SolarCity Reviews

If you like paying two utility companies a month then maybe you’ll like solar city. The panels don’t generate much energy, so I receive a utility bill around $400-500 a month from (BGE) my gas and electric company and a bill of $140 from Solar City. I’ve contacted both companies and was told from BGE that most of the electric being generated is coming from them. I reached out to Solar City and their response was the savings will come. When??? The worst part about Solar City is they promise you a lot up front and lock you into a RIDICULOUS contract. Getting solar panels with them is like signing your life away. I would discourage anyone from using their service.

Over Two years ago we had solar panels installed that was able to reduce our electric impute less than SMUD ,our average with SMUD was $90.00 A month ,The company told us in the contact that if they didn,t produce less on the second year,they would reimburse the difference ,We are paying over $90 a month plus a fee to SMUD of $24.00 ,Also Smud bills us year up to $400. for elect that The solar did not produce. They also would not reimburse the Differance . Best any one find another company for solar .Their customer service will not help with your claims. Even The CEO Of that Company will not reply to Several Letters sent to his HQ

I and my mother had Solar City install solar systems on each of our houses. Our houses are the same model and are next door to each other, some twenty five feet apart and are aligned in exactly the same direction. Our systems are the same except she has twelve panels and mine has sixteen. My system should produce one third more power than hers and the projected output over twenty years confirms this. The fact is, my system is producing one third less than hers on a daily basis. I called Solar City to report that my system is under-producing and their response was that they don't compare systems and that mine is doing what it should and they refused to send anyone out to ensure everything was hooked up properly. The team that installed our system put on the wrong inverter and someone else had to come out and install the right one. My concerns that other mistakes may have been made fell on deaf ears. Their policy seems to be unless they think there is a problem then there isn't one. Based on my experience with their tech team, it appears this company isn't as dedicated to their customers as they say. I understand the two-year anniversary reimbursement provision in the contract, but why wait two years to address what could be a problem right now? I received a phone call from Solar city about a month ago saying someone was going to come out and check our system-they didn't say why. When the service tech checked the system he discovered that the wiring in the inverter was not connected correctly so that half of the solar panels were not contributing to the total output. I now understand that my system is divided into two parts, called "pins" (as read from the digital display on the inverter). Each half is eight panels, so the readout from the inverter should indicate that "pin 1" and "pin 2" are producing roughly the same output which would add up to the total output. The tech showed me that one of the pins read "0". Well, this guy knew what he was doing and rewired the inverter so that the non-working panels were now connected, and thus doubled the output. My system is now producing about one third more power than the one next door, as it should. So here's what I know based on my experience: 1) It makes a difference which crew installs and connects the system. 2) Solar City(actually, Tesla) doesn't seem to take its customers seriously when they call with a concern. I was told twice that everything was fine and that my system was doing as it should, when I knew full well from projected output they supplied in the contract and by comparing my system to the one next door, that it was not. 3)Knowing how your system is set up and how to read the inverter is very useful-it would have been nice if that had been explained from the beginning so that I could have "proven" to the phone-in "techs" that it was under-producing. I don't know if my complaints prompted the call back that finally resulted in the system being fixed, or if someone at Solar City figured out for themselves that there was a problem, and only time will tell if this turns out to be a good deal or not. I am upgrading my rating a little, but Tesla needs to upgrade its customer service a lot.

They installed it everything was going good i told my rep that I was going to go all electric (water heater stove) on my home because I was getting a better cost on my solar than on propane so he said I would halfto wait a year with my new upgrades to see how many more panels they need to put up so I waited now they want me to put a second system up and charge me with two different bills with a way different rate on the second one and he said it wouldn’t really be cheaper than pg&e is charging me for the extra power I need the guy from SolarCity dan kue was kinda rude and didn’t really care what my rep before told me they have terrible service I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone I wish I never did It at all !!! And my solar was not working for a month and a half before they emailed me then they fixed it a month later broke again!!

I inherited a Solar City system. I almost didn't buy the house because of the system and I still think I should have walked away because it is unlikely I will be able to resell it in the future. The system provides only half the power is was projected to generate and I don't think I will ever see a payment for the power it didn't generate even though my contract says I will. The company provides no maintenance to the system. And now the website has been down for 2 months so I can't even determine why my Auto pay was discontinued and now I receive a monthly invoice for an amount different from that indicated in my contract. You'd think a call to customer service would help but all they do is generate an inquiry then never call back. It's hard to believe they are still in business except that they got rich off of early adopters. If this is how the Tesla self-driving car is going to work, I hope it never sees the showroom. I would give Solar City zero stars if I could.

Worst customer service ever. I have auto payment and last month they took out a different amount than the month before or this month. I called to find out why. I was told that they would summit an inquiry and get back to me in one week! I asked what I do If I dispute their findings. I did not get a specific answer. I am not allowed to talk directly to the department that deals with the billing and accounting. In addition, If I did not want to wait a long time on hold, they could get back to mi in 48 hours. Since I inherited the solar panels when I bought this house, I am stuck with the bad service.

They send out a contract and explain it one way and then once it is signed, it is explained in another way to benefit them. I have always said I want the SRECs and this is the contract I thought I was signing. It looked right when explained to me, NOW, they explain it differently and are demanding I sign something to give them authorization to get the SRECs. Get an attorney, better yet, find another company.

I inherited a SolarCity system when I bought my house. When the bill came I was charged a surcharge of $7 because I paid by check. I went online to set up an auto debit account, and guess what? Their website was down. Every month they charge me for paying by check, and every month I go to their website only to find that I cannot complete the auto debit information that they require to not bill me a surcharge. I have begged, pleaded, complained, and the answer is that I should call the billing department between 7am-7pm to give someone my credit card information. A., I work during those hours, and B., I’m not giving anyone my credit card number over the phone. Whomever designed their billing practices needs to go to business school. REWARD your customers for choosing the payment option that you would prefer; you don’t penalize them. I have never been so infuriated by a company.

Damaged my roof during instaltion. First steady rain after the installation we had rain pouring into our home. During installation they damaged/ ripped up the flashing around our roof vent and never repaired it. We had to have the roof repaired but not before 2 ceilings were damaged. The system they installed does not even cover 50% of my power needs, my lifetime power produced is only 43%. Solar City’s contract stated they would provide 90% of my power needs. I was promised that after a year they would upgrade my system free of charge if it was not meeting my needs. After a year I was told they would not upgrade my system because the panels are operating at 90% efficiency so they have met there contractual needs. Solar City stated I would only have 1 utility bill, but I have 2. When I tried to get the panels removed or upgraded I was told I signed a contract so there is nothing I can do. Solar City offered a paperless statement system, so I signed up. I tried to pay my bill online, but there website and app kept kicking me out and read that there was an error. Eventually was able to log in and pay my bill, but because I was late, I have been put on a daily calling list to harass me for not paying my bill (even though it has been paid) and they won’t remove me from the list. Everyday I get called by Solar city for non payment on an account that has been paid in full. Solar City is a non transparent company that will say anything to get you to sign a contract, but once that contract is signed and the panels are on your home the only time you get a call or action is when they are not getting money from you. Do not use this company.

From design through actually being able to use the panels took almost two years. In addition, they promised a $200 reward for getting others to contract with them. We referred our neighbors and have been trying to get that "reward" for 2 years now! They keep pushing it off, making us jump through hoops, and still nothing. I don't trust them. We stopped referring friends and neighbors years ago.

Do not do business wit these people. The design phase went well and installation was professionally done. but after that it took six months to get the system turned on. Why? Because if you lease your system, SC does not switch it on until the lease is "funded". They bundle leases into a package that they sell to investors. All those summer months when I should have been realizing the benefit of my solar array it was sitting useless on my roof. Their "so called" customer care people are incompetent as well. They are complete idiots. I had to find out on my own important details like how Net Energy Metering works. Now I'm having problem with billing. Last month I received a bill issued after to due date and was charged a late fee.

Run away fast from Solar City. A PPA lease will not allow you to sell your home. We have a new home under construction and have lost every potential buyer who wanted to buy, due to Solar City. Trying to work with their "Contract Reassignment Agent" is a joke. I have gotten nothing but a run around for months. In trying to contact anyone in a high level of management to try to resolve this, it is impossible. I have used all of the business contact tools at my disposal and nothing. I can get Bill Gates easier than anyone in this company. I'm sure there are honest solar companies out there, but Solar City, now Tesla Energy certainly is not one of them.

I had two house done. The installation went great both times!! On one house, I had water coming into the basement from their wiring. It too 4 days for them to come out and 2 trips to resolve it. Very poor service. Every time asked for my salesmen to call, he never did after the sale.

install was suppose to be a day was a day and a half. but it took another week and a half to come back and I had to schedule the appt. bull. should have been back the next day. and also the info given to me from customer service,have no idea what there doing.i believe there only there for a check . to bad.

First, as consumers we have been called Cheats, Thieves and Liars by Solar City Representatives. This is a company that is quick to state they can provide consumers savings over coal, oil and natural gas, but they state they did not include "electrical power". So, initially we were sold a Solar panel system that was too small to provide us with the savings we were looking for. Since this is new computerized technology we wanted to lease the technology so Solar City was responsible for the upgrades in technology for better service (we were told was similar to new generations of pool service technology, for us to better understand). We were told we could log-on and monitor our technology, but as part of the service it was being monitored for us. So, when we did not receive the value we were sold, we questioned about more panels. in 10/2015 our property suffered roofing damages in excess of $60K, so while coordinating the roofing, the initial panels had to be removed and replaced after all repairs. For the past two years we have been called Thieves, Cheats and Liars because Solar City could not find our panel removal/replacement payment. After sending them numerous copies of our banking documents we had to ask for our banks help against further Solar City collection representative harassment. On 11/27/2017 we received a call from Solar City stating they had finally found our payment and applied it to our account. We have never received a written document from Solar City providing an end to this issue. This from a company that handles customer financial transactions daily, and obviously without a daily, weekly, monthly or annually financial balance trail. Additionally, when our roof damages were repaired and the Solar City panels were replaced we contracted another 32-38 panels as a separate contract with Solar City, in order to boost our electrical power savings to maximize our solar benefit. We were told there was no problem with adding panels, but it would be a separate contract since the lease was for 20-years, and we were already going into the third year of our initial contract, but that the contracts would mirror each other for terms. Just, another Solar City misrepresentation! Now, as we entered the second year of the second contract the pricing increased by up to 2.9%. We continue to question this annual increase on the second contract, to be told the Solar City contract always changes from year to year "based upon what the market will support", and at least we were fortunate to have a contract that would not increase more than 2.9% each year. We had decided to relocate now that we have retired and we also chose a Solar City lease in order to keep the cost of our home reduced to a buyer. We felt with a Solar City lease we could show the savings due to our previous "electric bills" as opposed to our current "electric bills", plus the Solar City lease payments. However, we have removed our home from the market since our real estate agent stated buyers were having a hard time qualifying for both the mortgage and the extra inflated value of the Solar City leased equipment, even though we can show the savings to the buyer above regular monthly "electric bills" without the solar lease. So, never before have utility bills (water, sewage and power) been included in mortgage "debt" assessment, now with Solar leasing it is considered a "debt" assessment, and we found to refinance our home we found "no property lien", but as a property sale it may actually exist? So, in further actuality Solar City has cost us the sell of our home with their misrepresentation. We were told to sell a home many sellers have had to purchase their Solar City contracts out-right so a buyer could get through closing. This has been a huge Solar City misrepresentation by Solar City. Our real estate agent stated Solar leases are a growing problem for the real estate industry as well as the seller, and the buyer. This is a huge fraud against consumers.

They came to install my solar system everything seemed fine. Later that week when I came home from work the whole neighborhood was without power. When they turned my power back on it blew the transformer on the pole. Also part of the agreement was to put in a new breaker box. They did not do this making it imposable to pass inspection. After 3 attempts to pass an inspection with my old breaker box in place and failing they finally had the box replaced. A contracted election came out and installed the new breaker box. When I got home from work I talked with him, he was very upset. He said that the guys that installed my solar panels cut coding on the main electric wire going to my house. There fix was to hide it so no one seen it. The electrician said that it could have caused my house to catch fire. He said that this was not the first time he fixed there bad installing. Wish I could end the contract.

Completed all the required paperwork, had roof inspection, measurements taken, etc. Sales rep. called to find out why I hadn't completed all the paperwork, which I had completed two weeks earlier. He was going to check. Besides sale rep. another person called to tell me he was a customer service rep. Two weeks passed and I hear nothing. I call each rep. a few times and get no call back. Send a complaint and finally get a call from the sales rep. who tells me my roof is too old. I had to wait more than a month to find this out. When they tell me my roof is too old they also say they are still working on it to try to get it through for approval. I knew I would not hear again, and I didn't.

Since I install solar with solar city, I have been having a problems with performance, the first years the system was performing it was producing 4500kw 2015, the second year it drop to 3700 kw 2016, and this year up to now October 2017 it only produce 700 kw. 2016 I was suppose to get performance garrantee check for $350, up to now I have not received the check. Everytime I call the company to look into my check they promiss to resolve the issue 6 to 8 weeks, this has been 6 months the issue has not been resolve; I have not receive any check or payment. I cannot trust the customer service. I cannot even escalate the issue to upper management. I regret installing the solar on my roof. I end up paying more every month.

I have had Solar City for four years, the service and response has been excellent . there have been problems .the response has been great. I have dual systems that Im not sure I need.

purchasing was no problem. communication and installation was a big hassle. to many reps in the kitchen. after a few complaints the panels were installed and they seem to work great for the past 2 1/2 year. my panels of 8 cover my 2000sq feet home with only minimal of a few $ per month.

1-I have solar city for 3 years now they said I have life time on roof since they install the panel I have one roof leak ,first I have to paid some one to check then send them the issue then they will decide if is warranted 2-i get charge a year fee of 250. for maintenance . last month I have an electric bill of$ 500 . for using electric now they ask for 3 years of past electric statements , the excuse is that was not to sunny ,,, I took my electric stove out so I can balance , they don't help and promises are all lie

Had SolarCity installed, however they installed the panel box too close to my gate and when I open/close the gate it hits. No real way to fix it since its drilled into the side of the house. Even worse, I just bought a stove which requires 220 and when I went to install it I then realize SolarCity cut the 220 to my electrical panel to install the solar panel system. I called and I had to pay an electrician to say the wires have been cut (???) so its not self-diagnosed (does it really take an electrician to say wires have been cut). I sent SolarCity what they requested and still no response. I had to call multiple times and still waiting to see how they will fix this problem while my new stove sits in my garage. It has been over 2 months!! At the first meeting they state how they exceed Costco in customer support, but when rubber meets the road, they do not back up their statements. I would, at very least, check into other companies prior to settling with SolarCity.

I am very disappointed with Solar City. I would not return to them in the future, given the chance to leave. They advertised the charge per kilowatt hour of usage, which is a very good price. But that is not want they charge in the monthly billing to me, the customer. They charge how much electricity the solar panels produce, not how much electricity is used. My electric bill in the summer averages around $275.00 to $350.00 per month. I do not use air conditioning. The bill from Solar City for electricity is about the same as what I was paying P.G. &E. during the winter months. I feel that I was suckered and conned into signing up and using their service.

I had Solar City a few years ago on my old house and they went over the paper work and they were fast with the install. The reason I am unhappy with them is they didn't build me a big enough system for what I needed. I told them that I will be running window A/C units in the summer when it gets super hot and humid. They even took a picture of the units to know how much they consumed. They built me a 9 panel system for my small house. I told them that wasn't going to be big enough and I wanted 2 more panels. I wanted it because my electric bill was still expensive. I was in Tier 2 and 3 through most of the summer. They told me my system was built for 96 percent of my energy use. I kept calling customer service and emailing my rep telling them that my system wasn't big enough. He finally got back to me and said that your system is big enough for what you use and that was it. OMG really I ended up with an almost 400 dollar electric bill at the end of the year. I was so pissed that when I sold the house i told them that I won't move or use them on our new house do to they don't know what the hell they are doing. I went with SUNRUN for my new house and the system has been awesome for me.

I went with the "Purchase Power" (Lease) option. They took my last annual electric bill and divided it up and made the billing cycle. I informed them that we wanted to be able to save money while enjoying cooler climate indoors during the summer due to use setting our AC at 80 degrees and still paying outrageous amount on our electric bill. I specifically asked if we would have any other charges and they said "No". after our first year we got an additional bill from the electric company for $500.00+. When adding up our monthly payment along with the large annual bill from the electric company, we are not saving any money. Our first summary with the solar panels, our system went out when it was 108 degrees outside, which causes my entire electricity to go out. I rebooted the system and still would not work. I found that the breaker fuse failed. I had to argue with customer service for 2hrs of them saying they couldn't get anyone out there for 3 days. I told them that they needed to make sure they bring several trucks to take the panels off my house. Customer service told me that they would not take them down. I then told them if they didn't have my power on that day, I would remove there panels and put them out to the curb. After not getting a return call from a Technician, I went to Lowes to get a switch myself. $60.00 for the switch. The Tech called me back when I was getting ready to pay for the switch and said they would be out in 30min to fix it. 2hrs later they arrived. The switch then went out again approximately 6mo later. The amount of panels we have on our house is supposed to cover 92% of all our power yet we still have $500+ bill at the end of the year.

We were told we would save "big". the sales rep and installers used the word "football field" regarding the panel SF on my roof. our bills have almost broken even with my electric company PSEG- renowned for expensive rates on Long Island. Calling customer service seemed like a fruitful connection. the first service agent said she's heard this. but I was passed on to others up the chain. I'm currently challenging my bills by showing previous bills AS REQUESTED by them. yet, I'm now asked to provide bills as far back as 2014. The electric company does not provide bills that far back. I believe this is a stall tactic. I gave this a 3 because the install process was nice, friendly and communicated each phase. They are not the culprits here.

Every part of the process with Solar City was great. I find their customer service to be extremely professional, courteous, knowledgeable and prompt in handing any problems.

Misrepresentation! Almost one year from signing of the contract, no progress. The price for my system quoted by SolarCity is supposed to include installation and the trenching work required to bury the cables. It took SolarCity almost six months to find a contractor to schedule an on-site audit at my house and another month to show up and tell me that the trenching job was too big for him to handle. I had called SolarCity several times to want to talk to the operations manager and to discuss about possible alternatives to the original trenching plan but never received any update nor call back. I even offered to help to find a contractor that can do the trenching work. Finally I gave up. I waited and waited and missed the timing for the NEM1.0 . I decided to go with Sunpower two weeks ago. It is ridiculous.

We asked to have payments taken out of our check book but it took several months for them to figure this out and stop the additional charges for paper billing. Our energy production has dropped by 25% the last 4 months and phone calls got the stupid explanation that it is turning to winter and so less sun light is the cause. It is the middle of August so why the drop?, We asked about dirty panels and they had no idea if this is a problem!

The product does what it's supposed but they run odd promotions. I was promised a NEST thermostat but then was refused because I signed up under the "wrong promotion." Not sure how I would have done that since it was promised to me by the salesman. Customer services was "oh well, sorry" and totally unconcerned. But once the panels are up there isn't much we can do about it as customers.

Terrible service. It took 9 months to get the panels installed because they have such s high turn over that you never speak to the same person twice. Someone tells you they'll be in touch? Not gonna happen. Or then there was the local rep who was too good to answer my calls. I should have stopped when they started acting like this, but I thought it was just the Tesla merger. First bill arrives, my utility cost had doubled. They are charging me to rent the equipment while selling me the power it produces. Not sure how this is even legal. And it turns out by the time you get your first bill you're already locked into the contract and can't back out. Again, not what I was told. Solar is great. Just please do yourself a favor and get it from anywhere else.

I installed solar cells last year. They did a fast and clean job. The main reason I picked Solar City is because they are the only company that offers a back up emergency battery.

We live in the California Central Coast with hot Summers and sunshine most of the year. When we decided to go solar, we chose Solar City. At this writing we've had our system for nearly 3 years. The system (21 panels) was installed on a shady Western facing roof area. Prior to approving this configuration we told our rep explicitly that this area had large shade trees planted specifically to shade this side of the home. They said their engineers had estimated production at a certain amount even taking the trees into consideration...If the system shouldn't produce what they said it would, their Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) would kick in and reimburse us the difference between what was actually generated and what it should have generated. Of course we knew instantly that is wasn't going to produce anywhere near what they said it would. The PPA is paid only every 2 years. At the 2 year mark it took them over 5 months to get us a check, and then only because I was able to finally email an area supervisor. The $/Kwh payback was substantially less than we had already paid PG&E so the check didn't come close to reimbursing us our actual out-of-pocket $$. Cust. Svc. hasn't done anything and have been nearly completely impotent until recently when we were issued our own CS Rep. who we speak to periodically. We've since had many discussions about moving the system to "solar south" (which they should have done initially), but have discovered that they can't guarantee the same production as previously. We've now requested that we void the lease contract and have them remove the panels until there are products that can serve customers like us who have smaller south-facing roof area. They have not responded to us for approx. 1 month since our request was made. I'll keep updating to see how this plays out. I truly do not want to hire an attorney, but would hope SC would honor us as customers in good-faith, and do what's right. They're a multi-billion dollar company; they should let us go. I'll post again when this is resolved one way or another.

Signed up with then in November 2016 for the solar panels and Powerwall 2. They sent someone for the site survey in December and then when I would call them they would say they are waiting for Powerwall. I asked them why I wasn't told when I was signing that it will take four months before Powerwall will be ready. I asked if I can cancel and they said no you can't cancel. On March 17th 2017 they did the install and since then we are waiting for permission to install. They keep saying any time now but also keep loosing paperwork like Net metering contract. My loan payments have started and now I have to pay utility bill and loan payment. Now they are saying it's because you asked for Powerwall and the utility company does not know how to handle that application. Called up PG&E several times and they say SC has provided incomplete appear work. I have asked them to cancel my contract and take their stuff back and they keep telling me know can't do that. I asked does that mean I will have to pay electric bill and loan for the life of the loan if PG&E never approves and they said "no it never happened before". I asked them if there is someone at the top level I can talk to about this and their reply is no we are working on this.

I had a bad experience with SolarCity. I am not a fan of how I worked with 3 advisors and they all made different promises. They also guaranteed that all calls are being recorded for quality assurance however one of the employees promised that they would allow me the opportunity to get a power wall installed on my home and then during installation informing me that it was going to be on the house. As well as when I spoke with another person in charge to see if they could pull all conversations they stated that they had just switched services and no longer have those recordings. So basically they sold me on the ability to harness and store my own electricity and then when it came to installation they refused to let me. I have nothing but issues with them underestimating my energy consumption, I owe the electric company money every month. I am not a fan of SolarCity.

I have a client that wanted to buy a house that had Solar City installed on it. She did not want the bogus savings so we tried everything to buy it out the sellers contract. CANNOT BE DONE. Either seller takes the panels with them or if you want the house you have to sign their agreement. PASS. This is just a huge SCAM. Elon Musk is involved and his biggest accomplishment is the amount of TAX DOLLARS he has been able to suck into HIS bank account. Anyone who thinks they are saving $ is effectively being subsidized by other utility rate payers. There is no Customer Service so they could save additional money by just abandoning the department. No one answers the phone. Goes to a MENU and then you will not get a call back. Gosh, maybe they have already done this. You can find a company that sells panels and have them installed. Then YOU are in control.

Not happy with Solar City, it took almost a year to install due to battery back-up issues with Tesla. Next when they installed they removed my roofing tiles to install the 24 panels recessed on to my roof. When they completed the installation I had broken tiles all around where they were working. Their idea of repair was silicon the broken tiles together. Had them at least to come the my house 4 times to repair correctly by replacing tiles they broke. My power bill has never been this high on a average it runs $200.00 to $260.00 per month plus the bill I get from SCE at the end of the year. There are only 2 people living in my house and we do not abuse the use of power, My wife won't even turn on the TV during the day so as not to run the bill up and is always turning off lights in the house, we only turn them on which ever room we are in. The battery back-up is a joke as it hasn't worked correctly since they installed it, out of 6 power outages it has only worked once. When I call Solar City they put the blame on Tesla and when I call Tesla they put the blame on Solar City when I finally got both of them to come out at the same time it took over 2 months to coordinate. Called them again 3 weeks ago about it again, so far no call back. Unless you purchase the system outright you can probably save money, but when you lease they forget to tell you get charged for the power you generate not what you use. I thought adding more panels would drop my bill, not the case you just get charged more every month for the power you generate. Bottom line... Beware

Buyer beware with SolarCity. I entered into a 20 year lease for 17 panels with this company. Buried in the contract, when you need to have the panels removed and replaced to have your roof repaired, you agree to pay for the reasonable expense out of pocket. The actual dollar amount is not spelled out in the agreement, but when you call to request the work they hit you with an amount that is anything but reasonable. For my project the fee is over $2K. There is no way to save that amount of money on my electric bill over the balance of 17 years of the contract. I pay $40.23 every month for the lease and maybe I save that much on my electric bill each month so in reality, I'm not saving any money, only giving it to SolarCity vs the electric company. I wish I had know this going in, of course they leave that out. I recommend staying away from SolarCity for sure and before signing a contract with any Solar company, get a price up front for removal/re-installation spelled out in writing. I truly wish I had not entered into an agreement with SolarCity.

This company is a joke. They charge what they want and billing is always down. No one is accountable for their actions. Do not use them. It is sad they tell you something is in your contract and it isn't. They have you sign a contract but don't send you the entire thing. They are crooked and don't want you to know. Have called numerous times and they say they will get back with you in 24 to 48 hours. What a joke. Have left numerous messages and no one returns calls. Their billing system has been down and the rep told me it would be down until the end of 2018. They are doing a migration. Funny it takes that long to do a migration. Do not trust this company.

Look at all the reviews!!! I entertained SolarCity to quote and install a Solar System on my house. Wondering why Solar City has such poor user reviews? Well, their deal sounded so Gooooood. Do NOT pay them any deposit until they have completed your House Solar Panel Design to your satisfaction. Tell them they can not change designs after the 1st quotation by the salesman The contract is not very complete but they generally covered all LEGAL basis so you will be out $500 to $1000+. You might want to just send them packing!! Elon Musk is a major partner in this corporation. 1) Make sure you exactly know how much "Tax Rebate" you are going to get and do not let them gloss over it and cut you out. This number can be $3K and up. It plays into your overall costs. I demanded that the contract be changed before I would sign it and site inspection was completed by Solar City. 2) As with some of the other reviews below , one of my neighbors gets a $1000 charge every year from PG&E because of some terms about paying for lost PG&E revenue from Solar Power 3) My system was quoted at 3.15KW. Then, 2-3 weeks later they came out for a site inspection.. Solar City Statute of limitations had been met. This takes all the fun out charging your Tesla or Prius inspection. They sent my another Contract to sign for a 2.6Kw system because they could not figure out how to get 10 panels on my roof.. This ain't PetersenDean. The very next day, they did another site inspection and increased the power to 3.25KW by putting solar panels on the North roof.. The salesman stated they never install solar panels on a North facing roof. I had had enough of their incompetence, so I sent them the page out their contract which allows for cancellation of the contract. Another stupid move on my part. My credit card companies reversed the charges and waited over two months, then gave them my $500. back to Solar City I don't have anything to show for their machinations. I don't know what I want to do about this yet, but the lesson for me would be never give any of these companies deposits until you are completely satisfied with the site inspection and design. By the way, 3.25KW /10 panels is not much power. The panels are not made in the USA.

I have been leasing my solar panels for 2 years. The first year I ended up owing PG&E, $3000 for power usage not covered by my solar panels. I spoke with customer service regarding the possibility of adding more panels, and was told that since i'm am leasing the panels don't have that option. This year I will owe PG&E $2000. I was approached by this company and given the sales pitch within the first two months of moving into my home. My main concern, at that time, was that I hadn't been in the home long enough to receive my first electric bill. Their original plan of determining my solar needs was to look at my previous years billing. So, considering that I had no bill history for the previous we decided to use the last three months of electric bills from the previous resident, with the agreement of if it turns out that I am not producing the necessary output to save me 80% on my bill, they would add additional panels. Well, as you can see from the $5000 , I am having to pay over two years, that was pure bull...t. I'm not surprised that the representative who so skillfully sold me on this service agreement, no longer works for the company. The last conversation I had with a customer service representative was two months ago, and was told that I would be hearing from the engineering and design team regarding the adding of more panels. I'm still waiting for that call.

They called me and I was interested in going solar. We discussed the amount I would pay monthly and the fees that would aquire over the 20 year contract that I would not be able to get out of. I told them I wanted to figure out the total I would be paying over the 20 years and I would call them back. They were not happy about me doing that. It turns out I was going to pay them $107,000.00 over the 20 year period. We would only be saving about $40.00 a month on our electric bill by doing this. I called them back and told them the amount and that I was not interested. They called me multiple times a day for months after that. I would tell them not to call and to take me off of their list, but it did no good. I finally started blocking every number they called on until I had all of their numbers blocked. It was a terrible experience. They try to make it sound like it's a great deal that will save you money but figure it out with all the fees and you will see that it is far from a good deal!!

soalr City installed a system last year on my house. Since then I have had two huge utility bills for electricity, and SC's billing system is inconsistent and incomprehensible. After three months of bright sunshine, I just got a bill from SC for $74. WTH?

The system installed only produces 75% of promised out put. System was not properly engineered and did not use poper available solar panels and now SolarCity refuses to do anything to increase production, forcing me to go out of pocket over $500 a year for electricity. SolarCity will not share results of their inspection though claim system is working properly. So I had to pay to have system analyzed by another company Sales people grossly misrepresented system performance; I would not have leased it had I known the truth. Constant employee turnover. Terrible customer service, you have to wait days for a response and you have to follow up to get a response. It is like they deliberately try to keep you in the dark. You should look into elsewhere for solar power.

Last year we were considering going with solar and a nice young man came to the door and gave me the sale pitch. I discussed with my husband and he wanted to speak with this young man and the young man was then unavailable...on vacation...We went ahead and let the kid come out and check out our roof and house. This kid broke our thermostat and left, stating he would be back later...He did not come back until I called very upset to the original salesman, that he had not showed back up with new thermostat. The original guy finally contacted me back and the kid showed up with an old thermostat. He plugged it in..took the old one and left. We continued to get calls from someone in Utah saying they were with Solar City and needed to schedule appointment to continue checking the house for installing the solar??? Customer Service was more than terrible!

The panel where installed wrong, and customer service is worthless on help with relocation of panels. They stated that I would produce all this energy but at the end of the year I have a 600.00 bill to my electricity company which to this day I am on a payment arrangement of 55.00 a month. I have been arguing with them for a year about it and they keep coming with the same information that the system is working and producing energy. I am not arguing that I know its working I am arguing that after 3pm the panels are in complete shade and they stop producing energy. I am truly stuck and not getting any where with them so in reality I am stuck paying 150.00 to Solar City and 55.00 to my electricity company a month so a total of 205.00 a month for electricity... Do not recommend this company at all.

I activated my solar panels on May 3rd this year and had 3 solid days of generating power...I saw after a week it had dropped in half and held steady. When I had to contact Solar City (even though they say they monitor it) to inform them there was an issue they refused to come out that week because they wanted to monitor the trend (even though the screenshot of the power guide was showed 2 1/2 weeks). They came out the following week to find out the inverter was defective and causing me to generate only 50% of the quoted production...it has been almost 3 week or more since they came out to service the panels and still do not have it fixed or word on when it will be fixed. Going with solar city, in my experience, was the biggest mistake. I wish I would have done more research on other providers.

This is long but has a lot of information about my terrible experience with Solar City. I recommend reading to understand the reason for a regret of a choice in company. It also has information that will inform you about a system purchase. This has been an extremely tiring process and I consider this to be worse than buying a car or a house. I decided to buy the system outright as the cost benefit is not what it should be for leasing or a purchase agreement, pay back period of 30 years to 10 years. Solar City was given the offer to price match Sungevity's offer. They did so but they changed the panels from their 315 LG proposal to their 260W panels but increased the panel count. They did this after I had provided them all documentation comparing the 2 systems to save a few dollars on their end. However, I was ok with this because I had the roof space. When the new contract came over, they did not carry over the price match. I had to escalate and get LOUD with the sales team to prove that the contract price was not accurate. I had them email me what my price would be and it did not match on the contract. I had numerous questions to SC and asked for documents so I could understand the system. I had to supply them with data sheets of items because they could not find them and answer the questions I was asking. Yet they design and install them. I had asked the sales rep if they can do side skirts, the funny thing is their webpage main screen shows this and yet she told me NO, they cannot. So is Solar City falsely advertising? Users have to sign contracts but Solar City doesn't fully outline the design in the documents. I had to have them document where the conduits were going to be routed as they were not shown on the drawing. I had to have them relocate the inverter as the placement did not make sense on the design documents. The sales manager even agreed with these statements. Then it came time for installing the system. The west facing roof could not use the mounting system that was agreed upon, in the contract papers; because the site surveyor either didn't measure or screwed up the measurements on that pitch of the roof and the installation team could not install the flashing. I had the crew stop because this was not part of the plan and wanted clarification from California (sales team and design location). I contacted SC to determine my options. They listed 4 options: change entire system which is added cost to me; have 2 independent systems that would drive cost even higher and increase complexity; reduce the panel count on that string; or go with a new chemically bonded mount. As I was talking to the sales manager and questioning things; he informed me that I should just trust them and they were integrated and backed by Tesla. However, 2 weeks earlier they were bought so Tesla was not really in the picture yet. To continue, he told me that Solar City did not use this mount often because it costs more. It is a new process that is a chemically bonded mounting system. Wouldn't explain it to me more than that. I then had to question the quality of this mount and the possibility of leaking into my roof. During this conversation, I had asked for an extended roof warranty and was told NO. At this time I could not back out of the contract at this point because they had already installed 18 panels on my south side of the roof, or I would have. They have no respect for people once the contract was signed. The other option was to reduce the string count on my west roof from 9, 260W down to 6 panels and use the original mounting system. I contact Solar Edge (the inverter company) and they specifically said they do not recommend any string going below 8 panels at 260W. This is because the power optimizer will adjust if 1 or 2 panels goes into shade or is not producing. Yet, SC is recommending I go down to 6 panels. WHYYY? This was not recommended by the tech rep at Solar Edge because the entire string would not produce if there was any shade on a panel. This forced me to use the new mounting system as why would I pay more money for a system that was not utilized efficiently. During the installation of the 9 panels on my west facing roof. One mount was collapsed into the roof. I pointed this out to the crew and took a picture and sent it to the sales rep. Sales rep never responded. The crew said it was a soft spot, house roof is only ~10 years old. After the install, I went into the attic and the reason for the collapse was because the additional supports they were installing was not flush to the interior of the roof. This caused the roof to pull it when the mount was secured. However, crew said it was fine. WRONG. In regards to the chemically bonded system, it's not a chemically bonded. The mounting piece utilizes a smaller flashing with a foam gasket to the shingles. They then drive a bolt through the roof and back fill the center of the mount with a caulk based materiel. Now, if the sales team would have explained this to me, verses saying chemically bonded; the conversation would have stopped and we would have moved on. But they clearly DO NOT KNOW what they are talking about. Yet they couldn't tell me this to reduce headaches, phone calls, and research. I had even suggested 2 other design options where it would increase my panel count on my south roof from 18 to 21 and my west roof would stay at 6. The sales manager said they don't like to orient the panels in different orientations; but lots of houses do that. He discounted my knowledge and what would be a good middle ground solution. Time for inspection of my system. The sales rep informed me I did not need to be present for the home inspection. I even second questioned this and she confirmed it. I questioned it because they hook the inverter directly into the circuit breaker in your home and typically this needs reviewed to ensure it's up to code. I then get a call by the local rep stating they will be at my home in 1/2 hr to prep for the house inspection. This only infuriated me as I now had to rush home and sit around for the inspector. Now comes time to validate the system. During late March, early April after passed county inspection, I turned my system on during peak hours of a beautiful, no cloud in the sky day. This is the type of day where the system should be maxed out. My system is a 7.02kW system yet the inverter was peaking at 6.0kW and 5.5kW. I ask why? I even asked my sales person, in email, if my system should peak at the 7.02kW power rating and she said YES. Guess what people, this is FALSE, another lie. I was not working with a local regional operations manager who finally was trying to help me. He sent an electrician out and validated the system and also explained the system will never hit that peak. I then also received this article http://newenglandcleanenergy.com/energymiser/2015/12/01/stc-vs-ptc-why-solar-panel-testing-matters/ This clearly states that the STC (standard testing condition) will never meet a PTC (Photovoltaics for Utility Scale Applications Test Conditions) and you will never get that power out of the system. Even though, that how its characterized and sold. In my opinion it is like stating a car gets 40 MPG but only gets 30 MPG, ie; Hyundai Elantra lawsuit. However, out of all the questions I had asked the sales team, they never wanted to tell me this. Or they clearly don't know. I provided them with this information and have never heard back from them on this topic. They only give you the production guarantee at .06 per kwhr that you should have produced but the utility company gives me .14/ kWhr. I still have to have Solar City process my MD state grant properly and send me their $1,000 promotion so I am sure the fun/battle is not over with them. I don't know why this was such a painful and non-enjoyable process but something should be done about that sales team I worked with. Yes it was the same 2 people the entire process. I have spent countless HOURS working with Solar City, Solar Edge, and my own time to get the information I felt I should have, doing my due diligence. This was excessive and was painful and should never happen to anyone. Based on all the information provided above, the sales team that I have dealt with in California were terrible. Their knowledge is minimal and they do not have supporting information to answer questions that I was asking. They gave me terrible options when I had problems because of Solar City's errors. However, the sales team only cornered me with terrible options and poor customer service. They offered solutions that are not recommended by manufacturers. They also "LIED" to me in emails stating facts that I should see the full 7.02kW, but based on the article; that is completely false. This was a terrible experience and I would not recommend Solar City to a friend or family member because of the experience I have had to endure. I was just a number to the sales team. I was not looking for anything major in terms of compensation and nor did I push for it. However, looking back; anything would have been a nice gesture for the large amount of time I had to put in to educate their sales team. The amount of educating that had to be done on my behalf to their sales team. After explaining this story to the operational regional manager, he too was irritated because of the support I was getting by them. This was supposed to be an enjoyable fun process. It's solar man, something I always liked. However, now I would not recommend it to anyone. To the point, if I see someone talking to a rep at home depot, I may inject myself into their conversation to give the proper advice and guidance and educate them on the actual facts. I am sure I have forgotten other details as there were so many. I highly doubt I will hear back as I was not a customer that made their life easy. I plan to leave this on multiple review sites to help educate people. Sincerely Solar City Customer

I had a Solar City installation less than a year ago. it was done reasonably on time, but I have been told that the panels should have been tilted when installed to gain the best performance. They were not. Today I received a call that my system monitoring showed the system was not operating (it is under warranty). When simple telephone requests did not solve the problem they wanted to make a service appointment, but the scheduling department said it would be at least twelve days out before they could schedule anyone. With June being one of the best months to gain solar energy, this I find to be unacceptable, and demonstrates to me the advances of using a local rather than a national company where service would be from people already in the area.

Solar City has proven to be less than forthcoming in its B2C dealings. We are soured on Solar power because of them and their obvious lack of integrity and consciousness in business operations.. I WOULD HAVE RATED THEM AT ZERO except that a new crop of agents is trying hard to right some wrongs. Our situation represents Solar City's incompetence and lack of concern for the customer. We're all about renewables and conservation. We signed up with Solar City in August, 2015--almost two years ago. It took three months from the time it was installed to get it operational. That was disappointment number one. We were told we could save a few dollars a month if we agreed to an auto debit from our bank account for monthly billing. We did that. Seven months later, we get a call saying we owe them almost $400 because THEY FORGOT to bill us!! Apparently, when Tesla bought them, the billing records were not properly transferred. We were on an automatic debit and realized they were not making the withdrawal but it's funny how the consumer can never reach a real person. After we paid the past due amount, things seemed OK until we got a bill from our utility company (PG&E) saying we had exceeded the "true up" costs of $87 a month for the electricity portion of our bill. That's when we learned that the $87 was based on "previous" usage. Since we ran a space heater during part of the day, (garage only) for four months out of the Winter, they decided that the space heater was the culprit and could cost up to $5 an hour to operate. We pointed out that Winter of 2016 was hardly as harsh as Winter of 2015 and in 2015, we ran TWO space heaters. Our bill averaged $135 to $150 a month then, WITHOUT SOLAR. . After all these costs, we are actually paying more with the solar installed. The words "true up" were never mentioned during the sales process. In hindsight, I wish we had taken a little more time to read every word in 6-point type in the contract. Suggest everyone who is going to try Solar ask about TRUE UPs or REAL COSTS because Tesla was less than forthcoming and we are now in an unexpected debt of $3,500 to our local UTILITY COMPANY--PG&E. As seniors on a fixed income, these unexpected charges really put us in a bind. I wish they would just come take their panels back. We are actually paying MORE in utilities this year than ever before. Very unhappy.