Six Things to Understand Before You Go Solar in 2026

I've been doing solar for almost ten years now and I've helped over a thousand homeowners go solar. In that time I've learned a lot about what people tend to get confused about.

I get calls all the time from folks who already have solar and are disappointed in how their system is operating, because it wasn't what they expected. It's not always the consumer's fault. But the less questions you ask going in, the more likely you are to end up in a situation where your system isn't giving you what you imagined it would.

So here are the six things I'd want you to understand before you sign anything.

1. Know your goals, and be specific about them

Most people tell me they want to save money or they want backup power, but that's usually as far as the thought goes. When you say you want to save money, what does that actually mean to you? Do you want to lower your monthly bill? Are you looking at this as an investment with a strong ROI?

The clearer you are on what saving money really means, the more we as consultants have to work with, and the easier it is to put together something that actually fits you. If you don't give direction, you can't get a targeted proposal, because nobody really knows what you're after.

It's a bit like walking into a car dealership and the salesman asking how many people you need to carry around, and you just shrug. You have to be a little more precise so people can actually help you.

The same goes for batteries. A lot of the confusion in this industry now that batteries are part of the equation comes down to sizing, how the battery relates to the solar system. It's common to see a solar system that's sized right for your production needs, but a battery that isn't giving you what you actually wanted or doesn't line up with your net metering strategy.

This is where companies either take advantage of people, or people end up walking themselves into a bad setup just by not understanding what they're choosing. Know why you want batteries, what you expect them to do, and how that ties back to what saving money means to you. This part gets overlooked more than it should.

2. Batteries and inverters matter more than the panels

Don't get me wrong, you still want tier 1 panels. But solar panel technology is old, decades old at this point, and the technology is mature enough that pretty much every name brand tier 1 panel is going to perform well. The differences between the top panels are small.

Where you actually see bigger gaps in quality, warranty, and features is in the batteries and inverters. If you're not already familiar with solar systems, this is the part that ends up affecting performance and causing problems down the road far more than the panels do.

The inverter takes the direct current your panels produce and turns it into the alternating current your home actually uses, and the battery stores your power. Right now two of the more commonly used batteries are the Tesla Powerwall 3 and the Enphase IQ 10C. There are other options out there, but those two are currently the ones that qualify for domestic content, which matters for the tax credit conversation I'll get to in a minute.

If you go with a no name battery or one of these DIY battery products, you're not getting the same class of product. I get calls about EcoFlow a lot, and they do make some solid gear, but a lot of their line is closer to generator style batteries. It's just not in the same category as a full Tesla or Enphase battery. Worth keeping in mind.

3. Do the math yourself

Add up your actual kilowatt hours used over the year. One of the most common ways I see consultants take advantage of people is by doing all the math for them and just telling them this many panels covers their needs.

Then a year later the homeowner finds out the math was off, or it didn't actually cover the percentage they were expecting, and now they're in a bad spot. Do the math yourself and confirm how many kilowatt hours you actually use. Then look at the proposal and check that it's actually going to give you the offset you're looking for.

This is the root of most of the complaints I hear from people who already went solar. A year goes by, the system isn't doing what they thought, and now they're frustrated. Sometimes that's on the solar company for setting expectations wrong, but sometimes it's on the homeowner for not double checking the numbers before they signed. At that point it's really on both sides.

4. Understand what changed with the tax credit

Everything changed at the end of 2025. The residential tax credit, line 25D, went away. The commercial tax credit, 48E, is still around, and we can apply that to residential systems too, just not directly the way homeowners used to claim 25D.

There are two ways to use 48E. One is a traditional power purchase agreement, which has been around for a while and honestly isn't my favorite route for most people. The other is a prepaid lease or prepaid energy service agreement, which is basically a rental to own hybrid product built to work around this tax credit change.

It's a five year rental where a commercial entity takes 48E on your behalf, collects the credit, and passes that savings back to you as a discount on the total project cost. Last year you'd get the 30% credit yourself. Now, with a prepaid lease or prepaid PPA, you get that discount built into the price up front instead.

I've got other videos that go deeper on this if you want to understand it better. This is my preferred way to structure a proposal right now in most markets where the prepaid option is available.

5. Trust your gut on the salesperson

This one's important. I'm in sales myself, so I'm not trying to paint the whole industry as bad, because it isn't. There are a lot of genuinely good solar consultants who care about their craft and about helping people.

But there are also a lot of newer reps repeating a script their sales manager handed them without really understanding what they're selling. And there are people using solar to chase a quick commission without any interest in sticking around.

Even if you're working with a five star company and five star equipment, your salesperson is the one you're going to call when something goes wrong later, and it's on them to go make noise internally and get your problem fixed. The reality is every contractor is busy, and warranty or service work tends to slide toward the bottom of the priority list, not because anyone's avoiding it, but because that's just how it goes.

I've worked alongside over 40 companies across the country in the last ten years, and I haven't seen a single one that treats service as the top priority. It's always going to get to it when they can.

So you're relying on your salesperson's willingness to push for you. If you don't think that person is going to be around and answering the phone in two years, five years, ten years, that's not who you want to buy from.

There's never a guarantee, but if someone knocks on your door and you get the sense they're on a blitz, moving to a new city in a couple weeks, they're going to be gone. You're not going to hear from them again if something breaks. I've seen this play out more times than I can count.

6. Call your utility and understand your net metering policy

Net metering is basically your new relationship with your utility once you go solar. Up until now you've only ever bought power from the grid. Once your system is producing more than you're using, that extra power flows back to the grid, and depending on where you live, you may be able to sell it back.

These rates and buyback structures vary a lot by location. In California, if you're with one of the big three, Edison, PG&E, or SDG&E, you're on net metering 3.0, which requires a battery, and the utility gives you very little for the power you send back, sometimes just a couple cents.

In a lot of the rest of the country you'll see closer to 1 to 1 net metering, where you get full credit for what you send back, and in those cases you may not even need a battery. Understand your utility's policy before you build out a strategy, because it can genuinely make or break how well solar works for you financially.

If you want help thinking through any of this, reach out. I service homeowners across the states shown on my coverage map, and you can call or text me directly at 760-473-5878, send me an email, or fill out the form on the Book Consultation page at trustedsolarpros.com. I'll take it from there.