Tesla Energy reviews

Toni M. signed up for a leased solar system expecting lower power bills, but discovered the opposite: for nearly two years she kept paying the solar lease while also receiving an electric bill almost every month. Over the last year she ended up paying her lease plus more than $1,500 to the utility company. The system’s inverter kept failing — it went down repeatedly and required multiple replacements — and every time she pressed the installer for answers they deflected with excuses or pointed to dense contract language. What sticks most is the combination of ongoing hardware failures and the financial hit of paying both bills, with the company repeatedly retreating to fine-print explanations rather than fixing the root problem.

J M signed up for a residential solar install and at first admired how neat the array looked on the roof. That good first impression unraveled: the installation had several scattered rough patches, and they discovered a more serious problem with the promised state incentive — the staff member handling the paperwork was listed as the payment recipient on the program documents, plainly visible. They have tried to get answers but received no response from Tesla Energy. Ultimately, the unresolved paperwork and apparent misdirection of the incentive payment overshadowed what otherwise appeared to be a solid installation.

Barbrta P. signed a service contract for her home’s solar system expecting technicians to come out for maintenance, but discovered the company leaned on texts and emails instead of in-person visits. She kept getting messages asking her to check the meter or follow do-it-yourself instructions, and after repeatedly asking for a service call the firm finally sent a contracted rep. He told her husband the panels were dirty and effectively expected them to climb onto the roof and clean them themselves; he promised to return the next day and then never showed up or even called. The contract’s promised on-site service never materialized, leaving her to handle troubleshooting through messages and an absent follow-up — the image that sticks is a paid rep suggesting the homeowners do the work while the company fails to follow through.

Joseph S. had a SolarCity rooftop system installed about seven years ago, and it ran fine until the inverter died four months ago. After repeated emails it took 3.5 months for the company to send a replacement; the technician put in the same model but apparently didn’t link the new inverter to the internet gateway. Another week of messages produced only a plan to schedule a follow-up visit — the previous service itself took about a month to arrange — leaving the array offline while he continues paying Edison for electricity. SolarCity offered a credit for the lost production, but it will be calculated at the contract rate rather than the higher Edison rate he must cover in the meantime. The situation boils down to long delays, a botched reinstall, and a promised credit that won’t fully compensate for the extra utility costs.

Dennis G. installed a home solar system and endured four inverter-panel failures within a single year. Each breakdown left his array offline for about a month while the company blamed backordered parts, yet he kept getting billed for service even when the system produced no energy. Technicians repeatedly swapped individual components instead of replacing the entire defective inverter panel, so the same problem kept coming back. He bought the system when the business operated as SolarCity and watched the transition to Tesla without seeing any improvement in support; customer service offered no meaningful help or workable solutions. Frustrated, he began seeking legal advice to escape the contract and stopped recommending the company to others, putting plans to buy a Tesla vehicle on hold. The concrete takeaway that stuck with him: four month-long outages in a year, repeated short-term fixes, and continued billing pushed him to pursue a legal way out.

Lily J. had Tesla install solar panels on her San Diego home last month, but discovered the system never started producing power. She found installers unable to get the inverter to join the house Wi‑Fi, and learned the unit on the roof was an older model that only supports legacy connectivity — technicians struggled to diagnose or fix the issue. Communication came almost exclusively by email and text, so after nearly 40 days with a nonworking system she felt the company had moved on once the panels were mounted. She asked how to have the panels removed and left a one‑star review. The detail that sticks: a roof full of panels that haven’t generated electricity for close to 40 days because the inverter won’t connect to the home network, and support was limited to impersonal emails and texts.

John G. paid $43,000 for a residential solar system and ended up with equipment that has been offline more often than it has produced power. He discovered long stretches when the array wasn't generating electricity, and every attempt to get help ran into unresponsive, ineffective customer support. The most memorable detail: an expensive installation that hasn’t worked reliably, paired with what he labels the company’s worst customer service. Prospective buyers should take note of the repeated downtime and the difficulty getting meaningful assistance.

Shellie F. looked after her parents’ rooftop solar system, which stopped producing power in November and remained down through March 2021. A January visit inspected the system hardware but didn’t check the panels themselves, and the array kept failing. After requesting service again, a technician this month pinpointed a faulty component in one panel and indicated Tesla recognizes the issue; repairs were scheduled for two weeks out. Meanwhile her parents kept paying full electric bills for months and received no compensation or bill credit from the company. The memorable takeaway: a prolonged outage tied to a known Tesla fault, a repair promised weeks later, and no financial relief for the utility costs accrued while the system was offline.

Stephen G. hired Tesla/SolarCity to install a rooftop solar array and to replace the roof under and around the panels. A few weeks after the work, a heavy rain exposed a leak that hadn’t appeared in previous storms. He called Tesla’s emergency line and a crew arrived the next day; they acknowledged they hadn’t sealed the roof properly, patched what they could and said a second crew would finish the job. Two days later a different crew inspected the work and, after an investigation, shifted the blame to him—claiming the leak was caused by whoever had repaired the roof—despite his telling them Tesla had replaced the roof sections beneath the panels. A supervisor was promised, then customer care left a voicemail placing responsibility on the homeowner. He tried calling four times that week and emailed with no meaningful response. Now, during the next rains, the same area under the new panels is leaking again. His clearest takeaway: document everything with before-and-after photos of any work they touch, because the crews first admitted fault and then denied it, and follow-up communication has been unresponsive.