Six Questions to Ask Before You Sign a Solar Contract

A solar proposal should be understandable before you sign it. If you cannot identify the full price, the equipment being installed, the company responsible for service and what happens when you sell your home, a promised low monthly payment is not enough.

Request the cash price and total financed payments separately, confirm contractor identity and license, and examine any production or savings assumptions. Ask about cancellation and transfer terms in the actual contract; do not assume every solar transaction has the same cancellation rights.

Quick answer: what should be resolved before signing a solar contract?

Do not sign until six items are answered in writing: the exact equipment and work scope; the complete cash and financed cost; the utility and bill assumptions; ownership, service and warranty responsibility; sale, refinance and roof-work terms; and payment, cancellation and change-order terms. If any answer remains unresolved, pause the decision.

For a California proposal, compare the contract and financing documents with the current CPUC Solar Consumer Protection Guide and the completed CSLB solar disclosure. Independently verify the contractor and any home improvement salesperson. A verbal assurance, sales badge or projected monthly savings is not a substitute for the signed documents.

Current IRS guidance says the homeowner Residential Clean Energy Credit is unavailable for property placed in service after December 31, 2025. A new 2026 proposal should not treat the former 30% credit as an automatic homeowner discount or required loan prepayment.

1. What exactly am I buying?

Ask for the final system size, expected production, equipment make and model, roof layout, battery capacity if included, and a written description of the work. Confirm who owns the equipment under the agreement and whether any substitute equipment requires your approval.

2. What is the complete price?

Request the cash price and a line-item scope that identifies included and excluded roof, electrical, trenching, permitting and backup work. If financing is involved, compare amount financed, APR, fees, term, scheduled payment changes and total payments—not only the advertised monthly payment.

For property placed in service after December 31, 2025, the IRS says the homeowner Residential Clean Energy Credit is unavailable. A 2026 proposal should not subtract the expired 30% credit from your price or assume you will use it for a large loan prepayment.

3. Which utility and bill assumptions support the estimate?

Confirm the utility and tariff from your own bill. Ask how imports, exports, time-of-use periods, fixed charges and any remaining utility bill are modeled. For a California Net Billing Tariff estimate, ask how much energy is expected to be used at home versus exported and what source supports the credit assumptions.

4. Who is responsible after installation?

Verify the contracting business and any home improvement salesperson directly through the California Contractors State License Board—not through a badge or link supplied only by the salesperson. Identify the installer, equipment manufacturers, monitoring provider and service contact. Read workmanship, roof-penetration, equipment and battery warranties separately. Ask who responds to alerts, how to make a claim, what labor or travel is excluded and what happens if the original installer is no longer available.

5. What happens if I sell, refinance or need roof work?

For a loan, lease, PPA or property assessment, get the written payoff, assumption, transfer, approval and fee process. Ask how roof removal and reinstallation are arranged and priced. Never rely on a verbal assurance that the next buyer can simply take over the agreement.

6. When do payments start, and what if the plan changes?

Ask what event starts loan payments, lease payments or PPA billing, and what happens if a survey, permit, inspection or utility approval is delayed. Review cancellation rights and deadlines in the actual documents. If price, equipment, layout or schedule changes, request the revised terms in writing before agreeing.

A calm final review

Take time to read the solar contract and any financing agreement as separate documents. Verify claims with the utility, official agency, lender or program administrator named in the paperwork. The California Solar Consumer Protection Guide and the FTC’s homeowner guidance can help you prepare questions.

Start with the home energy checkup to organize your bill, roof and goals. Explore provider options when you are ready to compare written proposals.

What a useful answer looks like

For equipment, a useful answer lists exact models and a substitution approval process. For cost, it identifies the cash price, exclusions and the financed total. For service, it names the responsible business and points to the written warranty. A confident verbal answer is not a substitute for those documents.

Unresolved is a valid checklist result. If a salesperson cannot identify who will install the system, explain a payment increase or provide the agreement for you to read, leave that item unresolved and pause the decision. Do not treat an empty box as a promise.

Use one example to test the provider's six answers

Imagine the installer changes the proposed inverter after you receive the first quote. Apply the six questions again instead of asking only whether the replacement is 'equivalent.' What exact model will be installed? Does the cash price change? Does modeled output or utility treatment change? Who services that model? Does the change affect roof access or future transfer? Does it alter the installation schedule or payment trigger? A practical change exposes whether the answers are specific enough to use.

Request a revised equipment list and any corresponding production or price revisions in the contract packet. If the installer says there is no effect on a particular issue, ask it to state that explanation in writing. You are not trying to collect more paperwork for its own sake. You are making sure the project you approve is the project the contractor expects to deliver, with changes visible to both parties.

Ask who answers each question after the salesperson leaves

Identify the person or department responsible for design, scheduling, finance questions and service. Ask how to obtain a written response if the sales representative changes roles or becomes unavailable. A company may use subcontractors for some work; clarify which business remains your contractual point of contact for the completed system. Save the legal business name and account or project identifier along with the representative's name.

Then try the service process before relying on it. Ask where an owner reports an inverter alert, how the provider distinguishes monitoring trouble from lost generation and what information it needs. Ask who contacts the utility about an interconnection delay. The answer should describe a process rather than promising that 'someone will handle it.' These operational details help you compare the provider's ongoing responsibility with the attractive features of the proposal.

Reconcile the proposal, contract and financing packet

Put the sales proposal beside the installation agreement and financing documents. Compare the property address, equipment scope, cash price, financed principal, payment schedule and named companies. Locate every promise that materially influenced your choice: included roof work, a production commitment, labor coverage or a deadline. Ask where it appears in the signed agreement and how a conflict between documents is resolved.

If one document shows a battery and another excludes it, pause the comparison until corrected versions agree. Similarly, an estimate of the 'net cost' after an assumed benefit should not replace the actual amount you must pay. Keep the corrected packet together rather than signing an incomplete set on the expectation that an attachment will arrive later. A useful final review verifies consistency across the transaction, not just whether each page has a signature box.

Make the final approval a household decision

Have the people responsible for the household budget review the largest required payment, remaining utility estimate, roof condition and likely moving plans. Ask each person to explain what the agreement requires if production disappoints or income falls. If the answer depends on an uncertain refinance, unapproved incentive or unspecified buyer taking over the agreement, identify that dependency before committing.

Finish with a short unresolved-questions list. Assign each question to the contractor, financing party, utility, insurer or independent adviser who can answer it. Keep a copy of the answer with the contract. This is a practical way to prevent a question about electrical work from being answered only by a finance representative, or a question about lending terms from being answered only by an installer.

Frequently asked questions

Questions worth asking

• What equipment, system size and work scope are in the signed contract?
• What is the cash price and total scheduled cost, including fees?
• Which utility tariff, export values and remaining bill are assumed?
• Who owns the system and who handles warranty service?
• What are the written sale, transfer, payoff and roof-work terms?
• When do payments start, and what happens if approval or scope changes?
• What cancellation notice and deadline appear in my California solar documents?
• Which promises are written into the contract rather than stated only by a salesperson?