The best solar company for your house, and how to tell

The short answer

The best solar company for your house is one that passes all six of these:

1. An active California license for the company doing the installation, checked by you on the CSLB website.
2. A disclosure document on the front of the contract with the total cost and payments, as state law requires.
3. A named owner. On a $0-down agreement, someone other than you owns the system. Get the name.
4. Year one and year twenty on the same page, so you can see what the price does over the agreement.
5. A written warranty from whoever gives it: parts, workmanship, roof penetrations and production, each with a term.
6. A quote built from your own bill, not a savings number promised before anyone has looked at it.

Who installs the most solar in the Inland Empire

Every home system that connects to Edison’s grid is filed with the utility, and the CPUC publishes the records. Of 25,982 home solar systems approved to connect in Riverside and San Bernardino counties from September 2025 through August 2026, these ten licensed companies installed the most. This is a count, not a ranking. Installing a lot of systems says nothing about whether a company does it well.

Source: CPUC California DG Stats, Edison interconnection records, residential solar in Riverside and San Bernardino counties approved September 2025 through August 2026, grouped by the CSLB number on the application. “Third-party owned” means a lease or power purchase agreement. License numbers link to CSLB so you can check current status yourself.

Two things stand out. Most new systems here come with a battery, because of how Edison prices the evening (SCE peak hours, explained). And most are owned by someone other than the homeowner, which makes reading the agreement more important than comparing panel brands.

How to check a solar company’s license

Ask for the license number, or read it off the contract, and look it up on the CSLB license check. Solar is installed under a C-46 Solar or C-10 Electrical license. Confirm three things: the license is active, the business name matches your contract, and the classification covers the work. If a roof is being replaced too, the roofer needs a C-39 Roofing license of its own.

A broker like us is not a licensee, and Business and Professions Code §7027.1 requires an unlicensed company that advertises work needing a license to say so. Ours says it in the footer of every page. If a company’s advertising doesn’t say either way, ask.

What the contract has to include

Under Business and Professions Code §7169, the front page of every residential solar contract has to be a solar energy system disclosure document, in large type, with the total cost and payments including financing, how and to whom to complain, and your right to cancel. If the first page of what you’re signing isn’t that, stop.

Edison customers also have to initial and sign the CPUC’s Solar Consumer Protection Guide before a system can be connected. Read it before you sign the contract, not after.

Red flags

• “Free solar” or “free panels.” Someone pays for the equipment. On a $0-down agreement it’s you, through the price of the power.
• A government program, mandate or deadline. Edison does not require anyone to get solar, and no company is an official Edison program. Ask for the source of any rule they quote.
• A savings number before they’ve seen your bill. Typical savings vary with the house; a single guaranteed number is a guess.
• A first-year price with no year twenty. If the price rises each year, you need to see where it ends.
• Sign today. The contract has a cancellation right for a reason. A good offer survives a night’s sleep.
• A tax credit on a $0-down plan. You can’t claim one on equipment you don’t own, and the homeowner credit for purchases ended for systems placed in service after 2025. What solar costs in California, and the end of the credit.

Where Divine Gifts Solar fits

We are a broker based in Fontana. We look at your Edison bill, match your home with a CSLB-licensed installation partner, and go through the agreement with you line by line before anyone signs. We don’t install, pull permits or do roofing, and we aren’t on the table above for that reason. The licensed partner’s number will be on your contract, and you should look it up the same way. Every line of a solar contract, explained.

If you are comparing companies in a specific city, our pages for Riverside, Temecula, Fontana, San Bernardino, Redlands, Palm Springs, Palm Desert and the High Desert cover what is different about each: the utility, the roofs and the permit office.

Questions people ask

Sources

• CPUC California Distributed Generation Statistics — Interconnected Project Sites dataset (data through August 31, 2026)
• CSLB — Check a contractor’s license
• CSLB — Licensing classifications (C-46 Solar, C-10 Electrical)
• CSLB — Solar Smart consumer information
• California Business and Professions Code §7169 — Solar energy system disclosure document
• CPUC — California Solar Consumer Protection Guide
• California Business and Professions Code §7027.1 — advertising by unlicensed persons

Published October 15, 2026. Installer counts are from public interconnection records and say nothing about any company’s quality, pricing or customer service. Divine Gifts Solar has no business relationship with the companies listed unless your contract says otherwise.