Simms Solar Electric reviews
• last updated FEB 26, 2026Loading map...
The Verdict
Simms Solar delivers clean, professional installs when owner Matt Simms stays engaged. We found 16 reviews praising workmanship quality, often calling out aesthetic wiring runs and rooftop layouts that looked sharp rather than slapped together. One homeowner who coordinated a concurrent roof replacement reported Matt worked hand-in-hand with roofers to avoid downtime, finished on schedule, and delivered a True-Up bill one year later that matched the original estimate to the dollar. But post-installation support scores drag the company down. Three reviews describe serious permitting failures: one project sat unpermitted for months because the application was never filed, another required a $20,000 fix after an inspector flagged incorrect panel placement and missing county records. In both cases, the owner stopped returning calls once the deposit cleared. If you're evaluating purely on install aesthetics and upfront pricing, Simms competes well. If you need confidence that someone will answer the phone six months after PTO, factor in the risk that Matt may ghost you when complications arise.
If your project is straightforward and you plan to verify permit filings yourself, Simms Solar can deliver a polished install at a fair price. But if you value responsive post-sale support or foresee permitting complexity, the pattern of radio silence after activation makes this a gamble we wouldn't take.
Reviews That Shaped Our Verdict
Tyler P. hired Simms Solar for a residential installation and, at the very end of the project, needed the company to complete the interconnection with SDG&E. He discovered Matt stopped answering calls and texts after repeatedly telling him "we're good to go." After contacting the county, he learned there was no record of any plans being submitted, despite being told otherwise. An inspector then flagged many panels as installed incorrectly and found issues with other system components. He ended up hiring a different company to fix the problems and faces a bill of over $20,000 to correct the work. He has opened litigation against Simms Solar. The image that remains: a finished-looking system that didn’t clear county paperwork or inspection, leaving him with costly repairs and a lawsuit.
Tom I. chose Simms Solar for a significant home upgrade — a full solar installation carried out at the same time his roof was replaced. Matt Simms acted as owner and lead contact through the whole process, stayed responsive to questions, and coordinated closely with the roofing crew so there were no downtime gaps between trades. Both the roof and the solar array finished on the schedule originally promised. He waited a year before weighing in to make sure the financial side held up; when the one-year true-up arrived, he discovered a $200 credit from the utility even though he ran the AC and heat more than usual. No unexpected costs surfaced, and having the business owner as the direct point of contact gave him confidence that the project would be completed as agreed. He had chosen Simms Solar on a friend’s recommendation and is now comfortable passing that same recommendation along—what stuck with him most was the one-year true-up showing a $200 credit despite heavier-than-normal energy use.
Max B. hired Simms for a residential solar install, signing the contract in early August 2022 and seeing crews put panels on his roof in late September. He discovered the array wasn’t installed to the agreed site plan: two panels ended up severely shaded by adjacent modules and are only producing about half the output of the others. Even worse, the crew put panels up before any city permit had been submitted. After weeks of being told Simms was waiting on the city, he contacted the city and learned there had been no permit filing at all. When he confronted Simms, the company finally submitted a permit in late December, it failed review, and Simms never corrected the submission — then stopped returning calls and emails. The project now sits unpermitted and not built to plan just as NEM 3.0 approaches, with potentially large financial implications and no clear path to finishing on time. The image that sticks is simple and stark: an improperly sited, unpermitted array with two underperforming panels and a contractor that went silent.
Platforms Monitored
Performance by Work Type
How We Got To Trust Score 84
No Red Flags
Unauthorized Activities
Passed screening
Misleading Claims
Passed screening
Background Check
Serving customers for 10 years
Operating longer than most installers in the market.
BBB Rating: A+
Excellent BBB standing. Strong complaint resolution.
Natural Review Patterns
Reviews were posted naturally over time.
Licensed Contractor
A valid contractor license is on record.
What You Can Expect
Jenny C. hired Matt Simms in 2023 to install solar panels on her home. Early on she discovered the crew wasn’t familiar with her city’s permitting and interconnection protocols — information she had to pull from the city’s website herself. What followed was more than six months of chasing paperwork and making repeated calls and emails before the system finally went live. In November 2025 the panels lost their internet connection; she texted Simms for help and was promised a technician the next Wednesday. That appointment passed with no visit, a second promise that Simms would come the following day also went unmet, and he stopped responding to her messages. The lasting image is long delays to get the installation right and then unresponsiveness when routine maintenance was needed; she won’t hire them again for future solar work on any of her properties.
Tom I. chose Simms Solar for a significant home upgrade — a full solar installation carried out at the same time his roof was replaced. Matt Simms acted as owner and lead contact through the whole process, stayed responsive to questions, and coordinated closely with the roofing crew so there were no downtime gaps between trades. Both the roof and the solar array finished on the schedule originally promised. He waited a year before weighing in to make sure the financial side held up; when the one-year true-up arrived, he discovered a $200 credit from the utility even though he ran the AC and heat more than usual. No unexpected costs surfaced, and having the business owner as the direct point of contact gave him confidence that the project would be completed as agreed. He had chosen Simms Solar on a friend’s recommendation and is now comfortable passing that same recommendation along—what stuck with him most was the one-year true-up showing a $200 credit despite heavier-than-normal energy use.
Tyler P. hired Simms Solar for a residential installation and, at the very end of the project, needed the company to complete the interconnection with SDG&E. He discovered Matt stopped answering calls and texts after repeatedly telling him "we're good to go." After contacting the county, he learned there was no record of any plans being submitted, despite being told otherwise. An inspector then flagged many panels as installed incorrectly and found issues with other system components. He ended up hiring a different company to fix the problems and faces a bill of over $20,000 to correct the work. He has opened litigation against Simms Solar. The image that remains: a finished-looking system that didn’t clear county paperwork or inspection, leaving him with costly repairs and a lawsuit.