Score
Enlightened Solar reviews
• updated APR 10, 2026Loading map...
The Verdict
This company has gone from troubled to collapsed. We found a clear pattern: customers paid deposits in 2021-2022, dealt with months of delays and missed appointments, and then watched the company unravel while their installations sat incomplete. One homeowner paid $7,500 upfront, waited a full year while the company forgot whether he'd bought or leased the system, then pushed hard just to get crews to show up. Another released funds in mid-2022 after the owner called begging, only to wait until late 2023 for permission to operate and is still chasing $10,000 in promised rebate money. The workmanship itself was often below code. We saw reports of air intake lines cut too low to fit panels, incompatible equipment installed without proper configuration, and roofers who left tiles tacked to rotted wood, causing $11,000 in water damage after the first rain. When things went wrong, the response was silence. Multiple reviewers describe unanswered calls, ignored emails, and a refusal to fix messes or issue refunds owed. If you're looking at this company today, know that recent reviews mention class-action discussions and unresolved damage claims stretching into 2025.
If you've already signed with Enlightened Solar, document everything and prepare to chase resolution yourself. If you haven't signed, walk away. The combination of unfinished installs, code violations, and vanishing communication makes this a gamble no homeowner should take.
3 Stories That Stood Out
Ian B. paid a $7,500 installment for a rooftop solar system that was supposed to be finished in 2023 and found himself stuck in a year-long limbo. He got shuffled between four or five different contacts while the company held his money interest-free, then had to push extremely hard to get installers out — only to discover they'd lost his preliminary work and even mixed photos from another house into his file. The crew the company hired for the roof included someone who looked like a child, and their workmanship failed on the first heavy rain: two distinct leaks at the chimney and the swamp cooler produced about $11,000 in damage and cost him a month of work. Company technicians still chose to mount panels despite visible problems — tiles tacked onto rotted wood, misaligned shingles, no chimney flashing, and air intake lines cut below code to make the panels fit without his consent — and after that first storm he ended up with a river running inside his walls. In February 2025 all the panels came down, the roof was redone, and interior crews left dust and particles of rodent droppings throughout the house. By August he was still fighting to recover roughly $14,000 and fighting what,
Palm Springs Rental hired the company to install solar on a rental property and discovered the work wasn’t done right from the start. The crew had to return to run a wire after repeated issues and several missed appointments, and what began as reassurance during install turned into visible gaps in knowledge and poor follow-through. For 10 months they endured back-and-forth scheduling and more missed visits; when the electrical problem finally got fixed, the crew left behind caulk, paint splatters and stucco damage. The company then declined to come back and clean up the mess — the attached photos highlight the leftover caulk and paint on the stucco that never got addressed.
Matt A. felt compelled to write after discovering he'd overpaid his solar loan and was promised a reimbursement of more than $2,000 that never arrived. He reached out repeatedly to Bret — calls, emails and texts, all carefully documented — but the refund never came and his messages went unanswered. During home construction, other solar installers removed and reinstalled panels, and he discovered the two systems wouldn’t reliably communicate. He learned Enlightened Solar hadn’t configured the IQ combiner boxes as required by code when the different models were paired, so now he’s facing out‑of‑pocket costs to make the systems talk. What remains clear is the unpaid $2,000+ reimbursement, a string of ignored communications, and a misconfigured combiner setup that may cost him more to fix.
Platforms Monitored
Performance by Work Type
How We Got To Trust Score 43
No Red Flags
Unauthorized Activities
Passed screening
Misleading Claims
Passed screening
Background Check
Serving customers for 6 years
BBB Rating: C+
Poor BBB standing. Significant complaints.
Natural Review Patterns
Reviews were posted naturally over time.
What You Can Expect
Ross kicked off the project with Bret, whose responsiveness and solar know-how set the tone and made him feel confident the rest of the job would follow suit. He moved through a clear sequence — design, site inspection, permitting, installation, city inspection, and finally permission to operate with SCE — and the hands-on attention during design helped future-proof the system to his satisfaction. A crew member from Enlightened visited the house to check the roughly one-year-old electrical panel and the roof; the inspection went quickly and uncovered no surprises. Permitting fell to the city and required the expected waiting game. Installation itself happened over two days: Day one placed the combiner box beside the panel, mounted rails on the roof, and began wiring; Day two brought the panels, the crew finished the install, ran tests, and walked him through the system on the app. The team cleaned up meticulously and even painted the conduit to match the house — a small, memorable touch led by crew lead Beto. Carlos from Enlightened returned for the city inspection, reviewed the equipment and app again, and got everything ready for the inspector; the system passed. The only bce
Jason Tarlton decided to expand the solar array that had gone up on his home in 2012 after watching his electricity bills climb. He contacted five companies through Yelp and chose Enlightened. From the start they took a consultative approach, walking him through options and explaining what would work best for his clay-tile roof. Because the tiles complicated the install, Enlightened removed tiles where needed and picture-framed the panels into the roof — doing that extra craftsmanship while keeping the price lower than the other bids. Permitting moved quickly, the county inspection passed on the first try, and the crew answered questions promptly and confirmed he was satisfied before final payment. What stuck with him was that they handled the fiddly clay-tile work cleanly and affordably, and the whole job sailed through inspection.
Andrea spent two years calling and emailing the company about a $55-panel system, only to keep running into silence while several panels stayed out of proper working order. One was apparently fully disconnected or broken, and the repeated promise of a repair never turned into a visit. After laying out that much money for the array, she ended up weighing legal help and a complaint to the state licensing board just to get movement on the problem.
B. C. had three solar panels blown off the roof of their home in a bad storm. They called Enlighten and a crew arrived within two hours. A week later the team came back with three replacement panels, completed the installation, and left the system fully operational. The standout detail for B. C. was the rapid emergency response—on the same day—followed by a complete repair within a week.
Last month Kevin N. had a solar system installed on his home by Enlightened Solar. He walked away impressed by the quality of the installation and the steady, clear communication the team provided throughout the process. He now awaits permission to operate from Southern California Edison before the system goes live. His key takeaway: Enlightened Solar delivered solid workmanship along with consistent updates — the company's follow-through is what sets the experience apart.
Andrea had already spent big money on a 55-panel solar setup, but the promise of a working system had turned into two years of unanswered calls and emails. When one panel stopped working properly and another ended up completely disconnected or broken, she kept trying to reach the company for a fix and never got a response. The situation had dragged on so long that she was putting off only for a little while longer the step of bringing in a lawyer and contacting the state license board, while her roof still carried a system with panels left in disrepair.
Eileen went ahead with solar panels for her home and found the crew responsive to questions and mindful of the planned work schedule. The finished panels looked great and seemed to be operating well. When her spouse raised questions, a representative named Josh patiently walked her through the system, explained how it worked, and pointed out the things to watch for in regular care. That hands-on, explanatory approach — not just a quick handoff — is the detail that made the difference. She left with a clear sense of how the system functions and what to look after going forward.
Ian B. paid a $7,500 installment for a rooftop solar system that was supposed to be finished in 2023 and found himself stuck in a year-long limbo. He got shuffled between four or five different contacts while the company held his money interest-free, then had to push extremely hard to get installers out — only to discover they'd lost his preliminary work and even mixed photos from another house into his file. The crew the company hired for the roof included someone who looked like a child, and their workmanship failed on the first heavy rain: two distinct leaks at the chimney and the swamp cooler produced about $11,000 in damage and cost him a month of work. Company technicians still chose to mount panels despite visible problems — tiles tacked onto rotted wood, misaligned shingles, no chimney flashing, and air intake lines cut below code to make the panels fit without his consent — and after that first storm he ended up with a river running inside his walls. In February 2025 all the panels came down, the roof was redone, and interior crews left dust and particles of rodent droppings throughout the house. By August he was still fighting to recover roughly $14,000 and fighting what,
Robert O. had a solar system installed in 2021 and then spent years waiting for the company to get the paperwork with Edison Power completed correctly. He ended up with a roof full of panels but zero benefits from the install and feels the installer has effectively forgotten him. The standout fact is simple and sharp: the hardware is in place, but after years there has been no utility-side follow-through and no tangible returns.
Long-term Satisfaction
Long-term satisfaction for Enlightened Solar drops to 2.0 ★ compared to early reviews. This decline is worse than 75% of installers we looked at.
Long-term reviews carry the most weight in our methodology because they are most representative of what you should be paying for: a system that will perform for years.