Solar Salesperson Lied About Savings? Here's What to Do

If you think a solar salesperson lied about your savings, put the proposal’s numbers next to a year of utility bills from before the install and every bill since, then add each loan, lease or PPA payment you now make. A projection that missed because you used more power or rates moved differently is a forecast that went wrong, while a statement that was false when you signed, such as a promise that your electric bill would disappear or savings math that left your loan payment out, can support a claim. Your documents decide which one you have, so keep them safe before you call anyone.

If your bill is high for reasons the utility can explain, see why your electric bill is still high after solar; if the panels make less power than the contract says, see solar panels not producing promised energy.

Was it a lie, or a forecast that missed?

A solar savings estimate is a projection of what you will pay with solar against what you would have paid without it, built on assumptions about your usage, future rates, the system’s output and how your utility credits solar. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) calls these estimates “educated guesses” and says they “do not guarantee savings,” so a gap between the estimate and your bills does not by itself prove anyone lied.

A savings misrepresentation, as this page uses the term, is a false or misleading statement about cost or savings, or an important fact left out, that helped get your signature. The CFPB found that “Some installers misrepresent the future cost of energy and overestimate the amount of electricity that solar panels will produce.” The CPUC’s consumer guide lists “You will never pay an electricity bill again after a solar system is installed” as a false claim.

A forecast that missed	A statement that may support a claim
You bought an electric vehicle after the proposal used your past usage	The salesperson said your utility bill would go to zero
Rates rose more slowly than the proposal assumed	The savings figure left the loan or lease payment out
Your utility moved you to a new rate plan after you signed	You were promised a tax credit you could never claim, such as on a lease

How do you compare the proposal’s savings promise to your bills?

1. Find the promise in writing: every version of the proposal and any savings worksheet. In California, installers must provide the state’s Solar Energy System Disclosure Document and Supporting Information form, which, according to the CPUC, include “a standardized bill savings estimate” and the inputs used to calculate it.
2. Gather a year of bills from before solar. The FTC tells people weighing solar to add up the kilowatt-hours they used “in the last year,” and that year becomes your baseline.
3. Gather every bill since, including each loan, lease or PPA statement, and compare the same months, July next to July.
4. Add the two bills together. Treasury’s lease guide sets the test: “If the company is promising electric bill savings, the combined total of your new electricity bill plus your monthly lease payment should be lower than your current electricity bill.” The same arithmetic works for a loan or PPA payment.

A made-up example: utility bills averaged $210 a month before solar, and the proposal promised $40 to the utility plus $150 to the lender. The first year actually averaged $95 plus $150, or $245, which is $35 a month more than before solar and $55 more than promised.

Which assumptions in a solar proposal should you check?

Utility rate growth. The FTC warns that “it’s hard to predict future utility rates because they can be affected by many factors.” The CPUC’s 2022 guide said the CPUC had capped the rate increase California estimates could assume at 4 percent a year, and its 2025 addendum says “Solar installers can use escalation rates up to 10 percent starting in November 2025.” Find the rate your proposal assumed and set it against the rate history printed on your own bills.

Your usage. The CPUC says systems are typically sized to around 80 to 85 percent of the previous year’s use. A usage figure you never had points to the proposal; a household that now runs more appliances points to a change on your side.

Export credits. California’s net billing tariff, for interconnection applications on or after April 15, 2023, credits exports based on the utility’s avoided cost. If your system went on that tariff but the proposal valued exports under the older rules, it overstated the savings; the high bill page shows how to spot it.

The loan payment and the reset around month 18 or 19. The CFPB says “there is no guarantee that a solar loan will pay for itself,” and found it “commonplace for solar-specific loans to re-amortize at a higher monthly payment amount at the 19th month of the loan term if the consumer does not make a substantial prepayment before then.” A proposal that left the loan payment out, or used the lower early payment for every year when you could not make the prepayment, showed savings that were too high. See solar loan payment increased.

The tax credit. The CFPB described marketing that subtracts the expected credit from the loan to show a “net cost,” which it said “can hide the true cost of the loan.” The IRS says the residential credit is nonrefundable and “is not available for any property placed in service after December 31, 2025.” And Treasury’s lease guide calls the pitch that a lessee can use tax credits to cut the cost a lie: “With a lease, you don’t own the system, so that claim is a lie.” More on solar tax credit misrepresentation.

Escalators. Lease and PPA escalators, which the CPUC says are “typically in the range of a 1 percent to 3 percent increase above the rate you paid in the previous year” and the CFPB, citing the EPA, put at 1 to 5 percent on PPAs, are easy to leave out of a comparison that stops at year one.

What evidence should you keep?

Keep originals, work from copies, and hold on to:

• every version of the proposal and savings estimate, the signed contract, and the loan’s Truth in Lending disclosure or the lease or PPA payment schedule (in California, also the signed CPUC guide and disclosure forms);
• ads, mailers and web pages that made savings claims, and texts and emails with the salesperson;
• a dated written account of what was said, by whom, and who else heard it, plus any recording you made where your state’s law allowed it (ask an attorney before relying on one);
• the bills and payment statements from your comparison.

Proof of the pitch matters because the contract often says something else. In a pending 2026 lawsuit against Climax Solar and its lenders, Michigan’s attorney general alleges that the written documents “disclaimed guarantees of production, savings, and tax-credit eligibility while the pitch emphasized bill elimination, promised savings” and tax benefits. How far a clause in your own contract limits a claim about the pitch is a question for an attorney licensed in your state. If you never got a copy of your contract or estimate, ask for it in writing now; the dispute documents checklist covers missing copies.

When does a solar savings promise become a claim?

A savings promise is worth an attorney’s look when it stated something as fact, you can show it was said, it differed from what you signed or from what was true at the time, and it was part of why you agreed. Regulators have pursued exactly that:

• Five California district attorneys alleged that Vivint Solar “misrepresented projected energy savings or costs” in power purchase agreements signed from August 3, 2016 to October 8, 2020. In February 2026 Vivint Solar agreed, without admitting liability, to pay $1.3 million in civil penalties and costs and to fund $3 million in restitution.
• Michigan’s attorney general alleges that Climax Solar’s representatives “promised homeowners they could replace or greatly reduce their utility bills with affordable solar payments.” Motions to dismiss filed in October 2026 have not been decided.

Treasury lists “State versions of the FTC Act’s prohibition on unfair or deceptive acts and practices” among the laws that apply to solar sales. If the installer arranged your loan, look for the FTC Holder Rule notice in the loan contract: any holder “IS SUBJECT TO ALL CLAIMS AND DEFENSES WHICH THE DEBTOR COULD ASSERT AGAINST THE SELLER,” and recovery “SHALL NOT EXCEED AMOUNTS PAID BY THE DEBTOR HEREUNDER.” No agency has applied the rule to leases or PPAs. The dispute page covers the legal bases in more depth.

Cancellation is never automatic: whether a savings claim ends in a refund, a corrected contract or a cancellation depends on your contract type, the dates, your state’s law and your evidence.

What should you do if a solar salesperson lied about savings?

Work through these in order, the same order our guide to getting out of a solar contract uses.

1. Inside a cancellation window? Cancel in writing now, by the method your contract and the law require, and send a copy to the lender the same day. Windows vary by state and can run longer than three days; check the state cancellation laws and the deadline tool.
2. Identify your contract and every company. Confirm whether you have a cash purchase, loan, lease, PPA or PACE financing, and name the installer, the lender, the loan servicer and the warranty provider. They may be four different companies.
3. Ask in writing, and complain for free. Write to the installer and any lender with the promise, your comparison and what you want, and ask for a written answer. For a purchased system the FTC says, “If you have a problem with a system you bought, try to resolve it with the company first,” and, if you’re not satisfied, to report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to your state attorney general. The CFPB’s complaint page asks “Have you tried reaching out to the company?” and takes solar loan complaints. Leases and PPAs are not a listed CFPB product; Treasury, the CFPB and the FTC jointly “encourage consumers that believe they have been a victim of unfair or deceptive practices to file a complaint with CFPB, FTC, or their relevant state consumer protection office,” and your state attorney general and contractor licensing board take complaints too (complaint guide). Keep making payments meanwhile; the stop-paying page explains what a missed one can set off.

Disclosure: Candid Yak works with Titan Advocacy Group, a solar consumer advocacy firm, and may be paid when readers hire it.

4. If they refuse, and your documents show a gap between the savings you were promised and what you signed, get a free case review from an attorney-backed firm. Look for a firm that:

   • reads your proposal, contract and bills before it quotes anything, and tells you plainly when a free route such as a cancellation window or a written request is still open;
   • names the attorney who will handle your file, licensed in your state, whom you can look up with the state bar;
   • puts its fee, and what happens to that fee if the installer or lender refuses, in writing before you pay;
   • never tells you to stop paying your loan, lease or PPA;
   • never guarantees a result and never claims a connection to your installer or lender.

   Don’t pay anyone for this work before the installer or lender has answered your written request. See solar cancellation companies and hiring a solar attorney.

5. Other routes. Paying off or refinancing the loan can cut what you pay but settles nothing about the sale, so ask an attorney before paying off a loan you plan to dispute; see solar loan payoff and refinance and compare debt consolidation loans. A lease or PPA may allow a buyout or a transfer to a buyer when you sell, on terms you should get in writing first.

Disclosure: Candid Yak works with Titan Advocacy Group, a solar consumer advocacy firm, and may be paid when readers hire it. This page’s author, Kira Fairbank, is a manager at Vacation Ownership Consultants, a timeshare exit firm.

This is general information, not legal advice. Whether a savings promise supports a claim turns on what you can prove was said and on your state’s consumer protection law, so put the proposal, the contract and your bills in front of an attorney licensed in your state before you send a demand, sign a release, or change any payment.