Kota Energy Group

They take your money and run

After 8 months of installation my solar isn’t producing. I called the number they provided and all you hear is a beeping noise. Some say they’re out of business but others say they’re still scamming people. Now am stuck with solars that’s not producing.

KOTA Review

My project Manager Kieren was great and kept me informed of what was going on. Came by and trained me on how to monitor my system.

Never use this company

Owner beware do not use this company. You have the worst customer service once they install if they ever complete accurately and completely you will never get a phone call back if you need assistance. They are a poorly and do not care about their clients.

Great experience

I have four year with the solar panels and I love the experience..Mckay is my sale team he was super helpful with any questions I had..best decision I made

Positive experience with KOTA solar install - great inside reps!

KOTA installed my solar system toward the end of 2023 and they were fast, efficient and right on schedule. When my outside rep failed to respond I talked with Tyler Valet in the Carlsbad office who connected me with Kieren, a wonderfully responsive KOTA rep who took the best care of me and my neighbor who also wanted solar installed. I received personal guidance and great customer service from Kieren. Be sure to ask for him. I give Kieren and the KOTA company 5 stars!

Professional

I hired Kota after firing another solar company that had not taken action for five months. The company I fired told me we had to upgrade our electrical panel, which also required moving the panel's location. They delayed the lengthy permission process even further by not responding to the simple e-mail questions from the electrical company for months. Not to mention their lies and sleazy sales talks. With Kota, it was on a different level. Kieren from Kota was my contact, based on a friend's recommendation. He approached the problem differently by suggesting adding a Span Smart Panel as a sub-panel rather than spending thousands of dollars on upgrading/moving a half-century-old panel. He was very professional and did everything he promised on time or sooner. My first meeting with Kieren was in December 2023. They installed the Solar Panels, Span Smart Panel, and Tesla battery at the end of January 2024. It took a couple of months for our electrical company to permit to operate. It took four months from the first meeting with Kota to start using our solar panels. Everybody involved with our panel installation was professional, timely, communicative, and friendly. I highly recommend them.

Thieves

Stay away! They will promise things and never follow up! Waiting for class action lawsuit to start so we can jump on board. Terrible customer service and never respond!

If I could give a negative number, I would!!!

Kota told the previous owner in 2022 that to install the solar panels the house needed to be reroofed! Owner did as suggested but in 2023, less than a year after reroofing the owner had to call because of a leak. Kota came and claimed they found the problem and supposedly “fixed” it. I purchase the home late 2023 and for the 2024 storms I find the same location where the original “fixed” leak was, water was leaking but now it’s stronger and spreading. Called Kota and customer care basically said, your problem, we’ve fixed the original issue. I gave up and fixed it only to find out what a shotty work was done on the roof. Now I find out that back in 2022 when the work was originally done, it did not pass city inspection. I’ve called and emailed with no response. My advice, “DON’T USE THIS COMPANY!!!!!” You’ve been warned!!!!

Clarity, Professional, Tidy

I decided to start my solar project with KOTA Energy Group after I sat down with one of their reps during November of 2023. They are straight up with me about the steps of the process and they delivered. We agreed upon 12 panels and it is paired with a battery made by a company Enphase. The app they have is where I can check whenever the kWh production of my system now. Tate was really great and professional. He was here with me during the roofing and solar installation. Great installation and the piping is very neat.

Buyer Beware: Kota Solar Installation Nightmare

I'm writing this review to warn potential customers about my horrendous experience with Kota Energy Group. While the salesperson was friendly and persuasive, the problems began soon after the solar panel installation. Just three months after installation, heavy rain caused water to leak from the ceiling in our master bedroom. Kota supposedly sent their "top roofer" who claimed the leak wasn't caused by the solar panels but found another issue he "generously" fixed. Unfortunately, the problems worsened. A section of our ceiling collapsed, prompting us to hire an independent roofer. Their inspection revealed a disaster zone: broken and improperly replaced tiles by Kota's crew, with one even missing entirely! The independent roofer could not repair the damage because it required removing the solar panels which would void my warranty. Our insurance company's independent roofer confirmed our suspicions - Kota's shoddy work was to blame. Not putting tile back correctly and their "repair" attempt involved gluing broken tiles with the same sealant used on the solar system. Getting Kota to take responsibility was an ordeal. It took a month for them to send someone to assess the damage, and even then, they tried to cancel the appointment at the last minute. The Kota Roofer deemed the job too big for him and promised a team. Weeks of daily calls (8 hours a day, 5 days a week!) yielded no response. Finally, a team arrived, removed the panels, and shut down the system. Since then, silence. Four weeks of further calls have gone unanswered. This fiasco has cost us a significant sum: • Tarp: $800 • Removal of damaged materials: $3,000 • Bedroom repairs (drywall, roof, painting, carpet): $7,500 Beyond the financial strain, the stress and inconvenience have been immense. Our bedroom is unusable, and we're left with a non-functional solar system. Avoid Kota at All Costs!

Terrible communication, terrible timeline, impossible to contact

I highly advise anyone to NOT use Kota. We were charmed by their salesperson, and signed up with financing for a panel array in Feb 2023. Panels were up in April but not turned on until October. This means I was paying for the panels without them being any use to me. Kota continues to be impossible to get ahold of, non responsive and how I am needing new roofing work that they did not advise us of during their inspection. I cannot get ahold of anyone to help remove the panels. All around a terrible experience.

Incredibly Unresponsive and unprofessional

I live in Oakland, CA and Kota did my install 6 months ago-to date it has not been permitted by the city of Oakland. I have had numerous people from Kota come to my house to take pictures for their design team telling me the installer did not follow the plan so they had to come and take pictures. They did not call for an appointment just texted me in the morning that they were showing up. Since then I have had 5 separate Kota people people come out- one wrote which in sharpie what each of the switches on the panel were for, another came out and said the switches needed to all be the same brand, someone else came otu and changed them..inspectors from the city came 3 times and did not approve. The last person who came said that the panel would never pass inspection and would need to be changed. That was 3 weeks ago and despite contacting my "project manager" Travis Keller and writing to the Founder of the company on Linked-in I have heard nothing from them..they are absolutely unprofessional and now I am thinking they are crossing the line into being fraudulent...would never recommend them to anyone and am at the point where I am planning on contacting the Attorney Generals office to file a complaint. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Absolutely terrible

I signed a contract with Kota in February 2023 for the installation of solar panels at my duplex in Berkeley, CA. When the solar installation was scheduled for August 16th, a full six months after signing, Kota began but was unable to complete the work. My loan was initiated in August, interest began accumulating, and Kota received payment despite their unfinished work and inoperable system. This is an unethical business practice that left me paying for a system I could not use. I sent many emails and made many calls imploring the Kota team to finish the installation before the city inspection date they scheduled. This did not happen. On September 28, 2023, the scheduled city inspection could not be conducted because the job was still unfinished. When I reached out in frustration, I was again assured by Kota staff that the repairs would take place immediately. Another five weeks went by with no communication. On November 7, 2023, after informing Kota I would file a BBB complaint, I received contact information for Chance Bender, Senior Project Manager. I was promised that the job would be completed within a week. It took a month. On December 5, 2023, four months after installation began the solar system finally received permission to operate. Yet again, this was done incorrectly. Only half of the panels generated power and our monitoring accounts were not set up correctly. On December 18, a partial fix was completed. I have received no communication whatsoever from Chance Bender or anyone else at Kota since January 11, 2024. It has been 13 months since I signed a contract for my solar system, more than 6 months since I paid in full. I have spent many hours asking Kota to install the solar system I paid for, and then repair the work they failed to complete properly. I am left with a system I do not have faith in and no way to monitor its functioning or performance.

Nice salesmen, terrible installation, horrible experience!

I have vaulted ceilings and when Kota came to install my panels in early 2023, they used too long screws that came through my ceiling. They removed the crews and reinstalled them with shorter screws. Now with all the rain we've had the holes where the screw penetrated my ceiling are leaking water. Flex Seal has become my best friend to stop the leaks but where does water go when you stop it from flowing? I have called Kota, texted, and emailed with no answer. I had the number for one of their Techs and he claimed he no longer works for Kota and said they have gone out of business. Now what do I do!!!

Resulted in lien threats to our house

Working with kota has been a disaster that nearly resulted in a lien being placed on our house before we ever had functional solar panels. They went to great lengths to avoid speaking to us throughout the entire process - for 2 weeks we called everyone from their head of sales downward multiple times a day and were never responded to - and it was only after I got the cantact info for the COO that I was able to speak to anyone. This was all days before a a lien was nearly placed on our property because Kota had not paid their contractors. Kota convinced us to replace our roof in order to get solar. They offered us a deal to pay for 2k of our roof and then have the rest financed through the same financing mechanism as our solar. 2 weeks after our roof was installed, the roofing company reached out to us informing us that they were never paid, that they planned to place a lien on our house, and encouraging us to speak with Kota immediately. For the next month we called Kota incessantly, even calling the director of sales repeatedly, who even texted and emailed us that he would help, but did nothing and never called us back. When there was less than a week left for the lien to be removed, we spoke to the financier and roofing company, both of whom said that Kota had received the funds and must had misallocated them. Finally, we obtained the COO’s email, and after emailing him repeatedly and sending formal complaints through the financier, we were able to have the roof lien removed with one day to spare. This was hell, required so much time and stress to deal with, and truly made me lose faith in the solar industry entirely. Kota also never paid for the 2k of our roof they committed to. They have a flashy sales process and then quite literally disappear entirely the moment you sign the contract. In the end, their misallocation of the funds and failure to pay their portion of the roof was criminal. They are an awful company run by morally corrupt people feeding off of naive, well-intentioned home owners. Do everything you can to avoid them.

I wish there were negative Stars to give!

The whole process was a sh-t show! let's start with the fact that the installation occurred in 2022 and we were told the house needed re-roofing. It was an unexpected cost but let's be honest in a few years the solar panel would pay itself off along with the new roof. One of their people turned my backyard sprinklers off and did not share that information with us. Here I was putting grass fertilizers and the like till i figured out what happened. The piece de resistance was when the first heavy rains in 2023 came and I had leaks in my garage and indoor patio. they came in and claimed they fixed it. the rest of the year rains were mild, and we did not see anything. Now the recent storms from 2024 brought back the same (F--ING) leak in the indoor patio. Koda has graciously reminded me that they've already fix the problem and it's been two years since the installation. although it is the same issue and same location, they are no longer responsible! Pieces of sh-t!

KOTA Energy group got my solar up and running fast once all the necessary permits and requirements from the city were met. You do have to be patient because the permits takes the most time. The installation is really quick. Highly recommended!!!. An update: I would like to thank Mateo the regional sales manager, Chance the project manager, Tyler and his crew for an excellent work. They all got my additional solar panels and battery installed efficiently in a day. A big thanks to Frankie, Jordynn and Jacob for their efforts. Highly recommended once again!!!.

My solar panels were installed earlier this year, and the experience was fantastic. Austin Rester was my point of contact at KOTA. Austin and the KOTA team were professional, explaining everything clearly and helping me choose the best setup for my needs. The installation was quick and precise, and the communication throughout was excellent. KOTA helped make an immediate impact on my energy bills. Since the installation, I've seen a significant reduction. It has been a wise investment for both the environment and my wallet. In conclusion, if you're considering solar panels, KOTA Energy Group, specifically Austin Rester, is the right choice. The process was smooth, and the results exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend using KOTA if you are thinking of going solar!

Excellent Value and Customer Service

I’m so glad I answered the door when Kieran stopped by to talk to me about solar! Kota exceeded our expectations. Their customer service, especially Kieran's, was exceptional. He was not only personable but also highly trustworthy, guiding us through each step with patience and clarity. Kieran's expertise in tailoring the number of panels to our current and future energy needs was impressive. His dedication shone through when he personally reviewed our first SDG&E bill post-installation, ensuring we understood the billing and app usage. We just got an $8 SDGE bill compared to the $300+ bills we’ve seen before solar! It pays for itself. I 100% recommend Kota to family and friends considering solar.

KOTA Solar Review

So far it's been a good experience with KOTA Solar Kieran Wilson, the salesman was very patient answering my questions and informing us through the whole process. Yes my electric bill has gone down to zero. So we are very pleased with the solar panel installation we highly recommend KOTA

Keiren is the best

He is a great person and so very friendl and helpful. This experience with Kota has been veery easy and everyone is pleasant and great to be around.

Eorst Solar Energy Company

We were approached in 2020 by a Kota representative who promised to provide us with a hassle free installation of a Solar system by the spring of 2021. The installer he arranged for us went bankrupt but he kept assuring us over and over again it would be done with new installers. Inspection after inspection it failed to pass the City inspection. When it had not passed inspection by 2023 he told us there was nothing he or Kota could do for us. We learned in 2023 after they dumped us that he and Kota had failed to contact an inspector who had obtained approved engineering plans in 2021 that were never used in the process. We provided them to a new installer and we finally had our system operational just before NEM2 expired this year.

Great Experience, Lovin the $16 SDG&E Bill

It came down to 3 bids for the Solar System I wanted to have installed. Kota came in with a competetive bid but what sold me was the timely responses to my questions and the willingness for them to work with my roofer (I needed to replace my 25 year old roof as well. My salesperson (Sean Silvestri) went above and beyond working seemingly around the clock to make sure the details I wanted were written into the proposal. I wanted my 14 panels split with 7 south facing and 7 west facing and Kota accommodated. I wanted my new electrical panel right where my old panel was so it would be hidden from view from the street and wouldn't have any extra conduits and Kota accommodated. I wanted the wiring from the Electrical box to the Solar Panels run through the attic rather than conduit on my roof and Kota accommodated. My Solar Panels were delivered the day before my installation and then the install team called me 30 minutes before they arrived giving me time to work in the morning and then meet them to go over everything before they started and the results were exactly what I wanted. I would say definitely get a quote from Kota.

Misrepresentation of timelines and failure to reimburse

Beware. I signed with KOTA in January 2023. System was not fully operational until September, which forced me to make payments both to the Solar Financing Company and my normal electric utility payments. KOTA has blown past every timeline with excuse after excuse. KOTA promised to reimburse me the payments made to the finance company for the time the system was not operational, and have yet to do so. They have been unresponsive and has showed no signs of good faith. Terrible experience trying to work with them.

Worst company I have ever dealt with

Kota is probably the worst company that I have ever worked with. Every single employee that I have interacted with including, Sales representative, design team, project managers, and electricians, all have managed to make consistent mistakes. Every step of this process has had to be repeated multiple times. We started the process in April, it is now October and we still have not passed inspection. We now have two payments every month, our electric bill and the financing for the solar. I really hope we can get Kota to reimburse us for what we owe, but some how I doubt we will get anything from them.

***DO NOT USE KOTA ENERGY***

I have given Kota Energy Group a lot of time to make things right with the recent lack of professional service I have received from them. I want to share my experience with anyone that maybe considering business with KOTA. I have emails, text messages, call logs, and USPS certified letter receipts to validate the below mentioned. I believe that it is important to share my experience. I will start off by saying all the field technicians and installers that came out to my house were very professional and courteous. Now, to briefly explain the horrible experiences with this company. For starters I was in the solar process for six (6) months. The experience included errors on paperwork submitted to “Southern California Edison” (SCE), three (3) “no-call, no-shows,” lies told by project managers, several calls and text messages to project managers left unanswered/not replied too, over 60-80 broken tiles on my roof were (replaced after I reached out), and a drive down to the Newbury Park office only to be told there was no one there for me to speak with. I conducted A LOT of follow-ups between Edison and KOTA on my end to get the project completed, including getting my “permission to operate (PTO)” pushed through. On Kota’s website they state “HOW WE DO IT, we care from your initial contact with KOTA, all the way through installation and system activation, we are hyper focused on making sure you know we care. You’ll see it in the details of our everyday operations. We care about your experience going solar, and we care about our planet.” This is not upheld at all by the administration of KOTA. I have sent approximately 4-5 rounds of emails to management teams at KOTA and have not received any responses. I have sent three (3) rounds of USPS certified letters to project managers and executives which include the CEO of the company and have received ZERO responses. I was told by two (2) project managers that the CEO would call me, but I am still waiting for that call today. All the correspondence was regarding my poor customer experience with KOTA. Again, I am sharing my six months of adventures so that if you are considering this company, you won’t have to experience the level of incompetence for a service that you are paying a lot of money for. SPEND YOUR MONEY WITH A WORTHY COMPANY.

Excellent service and follow up.

Kota did an excellent job on our solar installation.it has been a yeat and we have had no problems. After Hurricane Hilda a circuit breaker tripped and one set of panels was not 100%. Kota contacted us and let us know they would monitor it. The problem went away. I asked Kota to come out for visual inspection just to be sure. They immediately followed up and sent someone out to check. Unbelievable customer service and follow up!!! All is good. Would highly recommend them for solar install and service.

We had solar panels (lots of them) installed at our home last year in McKinney TX. Was important to me the panels not be visible from front as I think they detract from desired curb appeal of a home. Fortunately, the exterior elevation for maximum sun exposure was on side of home and KOTA was able to design an acceptable plan. And voila since that time we’ve had NO electric bill and consistently generate a credit on electric bill with Pulse Power. I no longer dread those exorbitant bills previously received during hot Texas summers☀️🥵Thank you Josh Salazar at KOTA.

Like everyone in CA, I waited until the very last minute of NEM2 to go solar. I was referred to Christine Sanchez on the Homelink team. I had the best possible experience. I signed in March. I needed a panel upgrade and it took SCE 6 weeks to come to my house and approve the location. Christine warned me they were backed up and what used to take 5 days was taking much longer with the NEM2 rush. Same with the city of Santa Clarita permits, I even tried to call the city myself to fact check the delays, sure enough they started out sourcing solar permits due to the insane jump in volume and turn around times were 3-6 weeks! Once my permit was in Christine called me to schedule the install, due to the rush the install was almost 3 weeks out, I was just so happy to make it in before our summer bills hit. The total time from contract to install was just under 2 months which was better than I was quoted and I was never unsure what we were waiting on. My Install crew called themselves "Ptah", greek gods I guess. They were very courteous and respectful and walked me through the process well on Install day, and Christine was there making sure I was happy and brought lunch for the guys. My system is up and running and just waiting on SCE final approval to change my billing to reflect my solar credits, SCE did tell me what should take 2 days typically is taking 6 weeks right now. If you're going solar now I just recommend you have a very thorough and involved sales rep, like Christine. My neighbors signed for solar with another company 3 weeks before me and still aren't even installed and don't know if they even got NEM2. I've had no problems reaching Christine or the office and I've been a very involved customer knowing everyone is super busy these days. When I was referred to Christine, I read a lot of reviews and I wish there had been more details and specifics. I think everyone here cares and works hard and to me that's what mattered most.

JP Morgado from Kota Energy has been amazing to work with and made the experience for getting solar a breeze. He answered all our questions and made the process so simple for us, keeping us informed of every step of the way. When we had our roof inspected by Kota to insure solar would work on our home, he was there to make certain everything went smoothly and I was happy with the procedure. The day of the install, JP arrived with the crew making sure everything went ok and any issues or questions I had were answered immediately. We have been so impressed with JP’s professionalism. In fact everyone we have come in to contact with from Kota energy has been so friendly and professional, the guys who did the installing of the solar panels and ran the cables went out of their way to insure I was completely satisfied. I have worked with a lot of construction crews and this group are the best I have ever seen. They even replaced my existing cracked roof tiles with spare ones I had. After they install the panels and completed the work Kota energy submitted a request with the city for inspection and within 48 hours we had our inspection and passed. During from start to finish JP kept me informed and made the progress so easy. Our whole experience with Kota energy and JP has been top notch. I would definitely recommend you contact JP if you are interested in getting solar or have any questions, it’s like flying first class when you choose JP and Kota energy.