Best Solar Companies
in California

The best California solar companies for your home depend on your utility and your roof — no single company wins in a state with three major utilities, dozens of municipal ones, and wildly different roofs — so distrust any list that pretends otherwise. The honest answer is a method: compare each company's current rating AND review volume on Google and Yelp (read the most recent reviews, not the pinned ones), verify the CSLB license is active and bonded at cslb.ca.gov, and make every bidder show the battery math behind their NEM 3.0 savings projection. This guide is published by OC Solar — our own checkable marks are a 4.8★ Google rating across 400+ reviews, a BBB A+ rating, 6,373 projects & service calls since 2016, and CSLB #1023627 — and we'd rather you verify all of it than take our word.

Get at least two quotes and hold them against the same six criteria: current rating and review volume on both Google and Yelp; NEM 3.0 and battery competence (ask what export rates the savings projection assumes); financing explained honestly — including that the residential federal credit expired at the end of 2025; a CSLB license you've verified yourself; a median sign-to-install timeline the company will put in writing; and a clear answer to who services the system in year 7. A company that's evasive on any one of those has answered your question.

Not for homeowners who buy. The federal residential credit (IRC Section 25D) expired on December 31, 2025 — any company building a 2026 cash or loan quote around 'your 30% tax credit' is misleading you, and that alone should disqualify them. What survives is the commercial Section 48E credit: on a lease, PPA, or prepaid plan, the financier that owns the system claims it and passes roughly 30% of the value through as a lower price or payment, generally through about 2027. Treat it as a price benefit built into the plan, not a tax credit you file for.

Every legitimate California solar contractor has a CSLB license number — ask for it, then look it up free at cslb.ca.gov. Confirm the license is active and bonded, that workers' compensation is on file, and that the legal entity on the license matches the name on your contract; sales organizations sometimes quote under one brand and subcontract the install to another company entirely. OC Solar's license is CSLB #1023627 — check ours the same way you'd check anyone's.

Yes — it's now the sharpest filter you have. Under NEM 3.0 net billing, California's big utilities pay far less for exported solar than they charge in the evening, so real savings come from storing daytime production in a battery and using it during the 4–9 PM peak. A company that quotes a solar-only system with old-rules savings math is either behind the curve or hoping you are. Ask every bidder to show their projection's export-rate assumptions and what your savings look like with and without storage.