If your California solar installer went out of business, your equipment warranties usually survive but your workmanship warranty does not. You still owe the loan. If you have a lease or PPA, it was sold to another company that you now pay. Your first three moves: take back your monitoring account, confirm who holds your contract, and file a CSLB complaint before the four-year window closes.
Key takeaways
- Roughly 100 US solar companies have filed for bankruptcy since 2023, according to Harvard Business School’s Institute for Business in Global Society. Freedom Forever, the second-largest residential installer in the country, filed Chapter 11 on April 15, 2026.
- One company, SunStrong Management, now services legacy SunPower, legacy Sunnova, and part of PosiGen. Roughly 500,000 customers. The number is (833) 514-1858. Most affected homeowners do not know this.
- Your panel and inverter warranties survive. Your installer’s workmanship warranty, roof leak coverage, and production guarantee do not.
- The California contractor license bond is $25,000, shared among every claimant. On a failure with hundreds of customers it pays pennies on the dollar. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something.
- If you are on NEM 1.0 or NEM 2.0, the wrong repair can cost you your grandfathered rate. A like-for-like inverter swap keeps it. A bigger inverter can end it.
The call I get most often in 2026 does not start with “how much does solar cost.”
It starts with “my installer is gone, and I do not know who to call.”
I have been doing this in California long enough to have watched three of these waves. This one is different in scale. Harvard Business School put the count at roughly 100 US solar companies filing for bankruptcy since 2023. SunPower, Sunnova, Titan Solar, ADT Solar, Lumio, PosiGen, and now Freedom Forever, which was the second-largest residential installer in the country at 6.1% market share and filed Chapter 11 in Delaware on April 15, 2026 with liabilities between $500 million and $1 billion.
Here is what almost nobody tells you: most of what you have been told to panic about is fine, and the things that will actually cost you money are things nobody mentions. Your panels did not stop working. Your Enphase warranty did not evaporate. But there may be a UCC-1 filing on your property you have never heard of, a subcontractor who was never paid and can still lien your home, and a four-year clock running on your right to complain to the state.
This guide is California-specific because the remedies are California-specific. The national articles on this topic send you to the Better Business Bureau. The BBB cannot do anything for you. The Contractors State License Board can.
What should I do in the first 48 hours?
Do four things, in this order: regain your monitoring access, download every document you can still reach, identify who now holds your loan or lease, and confirm the system is still producing.
Monitoring first, and this is not obvious. When your installer set up your system, they created the monitoring account and put themselves on it as the administrator. When the company folds, that account can go dormant with you locked out of your own production data. Recovering it is easy while the servers still recognize the system and much harder later.
Then pull your paperwork. You want the original contract, the CSLB Solar Energy System Disclosure Document, your panel and inverter serial numbers, the permit and final inspection card, your interconnection agreement and Permission to Operate letter, your loan documents, and any warranty certificates. If you cannot find them, section 8 below covers where to get replacements.
Which of my warranties still work?
Your equipment warranties survive. Your installer’s warranties do not. There are three separate warranties on a solar system and homeowners almost always think they are one thing.
Warranty types and what happens when the installer closes
| Warranty | Who issued it | Covers | Survives? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workmanship and labor (10 to 25 years) | Your installer | Mounting, wiring, conduit, roof penetrations, service calls | No. In a Chapter 7 liquidation it is gone. In Chapter 11 it becomes a general unsecured claim behind lenders and landlords |
| Equipment and product | The manufacturer | Defects in panels, inverters, microinverters, batteries | Yes. It runs with the equipment, not with the company that installed it |
| Production or performance guarantee | Usually your installer | Cash back if the system underproduces a promised kWh figure | No, if your installer issued it. Manufacturer power warranties, typically 80% to 92% output at year 25, are separate and survive |
The one that hurts is roof penetrations. Every panel manufacturer excludes them. Qcells states it plainly: labor, wiring, roof penetrations and connections belong to the installer warranty. So if your array starts leaking in year six and your installer is a bankruptcy docket number, that repair is yours. We cover the sequencing of solar and roofing work separately, because doing them in the wrong order is what creates most of these leaks in the first place.
Will my panel or inverter manufacturer talk to me directly?
Some will and some will not, and it depends entirely on the brand on your equipment. This is the single most useful table in this guide, and I have not seen it published anywhere else.
Manufacturer policy for orphaned California systems, August 2026
| Brand | Will they take a claim directly from you? | Do they cover labor? |
|---|---|---|
| Enphase | Yes. Sells Enphase Care directly to homeowners starting at $399, with $0 on-site labor on covered repairs, and states it will send technicians if your installer closed | Standard warranty labor is reimbursed to certified installers. Enphase Care exists to close that gap for homeowners |
| Tesla | Yes. If you cannot reach your installer, contact Tesla directly. Coverage transfers with proof of ownership | Yes, reasonable labor, but only if Tesla or a Tesla Certified Installer does the work. Work by anyone else voids it |
| REC | Yes, explicitly: if your original installer goes out of business, the ProTrust warranty still applies | Yes, a fixed labor fee paid to an REC Certified professional |
| Panasonic | Yes. Exited solar in April 2025 but honors existing warranties. Direct contact is panasonicsolar@us.panasonic.com | Unclear post-exit |
| LG | Yes. Exited panels in 2022 and honors the limited warranty. Support line 1-833-388-2121 | Not stated |
| Canadian Solar, Jinko | Yes, to the original purchaser or whoever holds title | No. Removal, shipping and reinstallation are excluded |
| SolarEdge | No. Their policy states service must be provided by a certified SolarEdge installer. There is no orphan provision | To the installer only. Inverter labor runs $250 in years 1 to 2, dropping to $65 to $90 by year 5 |
| Qcells | No. Claims route through the Q.PARTNER installer portal | Not stated |
| FranklinWH | No. Certified installers only, and the claim must be filed within 30 days | $250 per truck roll, $200 per aPower unit |
Source: manufacturer warranty and support documentation, reviewed August 2026.
Read that table again with your own equipment in mind. If you have Enphase, Tesla or REC, you have a direct path and you can start today. If you have SolarEdge, Qcells or FranklinWH, the manufacturer will not speak to you without a certified installer standing between you and them. That is the real reason orphaned homeowners need a new contractor, and it has nothing to do with sales.
For a fuller breakdown of what each warranty tier actually promises, see our guide to solar panel warranties.
How do I get my monitoring account back?
All three major platforms have a self-serve transfer process, and two of them cost less than $150. Here is what each one takes.
Monitoring account recovery, by platform
| Platform | Process | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Enphase | Transfer of Ownership service. Moves the product warranty into your name and gives you full app access. The system has to be online. No installer signature needed | Not publicly listed. An existing Enphase Care plan does not carry over automatically |
| SolarEdge | Three routes at the site transfer page. Transferring to a new installer is free if you have their Account ID. Changing site ownership works with no installer at all: you attest you are the lawful owner and supply the Site ID. Note that this removes all existing users | Self-serve monitoring ownership and access is listed at $99 |
| Tesla | In the app, Settings, then Remove and Transfer Ownership. Leases and PPAs go through the Tesla account transfer flow instead | $150 document processing fee applies where a UCC-1 release or subordination is involved |
One warning. On SolarEdge, changing site ownership removes every existing user on the account. If your system is shared with a spouse or a property manager, re-add them afterward.
Do I still have to pay the loan if the company that sold it to me is gone?
Yes. The loan and the installation were two separate contracts, and your installer’s bankruptcy discharges their obligations, not yours.
But there is a federal rule that most homeowners have never heard of and most articles on this topic skip entirely.
The FTC Holder Rule, 16 C.F.R. 433.2. Consumer credit contracts arranged by the seller must carry a notice that preserves your claims and defenses against whoever ends up holding the loan. The FTC’s advisory opinion states the rule “places no limits on a consumer’s right to an affirmative recovery,” other than capping recovery at what you have already paid under that contract.
In plain terms: if your installer never performed, you may be able to raise that against the lender, and seek a refund up to what you have paid so far. The notice has to actually appear in your contract, so pull it out and look.
The scenario where this matters most is the one I see constantly: the loan funded, and the system was never permitted, never inspected, or never turned on. Your payment obligation started on the note’s terms whether or not you ever got Permission to Operate. There is no California statute that voids a solar loan for non-completion. What you do instead is run three things in parallel: a written Holder Rule claim to whoever currently holds the loan, a CSLB complaint, and a complaint to the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.
Check who actually holds your loan now, because it probably changed. Solar Mosaic filed Chapter 11 in June 2025 and its book was acquired by Solar Servicing LLC, a Forbright Bank subsidiary, on September 22, 2025. Terms and payment methods did not change. Their line is (866) 493-6367. Mosaic had funded more than $15 billion across 500,000 households, so this affects a lot of California. Look at the servicer named on your current statement, not the company on your original paperwork.
If you are weighing what to do with the financing from here, our breakdown of solar leases, PPAs and prepaid options covers the tradeoffs honestly.
Who owns my lease or PPA now?
Somebody bought it. Lease and PPA contracts are revenue-producing assets, so in a bankruptcy they get assumed and assigned or sold. Your terms generally carry over and your obligation to pay does not lapse.
Where the major California portfolios landed
| If your original company was | Who services you now | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| SunPower (Chapter 11, August 2024) | SunStrong Management for leases and PPAs. Monitoring moved to Enphase. Loans stayed with the original lender | (833) 514-1858 |
| Sunnova (Chapter 11, June 2025) | Assets sold to Solaris Assets, with SunStrong Management handling billing and operations. Servicing platform sold separately to Omnidian | (833) 514-1858 |
| PosiGen (Chapter 11, November 2025) | Most of the portfolio to Renewbrook Energy, a Brookfield subsidiary, with Omnidian on monitoring and maintenance. The remainder to SunStrong | Renewbrook or SunStrong depending on your system |
| Titan Solar Power (Chapter 7, June 2024) | Nobody. The Arizona bankruptcy court’s own notice states that in most of the cases filed “there are no assets available to pay creditors” | None |
| ADT Solar (exited residential solar January 24, 2024) | Not addressed. ADT’s announcement mentioned only a possible transfer of components of the business to other parties | None confirmed |
| Freedom Forever (Chapter 11, April 15, 2026) | Unresolved as of today. Third-party financiers including Sunrun, GoodLeap and Mosaic hold the completed systems and retain those relationships. Customers who were mid-install were stranded | Check who financed your system |
There is one critical detail on SunPower that catches people. When Complete Solar acquired the SunPower brand and assets on September 30, 2024, it explicitly did not assume systems installed on or before that date. So a homeowner with a 2021 SunPower install who calls the SunPower-branded company today is not talking to the entity responsible for their system.
If you are selling your home with an assigned lease, the buyer typically has to assume the agreement and credit qualify, or you buy the contract out at closing. Request the assignment terms and the buyout schedule in writing from your current servicer before you list. Do not rely on what your agent thinks the terms are.
Can a repair cost me my NEM 2.0 rate?
Yes, and this is the most expensive mistake an orphaned homeowner can make. A like-for-like replacement preserves your grandfathered net metering. An upgrade can end it.
If you interconnected before April 15, 2023, you are on NEM 1.0 or NEM 2.0 and you keep that tariff for 20 years from your Permission to Operate date, under CPUC decision D.22-12-056. That legacy status is worth thousands of dollars a year compared to the Net Billing Tariff, and PG&E has confirmed the first legacy expirations begin moving to the Solar Billing Plan at True-Up starting March 2026.
Here is what protects it and what breaks it:
- Like-for-like repair keeps your legacy status. PG&E’s NEM2 sunset guidance permits replacement inverters with the same nameplate rating or smaller, and panels with the same CEC-AC rating or smaller. SCE allows like-for-like replacements not exceeding original approved output using Form 14-987, with no new approval needed.
- A larger inverter is a capacity increase, not a repair. This is the trap. A handyman who cannot source your exact failed model and puts in the next size up has just modified your system.
- The threshold is 10% or 1 kW, whichever is greater. PG&E, SCE and SDG&E all use it, measured against your original nameplate capacity. Cross it and you move to the current tariff.
- Adding a battery does not by itself end legacy status. SDG&E’s tariff puts paired storage under the same transition period as the generation it is paired with. SCE lets existing NEM customers add storage and stay on their program. PG&E allows a post-PTO interconnection request for a battery while retaining NEM2 eligibility. The battery just cannot push your generating capacity past the threshold.
- Selling the house transfers the remaining years to the buyer. The rules attach to the system and the address, not to you. Moving the system to a new address forfeits it.
SDG&E’s tariff differs from the other two in one respect: it lets you choose to meter an addition separately under the Net Billing Tariff instead of moving your whole system. Confirm your specific situation with your utility before any equipment change.
If you are on legacy NEM and considering adding storage, the economics are genuinely different from a NEM 3.0 household. Our guide to home battery costs in California walks through both cases.
What can I actually recover in California?
Less than you have been told, and the honest math matters more than the list of agencies.
California recourse channels and what they realistically deliver
| Channel | The detail that matters | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| CSLB license bond claim | The bond has been $25,000 since January 1, 2023 under SB 607. It is shared among every claimant, first come | Within two years after expiration of the license period during which the act occurred, B&P 7071.11(c) |
| CSLB complaint | (800) 321-2752. Covers abandonment, poor workmanship, failure to pay subcontractors, code violations | Up to four years from the date of the act |
| Contract violations, AB 1070 and B&P 7169 | Every California residential solar contract requires a Solar Energy System Disclosure Document in boldface 16-point type on the front page showing total cost including financing. Down payment is capped at $1,000 or 10% of contract price, whichever is less. A missing or defective disclosure is a documented violation to cite in your complaint. See CSLB’s solar requirements | Within the CSLB windows above |
| DFPI, for lender complaints | (866) 275-2677. It forwards your complaint, tracks patterns and may bring enforcement. It will not advocate for you or resolve factual disputes | None fixed |
| Small claims court | $12,500 limit for individuals. Below most solar losses, but usable against a surety or for a partial claim | Varies by claim |
| Proof of claim in the bankruptcy | Find the case through the claims agent, usually Kroll or Stretto. The bar date is the cutoff after which claims are barred, and it comes fast: Sunnova’s petition was June 8, 2025 and the general bar date was August 6, 2025 | Case-specific, roughly 60 days |
The bond math nobody publishes
Run the numbers on that $25,000 bond, because the number is the whole story.
Say a failed California installer leaves 300 customers with an average unresolved claim of $18,000. That is $5.4 million in claims against a $25,000 bond. If every claimant filed and the surety split it evenly, each homeowner recovers about $83, or roughly half a cent on the dollar.
It does not work that way in practice, because the bond pays out closer to first come, first served. Which means the practical value of filing early is real, and the practical value of filing late is close to zero. CALSSA has been making this point publicly since 2023, when CBS Los Angeles covered California homeowners left with $32,000 and $70,000 systems that did not work.
File the bond claim. Just do not build a plan around it.
As for the bankruptcy itself: as a general unsecured consumer creditor you are behind the lenders, the landlords and the vendors. Bloomberg Law’s reporting on solar bankruptcies found such claimants typically receive nothing. File the proof of claim anyway, because it costs you an hour, but do not wait on it before fixing your system.
Is there a lien on my house I do not know about?
Possibly two kinds, and homeowners routinely find out at the worst moment, which is escrow.
UCC-1 fixture filing. If you financed the system, the lender likely recorded one. It perfects their interest in the equipment, not in your house. Under California Commercial Code 9501(a)(1)(B) it is recorded with the county recorder, so you can find it in the grantor and grantee index under your name and APN. A title report will show it.
It does not lien your home, but title companies and refinance lenders routinely require subordination or removal before closing. To clear it: California Commercial Code 9513 requires the secured party to file a termination statement within one month after the obligation is satisfied, or within 20 days after receiving a signed demand from you. Send that demand to the current holder or successor servicer. Sending it to a defunct installer accomplishes nothing.
Mechanic’s lien. This is the one that shocks people. If your failed installer did not pay its subcontractors or suppliers, those parties can record a lien against your home even though you paid the installer in full. California lien rights arise from the improvement, not from whether you paid.
The deadlines run fast. Subcontractors and suppliers serve a preliminary notice within 20 days of first furnishing materials. A lien must be recorded within 90 days of completion if no Notice of Completion was recorded, or 60 days for a direct contractor and 30 days for subs if one was. Then a foreclosure suit must be filed within 90 days of recording, or the lien is unenforceable.
If you find one: check whether that 90-day foreclosure window has already run. Send a certified written demand for release. Wait at least 10 days. Then petition to release under Civil Code 8480. The court sets a hearing within 30 days, and the prevailing party is awarded reasonable attorney’s fees, which is what makes this worth doing rather than living with it. An expired lien stays visible on title until it is formally released.
None of this is legal advice. It is the procedural map. For anything past a demand letter, talk to a California real estate attorney.
Where do I get copies of documents I lost?
Every record you need exists somewhere outside your filing cabinet.
- Permit and final inspection: the city or county building department that issued it. Most have a records request portal.
- Interconnection agreement and Permission to Operate: your utility. PG&E’s Solar Customer Service Center is 1-877-743-4112, weekdays 7am to 6pm Pacific, for systems 30 kW and under. SCE and SDG&E have equivalent solar service lines.
- Equipment serial numbers: visible inside your monitoring portal, which is another reason to recover that account first.
- UCC-1 filing: county recorder for fixture filings, plus the California Secretary of State UCC index.
- Contractor license status, bond and complaint history: the CSLB license lookup. Look up your original installer’s number and see what the record says. It is often instructive.
What should I look for in whoever I hire next?
Three things, and price is not the first one.
Verify the license on CSLB before the first conversation. Not the logo on the truck. Pull the license number, confirm it is active, check the classifications, and look at the complaint history. If the company that just failed on you had been checked this way, you might have seen it coming.
Confirm they are certified on your specific equipment. This is the practical constraint, not a preference. If you have SolarEdge or FranklinWH, only a certified installer can file your warranty claim at all. Ask which manufacturers they are certified with and ask them to show you.
Ask what they will and will not warranty on someone else’s install. Any honest contractor taking over an orphaned system will warranty their own new parts and labor, and will not warranty racking, roof penetrations or prior leaks they did not create. If someone offers to warranty the whole existing system sight unseen, that is a sales tactic, not a service offer.
Typical California pricing so you know what fair looks like: a service visit runs $500 to $1,500 in labor, a string inverter replacement installed runs $1,000 to $2,500, and microinverters run $300 to $600 each installed. A diagnostic-only visit is commonly $200 to $400, often credited toward the repair.
If you are comparing companies, we keep an honest roundup of California solar installers with license numbers included, and we list our competitors on it.
Frequently asked questions
Do my solar panels stop working if the company that installed them goes out of business?
No. Your panels, inverter and battery keep operating exactly as before. A bankruptcy is a legal and financial event, not a physical one. What changes is who is contractually responsible when something eventually does break.
Is my SunPower warranty still valid in 2026?
Your panel and equipment warranties are with the manufacturer and survive. The SunPower workmanship warranty does not. Complete Solar acquired the SunPower brand on September 30, 2024 but explicitly did not assume responsibility for systems installed on or before that date. Legacy leases and PPAs are administered by SunStrong Management at (833) 514-1858, and monitoring moved to Enphase.
Can I stop paying my solar loan if the installer went bankrupt?
No, not unilaterally. Missing payments damages your credit and does not resolve anything. The legitimate path is a written claim to your current loan holder under the FTC Holder Rule, filed alongside CSLB and DFPI complaints. Confirm who services your loan now, since many California loans changed hands after Solar Mosaic’s 2025 bankruptcy.
How much can I recover from the contractor’s bond?
The California contractor license bond is $25,000 total, shared among all claimants, and the claim must be brought within two years after expiration of the license period during which the problem occurred. On a failure affecting hundreds of homeowners, individual recovery is typically cents on the dollar. File early, and do not plan around the outcome.
Will adding a battery cost me my NEM 2.0 grandfathering?
Generally no. SCE, PG&E and SDG&E all permit existing legacy net metering customers to add storage while keeping their tariff, as long as the addition does not increase generating capacity by more than 10% or 1 kW, whichever is greater. Confirm your specific system with your utility before the work is done, because the calculation runs off your original nameplate capacity.
Who do I call if my system is producing nothing and my installer is gone?
Start with the manufacturer if you have Enphase, Tesla or REC, since all three will deal with a homeowner directly. For SolarEdge, Qcells or FranklinWH equipment you will need a certified installer to file on your behalf. Either way, get the monitoring account back into your name first so whoever helps you can actually see the fault.
If you are stuck, we will look at it
We service systems installed by companies that no longer exist. That work is a real part of what we do now, and it is not the part anybody planned for.
NRG Clean Power is a licensed California solar and battery contractor, CSLB #1026168, working across Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura County, Sacramento, Fresno and the Bay Area. We install, and we also diagnose, repair and take over orphaned systems.
If your system is down or you are not sure what you are looking at, get a quote in 2 minutes or book a virtual consultation and we will tell you honestly whether it is a $400 fix or a bigger conversation.