Simms Solar Electric reviews

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.

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.