Score
Tesla Energy reviews
• updated MAR 3, 2026Loading map...
The Verdict
Tesla Energy is gambling with your home. We analyzed thousands of reviews and found a company that can't activate systems, miscalculates energy production, and leaves customers trapped in 20-year leases with higher bills than before they went solar. One homeowner paid $78.69 into their utility's credit bank but could offset only $6.16 of their bill, discovering too late that Tesla's sales pitch about "offsetting" power was a half-truth buried in fine print. Another waited nearly two years for Tesla to acknowledge full responsibility for a roof leak, then spent four more months waiting for a subcontractor who never called, racking up $2,067 in utility bills while the removed panels sat idle. The workmanship score (3.5) is the only metric above water, but post-sale support (2.2) and project management (2.5) scores reveal a company that disappears after install. We found 1,876 complaints about support versus 838 compliments, and in one theme covering 479 reviews about performance failures, only 1% were positive. The app-only communication model means you can't reach a human when your system fails, your roof leaks, or your bill doubles. Some reviewers report threatening legal action just to get a callback.
If you're willing to chase a company through apps and voicemail for years while paying two energy bills, Tesla offers a low up-front cost. But if you want a system that works as promised and a company that answers the phone when it doesn't, spend more elsewhere.
3 Stories That Stood Out
Two years ago Kate M. and her husband signed on with Solar City, drawn by the environmental benefits and the promise that their normal utility bill would all but disappear, replaced by a predictable flat payment. Instead, their DWP bill stayed the same and they began paying $65 a month to Solar City on top of it — roughly $100 more every DWP billing cycle than before. They found themselves bounced between the two companies with nobody taking responsibility. Repeated messages to DWP’s dedicated solar line never reached a person, and regular DWP operators either told them they didn’t understand how solar works or suggested Solar City had ripped them off. DWP repeatedly refused to inspect the connection, even though other solar customers were initially not connected by the utility. Solar City answered by blaming higher household usage or asking them to trim a tree — a puzzling suggestion given that the tree’s shadow is off the house by 6 a.m. in summer and the family hasn’t added any power-hungry appliances. The panels are producing less than the output spelled out in the lease, which she believes contributes to the problem. Last spring Solar City said they wouldn’t consider any 0
Patricia ended up with a damaged residential roof after a Tesla solar installation nearly two years ago; Tesla accepted responsibility twice and eventually removed the panels. The array has been offline since 4/15/2023, and she has spent four months waiting for the subcontractor to call and schedule a full roof replacement. That delay wiped out her solar production and left her with a PG&E bill for $2,067.52 — PG&E told her the system didn’t generate the expected energy while it was disconnected. She hesitated at first, hoping Tesla would make things right, but months of silence pushed her to escalate: she filed a complaint with the California Solar & Storage Association and reached out to the CALSSA ethics board without success, and she’s been advised to contact the Contractors State License Board. As of August 18, 2023 she still hadn’t heard back from Tesla and took to social media to try to force a resolution. The lasting image: panels down and off since April 15, 2023, and a four-figure utility bill hanging over the household while the company delays the roof repair.
Daniel L. had SolarCity panels for nearly four years, and what started as a misleading sales pitch escalated into a long, frustrating battle over a leaking roof and an alleged botched installation. When he filed a warranty claim for a leak, the company denied it; after months of back-and-forth he hired three independent roofing contractors, and they all found the same thing — poor design and a sag caused by improper installation — and refused to reroof with the SolarCity array in place. SolarCity brought in their insurer, and after more than three months a company rep arrived the same day as the insurance engineer. The rep and engineer acted like acquaintances, the engineer concluded the work didn’t meet snow-load standards, but the insurer pressed on what actual damage had occurred rather than taking responsibility. He wondered whether someone had to be hurt before the system would be corrected. Meanwhile six to eight roof tiles came loose in a recent storm; panels remained mounted over the damaged area despite earlier assurances they’d be removed, and that ongoing presence continued to damage the roof. A project manager named Jamal never crawled into the installation area to look
Platforms Monitored
Performance by Work Type
How We Got To Trust Score 38
Buyer Beware
Unauthorized Activities
19 reports
Misleading Claims
74 reports
Background Check
Serving customers for 18 years
Among the longest-standing installers in the market.
BBB Rating: F
Poor BBB standing. Significant complaints.
Natural Review Patterns
Reviews were posted naturally over time.
What You Can Expect
Hari Nam S. has maintained a relationship with Tesla Energy for 15 years and recently completed a new solar-panel array with a Powerwall at his home. He ended up with hardware that performs exactly as promised and an installation that was swift and efficient — Tesla Energy managed every phase, honored his preference for the Powerwall location, and hired a contractor to dig a trench and run conduit between the main structure and the battery site. During design and pre-install, Kelsey served as his knowledgeable liaison and answered all his questions, but he discovered that finding her contact required digging through the Tesla phone app. The app prioritized Tesla car content, buried energy contacts, and made reaching Energy support counterintuitive even for someone with long IT experience. Once set up, the app proved powerful for monitoring production and usage, yet it remained complex and difficult to configure. He appreciated the installation crews and Kelsey’s help, and recommends Tesla Energy as knowledgeable and competent, but assigned three stars because accessibility and finding help for specific questions felt cumbersome. Across his decade-and-a-half relationship, Tesla has
Doug was on an EV electricity rate when Tesla installed solar at his home. About a year after the system went live he discovered a $4,000 NEM bill from PGE and traced it back to a single cause: Tesla had switched his account off the EV rate without telling him. The entire charge turned out to be driven by that unauthorized rate change. He explored legal options but found the likely cost of lawyers would dwarf any recovery, leaving him furious and stuck with the bill. The concrete takeaway for buyers: verify your utility rate and account settings right after an installer finishes work — an unnoticed change can turn into a four‑figure surprise.
Jeff discovered Tesla was easy to work with—until his home energy system stopped working. About 2½ years after installation his Powerwall 2 failed, and three weeks later the inverter went out too, leaving the entire system completely offline. He encountered opaque, ineffective support: no one could give specifics about his service request, confirm the status of the parts they claimed were “on order,” or provide a timeline for getting the system back up. He found their customer service to be among the worst he’s dealt with, with frequent brush-offs and no actionable information. Tesla told him the Powerwall 2 failure was a known issue, but when he pushed for replacements he learned they had no units available to install. He ended up with a 100% down system and no clear path to repair. The detail that stands out for prospective buyers: in his experience, a relatively early battery failure combined with unavailable replacement Powerwall 2 units left him stranded and uncertain about when — or if — service would restore his home system.
Eric B. ordered a rooftop solar system plus two Powerwall 3 units and completed everything through the Tesla app about a year before the project finally went live. He found the ordering process and in-app access to designs and documents extremely convenient. The site assessment, design, and the physical installation all went smoothly: installers spent a full day on the roof, the grid power was cut for only about an hour and a half, and he could immediately run the system and charge the Powerwalls — just not export solar to the grid. Then the project stalled. Weeks passed with no updates until a project advisor called to say the county had changed its rules and the Powerwalls would have to be relocated from the side of the house to the back. Tesla and the county took additional weeks to agree on an acceptable location. When the move was approved, technicians spent about half a day relocating the Powerwalls without shutting the power off. Over the next few weeks the system went through three separate county inspections; Tesla handled those inspections so he only needed to be home when the crew required garage access. After passing those inspections and completing the finalutility
Joe G. had Tesla solar panels installed on his home in June 2018 and expected steady production — but the inverter has failed twice. He first lost power in 2022 and sat without a working system for about two months. This July the array stopped producing again; he couldn’t get a service visit until September, when a technician determined the inverter was the culprit. Parts finally became available in late October, yet the earliest installation slot the company offered is January 2026, leaving him with roughly six months of downtime. During that stretch his energy credit has plunged from more than $1,000 to about $250. The tech told him the inverter is a commonly failing part, that repairs only take about 30 minutes, and that technicians don’t carry spares — there’s even a chance he’ll get a refurbished replacement. He paid the system off in June of this year and is trying to stay calm, but what sticks with him is that a half-hour fix in theory has translated into months without production and a big hit to his credits.
Cheryl discovered that the leased solar panels she got in 2016 stopped producing power in August 2025. By October 23 she found out Tesla couldn't send a technician to diagnose the issue until January 9, 2026 — a wait of roughly three months — which means she'll continue buying electricity from APS at its high rates in the meantime. She had no trouble with SolarCity back when she leased the system, but ended up in what she describes as a nightmare dealing with Tesla since it bought SolarCity. Frustrated by the long delay and poor service response, she experienced what she calls the worst customer service she's ever encountered. The detail that will stick with her: the next available technician appointment is January 9, 2026, and until then the panels remain offline while she pays full retail for power.
Fred D. had solar on his home for about a year but kept getting daytime outages, so he bought three Tesla Powerwalls to keep the lights on. He chose OC Solar to handle the install because they had done a solid job on his original solar array; he could have shaved some cost by buying directly from Tesla and accepting a Tesla-selected installer, but after owning three Tesla cars he preferred OC Solar’s level of service at his house. He ended up with three Powerwalls that provide reliable backup power and have driven his electricity bill down by roughly 95%. He remains on SCE’s NEM 2 billing plan (the version that closed in 2023) and also claimed the 30% federal tax rebate. His takeaway for buyers: meaningful savings and incentives still exist, but you need to shop carefully to capture them.
Ima P. had SolarCity panels (now under Tesla) installed back in 2014 and always assumed the system was working — until she discovered the inverter had been switched off and her array had produced no power through the height of summer. The company’s monitoring app had been flagging errors as early as July and the last automated alert on 8/12 even said “tech was on the way,” but she never received a notification. A few days later a brand-new inverter showed up at her house with no instructions and no explanation. She turned to the app — the AI-driven, app-only support channel — and only after persistent prodding managed to reach a human who claimed not to know the system had been offline. Scheduling a repair took hours. Given that Tesla knows exactly how much energy every system generates and carries a roughly $50 billion market valuation, she expected them to spot and act on two months of zero production; instead the failure had been logged for months without meaningful follow-up. She ended up waiting through the peak season with no generation, a replacement part left without guidance, and a determination to move away from the company.
Elyse G had a long, trouble-free history with rooftop solar — SolarCity put panels on her 1,442‑square‑foot house in 2013, Tesla later took over the account, and nothing went wrong. In April 2024 she moved into a new house and asked Tesla to install a system there, expecting the installer’s site visit recommendation to be followed. She discovered a mismatch: the field rep had pointed to the sunniest side of the house for the array, but the crew actually mounted panels on the east side. When she questioned the lead installer, he replied that the designers had drawn it that way. The second problem landed in billing: she finances her system and consistently pays early each month (bill due the 14th), yet one month a payment processor allocated her whole payment to principal and nothing to interest without her authorization. After rounds with the billing team, she learned they would not or could not reapply the payment and now Tesla wants an extra $219.40 on top of what she already paid — an amount she insists stems from the company’s error. The lasting impression: a company that had once been reliable, but here left her with panels placed contrary to the initial plan and an unresolved,
Long-term Satisfaction
Long-term satisfaction for Tesla Energy drops to 1.9 ★ 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.