Certasun

Beware of what they promise

I used Certasun to install my solar back in 2021 and my Tesla Powerwall3 system late last year. From a technical standpoint, they are good. But it's the business side that's left me feeling scammed. They called me last year to sell me on the Tesla Powerwall3 system. They said with the federal tax credit and a ComEd rebate program, my net cost would be around a 1/3 the full price. I've worked with them before, so I trusted what they quoted. I got the federal tax credit for last year, and was waiting for the ComEd rebate check. I checked with them back in May, and they said I should get the check by early July. It's August, so I emailed last week and Jennifer said she should know by tomorrow. And I haven't heard anything from her since. She's ignored my emails and calls. Today, I decided to call ComEd directly to get the status. I was informed that my application was rejected because it only included the battery storage and that my solar was installed before 8/2022. They sent the rejection back to Certasun, so they've known for months and didn't say anything to me. They should have known the parameters of the ComEd rebate program. I don't know if this is incompetence or out rights lies, but they haven't tried to make it right. They're just ignoring it and hoping I'll just go away it seems.

Certasun unreasonably delayed work and then abandoned us

My spouse and I are incredibly motivated to purchase and install a solar system at our single-family house in Chicago’s Bowmanville neighborhood. The roof of our house is new and has a large portion that faces south and gets great sun exposure. We also have sun-exposed garage roof space sufficient (with the south side of our home’s roof) to support 9-12 solar panels. We have plans for many high-efficiency electric appliance upgrades and to purchase an EV or plug-in hybrid vehicle, and we hoped to defray the anticipated additional cost for increased electricity usage with a solar system (and be better stewards of the environment). We were particularly driven to get a solar system installed before December 31, 2025, when the federal Residential Clean Energy Credit is now scheduled to end for residential solar systems. ComEd, EnergySage and several competing solar companies all determined in early July 2025 that our house would support a solar system, and we received multiple bids through EnergySage for such a project. After discussions with polite and seemingly knowledgeable Certasun representatives (Holly and Paul), we decided not to pursue other bidders and signed contracts with Certasun to install a solar system and fast EV charger in our garage. At the time we signed our contracts (on July 11, 2025), Certasun's representatives noted we would need trenching from the garage to our house's circuit box to support the garage panels and EV charger and a charge for this trenching was included in our contract. We were approved for financing and promptly made upfront cash payments (on July 15, 2025) to Certasun to start the work. That's when the trouble began. Despite Certasun's promise that it would move quickly on our project and written and verbal commitments to complete our project prior to December 31 (which would be required for the federal tax credit), and despite our immediate response to all interim correspondence from Certasun and requests to submit required information to them and ComEd (for the interconnection agreement), Certasun did not schedule a site assessment until August 28, 2025 (more than six weeks after we signed our contract). The site assessment determined that we would need to move some landscaping features to allow for the trenching from the garage to the house and that our electric panel needed to be moved due to ensure code compliance. The trenching obstacles were no surprise and were known to Certasun at the time we signed our contracts (and we had a landscaper lined up and waiting for information from Certasun to clear the path). The requirement to move the circuit panel was unexpected, but we also had our own electrician ready to promptly do this work as soon as Certasun confirmed the required scope of the electric work. Despite this, and notwithstanding our promise to clear all obstacles to installing the solar system and pleas during a phone call with Holly to allow us just two weeks to complete all work to clear the identified obstacles, Certasun abruptly and without recourse cancelled our contract and returned our payments on September 3, 2025. By this late date, all the other companies that had bid on our solar project in July had filled their installation calendars. In fact, when we submitted another request for bids on EnerySage following Certasun’s abrupt and unreasonable cancellation of our contracts, none of the prior bidders rebid on our project and we received no responses. This late abandonment by Certasun therefore cost us any chance to complete our solar project by December 31, 2025, meaning that any future solar system installation we complete (and we are still interested in installing solar!) will be significantly more expensive. We are confident that our own contractors could have removed all obstacles identified by Certasun quickly (we had even identified an appropriate new location for our circuit box that would have been a quick fix), and, unfortunately, we believe that Certasun used these relatively easy-to-address obstacles as a pretext for abandoning our project because it was smaller and would be less lucrative than larger projects that they may have in the works. We also think it is likely that Certasun over-committed to completing projects prior to December 31, 2025, and decided to use pretextual reasons to jettison smaller homeowners like us so that they can complete the larger projects on their calendar. This was an extremely disheartening experience for us that we believe was entirely avoidable by Certasun (either by more promptly scheduling our site assessment or by allowing us to use our own contractors to address the identified obstacles). For these reasons, we cannot recommend Certasun to potential future customers.

Regretted my choice

It’s been more that 4 months that this whole process started, they installed the panels in the third month, wait one month for the inspection, and they did not do it right, because the inspection didn’t pass, 2 weeks after still waiting for them to fix the issues. I regretted picking this company for my solar system. Today like many sunny days for the past 44 days the panel in the roof not producing anything they are just getting the sun for nothing.

Unprofessional and false timelines

This company was awful to deal with. The sales process was fantastic, they break everything down for you and give a nice presentation. When you sign up, you’re given a timeline as to when you can expect installation and activation. I signed up at the beginning of April and my panels weren’t online until mid October. I was advised that installation was going to be in June and they’d be activated no later than July. That wasn’t the case. The operations team doesn’t communicate internally so you’ll get multiple calls from different people asking for the same thing. Additionally, they don’t listen to voicemails or respond to their customers. You may even get an “accidental” email that berates you as a customer and tells you what you can expect. The sales gentleman is completely off from his timeline. Do not get your hopes up on what he says because it’s inaccurate. Lastly, I just put my Christmas lights up in November and found a full can of WD-40 under a panel. Now, had that can pressurized from the sun and exploded, my panels and roof would have been severely damaged. There are other great companies out there and honestly, so far my solar power is quite minimal and almost pointless.

Worst client and warranty service

I don’t know why people are giving them five stars. We bought a house a month ago with solar panels from Certasun. It turns out that the system is not working, and the former owner, whom we will sue for misleading us, didn't inform us, although he was receiving the information from the app. We contacted Jennifer Rickel and Paul Doughty from Certasun. Except for promises that they would fix the problem, Paul Doughty misled us that we needed to register with Comed by sending an address of SunPower. And we have an official answer from SunPower that Certasun is responsible for the warranty. So, for more than two months, we have been unable to use any electricity produced by our solar panel system. Besides, Certasun technical service phone never answers and the robot never reply!

Unresponsive, unprofessional

I’ve had an appointment scheduled for a quote for weeks. Received an email regarding whether my building is commercial; it isn’t, which was clarified via email since they called in the middle of a work day. Received cancellation notice week of appointment without reason nor notice via email or voicemail. Disappointed in this service given seemingly solid reviews. Unfortunately, I cannot relate and will need to look elsewhere for gathering quotes across the unit owners in my building. What a shame!