Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, the contract must be provided in that language (Civil Code § 1632)

The NEM 3.0 Betrayal: Why Thousands of California Homeowners Were Sold a System That No Longer Makes Sense

On April 15, 2023, the California Public Utilities Commission implemented Net Energy Metering 3.0 — the "Net Billing Tariff." For homeowners on legacy NEM 1.0 or NEM 2.0, nothing changed. But for anyone who signed a contract after that date, the math changed dramatically. Export credits dropped by 75–80%. A system that would have paid for itself in 7 years under NEM 2.0 now takes 12–15 years under NEM 3.0. If a sales rep promised you NEM 2.0 economics after April 2023 — or rushed you to sign "before the deadline" using false urgency — that is a material misrepresentation.

The "sign before the deadline" tactic is one of the most common forms of solar fraud in California. If you were told you needed to sign immediately to "lock in" a rate, incentive, or program that was about to expire — and that claim was false — you may have grounds to void the contract entirely.

SB 784: California's 2026 Solar Transparency Act

Effective January 1, 2026, SB 784 requires lenders to conduct a live "Confirmation Call" before any solar loan is finalized. The purpose is to ensure you actually understood what you were signing. If your lender skipped this call, rushed through it, or conducted it in a language you don't speak fluently, the loan agreement may be rescindable under this new law. Additionally, SB 784 extends the cancellation window to 5 business days for homeowners over 65.

The Tax Credit Lie That Trapped Thousands of California Families

The federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is a powerful incentive — but it is a non-refundable tax credit, not a cash refund. If you owe $0 in federal taxes, you get $0 back. If you owe $5,000, you get $5,000 — not $15,000. Thousands of California homeowners were told by sales reps that they would receive a "check in the mail" for 30% of their system cost. When that check never arrived, their loan payment ballooned because the lender expected that credit to pay down the principal. If this happened to you, it is textbook fraud in the inducement — and it is one of the strongest grounds available to void a California solar contract.

IMPORTANT: The federal residential solar tax credit (26 USC § 25D) expired for homeowners on December 31, 2025. If a sales rep promised you a 30% tax credit in 2026, they committed fraud. Full stop.