Whether it's a cold call or a knock at the door, be careful
You open the door, and he
launches into a pitch before you can even register the logo on his badge. “Hi,
my name is John, and I’m working on the statewide clean energy initiative. Have
you received a notice from your energy company about rate increases in the
coming years?”
It may not be immediately apparent, but he’s trying to
convince you to buy solar panels.
Summer is peak solar sales season, and crews canvass
neighborhoods nationwide, generally in two-person teams. These door-knockers
are there to set up an appointment with the “closer” — often on the same
day — whose aim is to sell the homeowner a solar system.
Door-to-door solar sales are a widely accepted form of lead
generation in the industry, despite being largely unregulated. While trade
groups like the Solar Energy Industries Association do recommend best practices, both for the well-being of
consumers and the overall health of the industry, high-pressure
sales tactics remain pervasive. In sunnier states, such as California,
Texas, and Florida, solar salespeople are often considered a nuisance. They
frequently ignore “no soliciting” signs — claiming that they aren’t
selling anything, simply setting up appointments — and their colleagues come
along behind them pushing for quick sales or high commissions.
Just as the solar market differs from state to state,
depending on utilities and the companies selling the hardware, the pitches vary
too, tailored to each community and the pain points homeowners may experience.
Targeted opening lines might reference utility companies raising prices or how
much homeowners could receive from a federal tax incentive.
Talking to a solar sales rep? Beware of
these red flags.
(1) Licensing discrepancies: Be sure the rep’s name matches
their license.
(2) Misleading savings claims: Check if the rep is citing
outdated energy bills or making false claims that your solar system will cover
gas bills.
(3) Incorrect buy-back rates: Do some research to be sure
the rep is using current numbers.
(4) System sizing mismatches: The system’s kilowatt capacity
should match your household usage.
(5) Unresponsiveness: Call to confirm the installation
company and your rep are responsive to questions.
For more detail on these red flags, as well as green flags
and what to do when talking to a sales rep, check
out our brief guide to navigating the process.
And now, with the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill tax and spending package that Donald Trump signed into law in July, federal incentives are changing. Former president Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act offered a 30 percent federal tax credit on solar installations through 2034 — giving homeowners a decade to consider whether rooftop panels might be right for them. “That has been amended,” David Gahl, the executive director of the Solar and Storage Industries Institute, explained. “The credits are now only available to homeowners through the end of the calendar year.”
Under the new law, homeowners must have incurred qualifying
expenses, such as payments for solar panels, battery storage, installation
labor, or permitting fees, by the end of 2025. The shortened time frame creates
urgency — and that gives door-to-door reps another leverage point to pressure
homeowners to pursue solar faster than they may have originally planned.
Before the spending package was even signed into law, it was
already shaping how solar gets sold. At the end of June, I attended a
door-to-door solar sales training with a company called Elevate Solar in Kansas
City, Kansas. Trainers showed how the loss of tax incentives could be worked
into sales pitches.
After pulling into a small parking lot behind a Domino’s
Pizza, we climbed a dark set of stairs to a door that led us into an office
newly furnished with folding chairs and tables. I was shadowing a team of three
experienced door-knockers paired with a closer who primarily works in
California but had come to Kansas City to test the market.
“You can expect softer doors here,” said Nick Sinclair, vice
president of sales operations for Elevate Solar. He meant that residents here
haven’t been knocked as aggressively, making them not only friendlier, but more
likely to buy.
After paperwork was signed, Sinclair and other
representatives walked us through their sales strategies. “Pain equals a
compelling pitch,” he said. “Even just the pain of that fear of the unknown.”
“Ask them if they’ve heard of the Big Beautiful Bill,”
another rep added. “Most people have. Then tie in that they could lose federal
tax incentives on solar.”
Sinclair said referencing current events is standard
practice in his office. “That way the customer can connect with the idea,” he
told me later in a phone interview. “I’ve been doing this for 12 years, and
I’ve been at companies where there’s little to no training at all. I think it
is more powerful to have well-informed reps that can speak to what homeowners
are concerned about.”
Rising electricity prices make another effective selling
point. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration,
the nationwide average residential electricity price rose 6.5 percent between
May 2024 and May 2025, climbing from 16.4 cents to 17.5 cents per
kilowatt-hour. Some states saw far steeper increases, including Maine (36.3
percent), Connecticut (18.4 percent), and Utah (15.2 percent).
“So you’ve got this push and pull,” Gahl, from the Solar and
Storage Industries Institute, said. “On one hand, federal policy changes are
disincentivizing solar, but at the same time, people’s electricity bills are
going up significantly. That trend is only going to continue, and it’s going to
make on-site solar more attractive.”
For consumers, this creates both urgency and confusion, and
the people tasked with helping them navigate this complicated landscape are
often sales representatives. Some may take advantage of this fact to achieve
their goal of making a sale — for instance, they may lead homeowners to believe
that they’re signing up for a government program or something specifically
sanctioned by their utility company.
Sellers also commonly overstate the amount of money that
people might save, which depends on how much power the homeowner uses, whether
they qualify for any tax incentives, and if their utility offers an energy
buy-back program.
Let’s say you decided to schedule an appointment through
John, the eager young salesman who offered you a pitch about a “statewide clean
energy initiative.” A few hours later, the closing rep shows up at your door,
walking you through the installation process. You sign a few papers. It’s a
done deal.
But once your system is installed, you get an energy bill,
and not only do you owe nearly the same amount as before, but you’re paying a
monthly payment on solar panels as well because your system was never connected
to the grid correctly. Essentially, solar doubled your monthly utilities when
the sales team promised to eliminate them. So, you try to call John or the
closing rep, only to be sent to voicemail. You try again the next day and
realize they’ve blocked your number.
Alex W., a solar sales representative with over five years
of experience in the industry who asked to be identified by last initial only
for fear of reprisals, said actions like this are not uncommon.
“Generally, if the company gives you a pitch, you repeat
that pitch. It’s a numbers game. So, the more doors you hit, the more money you
make,” Alex said. In other words, the sales representatives, who are often paid
only on commission, are incentivized to keep making more sales rather than
support their clients once they’ve signed for purchase.
But Alex, who believes that a more honest solar sales
industry is possible, argues that salespeople shouldn’t just memorize a pitch.
“I think reps need to do their own research and not just follow what their boss
is telling them, because it is constantly evolving,” Alex explained. “Selling
in 2018 is not the same as selling now. Selling last year is different from
selling this year. The buy-back rates change every single year. Eligibility for
federal tax incentives has changed. Everything is changing all the time, and
the reps need to know about all those changes.”
For homeowners, solar can be an incredible tool for lowering
energy costs and contributing to a cleaner energy future, but the process
requires careful attention. And that may include a hearty amount of skepticism
about claims that door-to-door salespeople make. “That’s what sucks,” Alex
said, “because you’ll have some reps who sit in front of you and explain
everything in detail, answer all your questions, but then you have other reps
who are, I’m sorry to say it, liars. So it leaves the homeowners asking, ‘Well,
who do we believe?’”
Sinclair echoed the sentiment. “There’s good companies and
bad companies, good reps and bad reps,” he said. “I think the good companies do
want regulation to come into the industry.”
He added that being on the ground has some undeniable
advantages. “We are there to create interest,” Sinclair said. “The reason we go
door-to-door is simply the cheapest cost of customer acquisition. You don’t
know if someone is a good candidate [for solar] because of trees, roof quality,
or the position of their home until you see it.” While drumming up that
interest, salespeople might emphasize pain points, as Sinclair described in the
training in June. But he also noted that his company takes steps to ensure
customers are not misled. “If reps misrepresent that tax credit or other
programs, we do the quality control when scrubbing the deal with the closer. If
they’re out there saying that they’re going to get a check in the mail no
matter what, that’s irresponsible and it’s bad for business.”
The consequences of a bad sale extend beyond one household
or even one company, giving solar energy itself a bad name. “It just screws the
industry, because if you have a bad rep sell [to] Sally, then suddenly Sally is
telling the entire neighborhood and all of her friends, so they’re not getting
solar,” Alex said.
Several factors may influence a person’s decision to install
solar panels on their home. Shifting federal incentives are only half of it;
there are also various state and local regulatory decisions that impact the
economics of a solar project, like how long it takes a home solar installation
to get connected to the utility grid. Then there’s the system sizing for a
person’s home, and the choice between buying the panels outright through a
loan, leasing them from a company, or other payment structures.
With all these moving pieces, the homeowner who takes the
time to ask the right questions, do their own research, and verify the
credibility of their representative is far more likely to see solar’s benefits
without costly surprises. Because in the end, no matter how well-meaning John
the sales rep may seem at your door, in such a confusing and unregulated solar
market, you need more information before you know if you can take his word for
it.