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Palmetto Solar reviews
• updated JUN 17, 2026Loading map...
The Verdict
Palmetto Solar is a gamble you shouldn't take. We analyzed thousands of reviews and found a company split between satisfied customers and homeowners stuck with non-working systems. One Houston resident spent a year and a half trying to get half their panels repaired, cycling through Palmetto's third-party service partner with zero resolution. Another paid for both a $300 monthly panel loan and a $300 electric bill after their system barely produced 5% of promised electricity. The pattern we see is severe: 623 reviews cite value problems, 617 mention poor post-sale support, and the most damning cluster of 331 reviews details panels that stop producing electricity for months while customers chase technicians across state lines. When systems do fail, reviews show staff turnover kills continuity, service areas turn out to be unsupported, and roof leaks from installation go unacknowledged until customers involve inspectors. To be fair, 462 reviews describe smooth installs and helpful sales reps. But production forecasts appear wildly optimistic, the one-year service window conveniently expires right when problems surface, and the monitoring app won't even alert you when your panels quit working.
If you want panels that might work beautifully or might become a $40,000 roof ornament with no one returning your calls, Palmetto offers that coin flip. If you'd rather skip the risk, look for a local installer with in-house service teams and verifiable long-term support.
3 Stories That Stood Out
Matthew Noh installed a roughly $40,000 solar array on his Houston ranch-style home in October 2022 and discovered by June 2023 that half the panels had stopped producing. He spent the next year chasing service through a chain of contractors—Palmetto in South Carolina, Omnidian in Seattle, and local crews in Texas—and watched summer months pass with a system that barely generated power. By December 17, 2023 the problem remained unresolved; a February 2024 technician visit temporarily patched wiring issues, but the fix didn’t hold. On June 8, 2024 output fell again to half or less, and e-mails to Palmetto went unanswered. He felt the earlier visit was a bandage, suspected he’d be billed hundreds for repeat fixes, and grew convinced the company had delayed serious troubleshooting until after the one-year window for free repairs. On August 20, 2024 all panels stopped producing electricity. He tried the company’s online reset procedure, waited a week and a half, and saw no change. Palmetto then told him they don’t have coverage in Houston and that sending someone would require about a three-week wait and a four-hour drive for a technician; the person who previously worked on his system
Lydie H began her solar journey nearly two years ago after buying her first home and drowning in high electric bills. She worked with a salesman named Adam, who promised a system that would cover 100% of her electricity. After almost a year of back-and-forth and waiting for installation, her initial loan expired; Adam blamed the delay on her original system being “too small” for installers to take on. Forced to secure a new loan at roughly twice the previous interest rate, she was convinced to purchase a system twice as large and much more expensive with the assurance it would finally be installed and cost her nothing up front. When the panels were finally put on the roof they didn’t work, leaving her paying almost $300 a month for the system while still receiving about a $400 electric bill. It took nearly five months for the company to repair them, and a request for compensation for lost savings produced a $100 credit. Now the array produces barely over 5% of her home’s electricity, so she ends up paying roughly $300 for the solar loan plus about $300 for power — a heavier monthly burden than before — and she remains trapped by the contract when she tried to have the panels taken,
In 2022 Sara Mace had a 26-panel solar array put on half of her roof. During the installation crews punched a hole through her kitchen wall and never offered to repair it. The first installers left one day, then a different crew returned unannounced a week later to take the panels down and put them back up again, which began a run of problems. In 2023 she started getting a leak in the ceiling; after having her handyman patch it three times she suspected the panels and asked Palmetto Solar to inspect. A roofing contractor sent by the company concluded the panels had caused the damage. Sara then spent months corresponding with Palmetto representative Alejandra Torrijos, who arranged a second roofing inspection — and then Palmetto refused to pay for repairs, pointing to contract language that covers preexisting roof condition. Sara pushed back, provided a photo from before the installation and a video of the current roof, and then received no further responses. After a storm (Helene) hit the Savannah area, she and many neighbors lost power — despite the 26 panels on her roof, her house had no electricity — and her follow-up emails went unanswered. Now another leak has appeared in the同
Platforms Monitored
Performance by Work Type
How We Got To Trust Score 45
Buyer Beware
Unauthorized Activities
13 reports
Misleading Claims
40 reports
Background Check
Serving customers for 11 years
Operating longer than most 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
Lori had solar panels on her home for about a year and a half and has watched her electric bills drop — a relief after the local utility raised rates by 18%. She runs the HVAC non-stop, does laundry and uses other appliances, yet the system still trims her costs noticeably. When two panels needed attention recently, Palmetto jumped on it and got them repaired and back online even as a snowstorm was rolling in — the crew stayed through the weather and didn’t leave the job unfinished. Support stayed available for questions, and at the end of the year she received an actual payout check from the utility for reserve power she’d banked, a tangible bonus she used toward vacation, holiday expenses or bills. For her, the combination of quick, storm-ready service and that yearly cash-back check is what made the switch to solar stand out.
Claudia MM worked with an account representative who knew the process inside out and walked her through every step from proposal to installation. He connected her with financing options and kept communication clear throughout. The installers finished the job in half a day, and twenty-one months later she has seen the system continue to perform beautifully. She relies on the company’s app to monitor production and finds it an excellent way to keep track of output.
Three years after buying a solar panel system for his home, Joe was still staring at regular electric bills instead of the savings he had been promised. When the setup finally seemed to go offline, the company sent an email telling him to troubleshoot it himself, so he followed the steps and reached back out only to learn the system was still not online. That left him wondering how long it had been down, and the answer he got for a service visit was a minimum $500 technician charge that could rise depending on location. He then turned to customer service looking for a clear explanation of what was wrong and why he was being asked to pay to inspect a system he was already financing, but came away with no real answers. The whole experience centered on a roof-mounted system that never delivered the bill savings he expected and a support process that put the burden back on him when the panels failed.
John celebrated the one-year anniversary of turning on his home solar system after a clean, professional installation. He ended up with equipment that’s been running since activation and appreciated how well the installation was handled. The takeaway that sticks: a year later, the job still looks and performs like it was done right.
K has had a Palmetto Solar installation on their home for almost two years and discovered the system ran trouble-free the entire time. When an issue popped up with the Palmetto app, they reached out to customer service and received a quick, workable solution that got monitoring back on track. Between the uninterrupted hardware performance and the prompt app support, K ended up very satisfied with both the system and Palmetto’s follow-through. The detail that sticks: reliable equipment plus fast, effective customer service when the software hiccuped.
David started out feeling good about the company, but that confidence faded after a year of normal bills turned into a stretch of alarming surprises. On his 1,100-square-foot home with 16 panels, he ended up staring at electric bills around $250 a month from Excel Electric, on top of the $114.99 solar payment, even though the same time the year before his power bill had been only $12 to $28. He had tried to get someone out to the house to sort it out, but kept getting bounced between companies and told it was the other side’s responsibility. With only the living room and kitchen outlets in use and no heavy load running, the jump felt especially hard to explain, and he was left worried that another customer could get caught in the same mess.
Jillbillee ended up especially excited about the app that came with her solar lease, because it let her watch both real-time and past production and usage from home. That visibility changed the way she and her husband lived day to day: they started hanging clothes outside, unplugging items when they left the house, and switching to cold-water washes, all while seeing the savings add up. The system went live in November, and since then there have been no problems. What stood out to her most, though, was how quickly the Palmetto team answered through short text check-ins whenever she needed them.
Kristen Gatti bought a house in April 2024 that already had a roof and solar panels installed by Palmetto and their contractor TaylorMade Solutions in August 2023. In November 2025 she discovered a significant leak in a corner of the roof and reached out to Palmetto; Jarrett Lipari received the notification and instructed her to contact the roofing contractor. TaylorMade climbed into the attic, stuck a bucket under the leak, blamed the solar array, and said he would contact Palmetto to arrange a proper repair. After that, the two companies went in circles without actually fixing the problem. She has called and emailed Palmetto repeatedly and gotten no returned calls; customer service repeatedly told her they could do nothing until Jarrett responded. Frustrated by the lack of a clear point of contact and the temporary bucket-in-the-rafters “fix,” she is preparing to pursue legal action to force a real repair. The image that lingered for her: unanswered messages and a bucket catching roof water while the companies pass responsibility back and forth.
Darren bought a house a year ago that already had a Lightreach solar lease attached, expecting a straightforward transfer. What unfolded became a 12‑month fiasco: dozens of email chains, almost no phone contact, and a near‑total communications breakdown. Lightreach repeatedly insisted the previous owner needed to provide a three‑month notice before a transfer, even though the sale closed and Darren moved in a month later — yet no contract ever arrived. The previous owners had been chasing the company as well; Lightreach deflected blame back at them and suggested they contact Darren, which only led to the former owners showing up at his door to share their own frustrations. Darren confronted Lightreach over what he calls dishonesty between all parties. For three months he dealt with a customer‑service team based in *********** that offered little follow‑through; because he had no signed agreement he threatened to remove the system, and only then did the company begin to respond. After doing his own legwork, Darren presented three local quotes showing installers who would add a larger system for about $12,000. Lightreach’s initial price for the small existing system was roughly $38,0
Long-term Satisfaction
Long-term satisfaction for Palmetto Solar drops to 2.3 ★ 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.