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The solar energy system disclosure document

Bus. & Prof. Code s. 7169 puts a disclosure page on the front of every residential solar contract. What it shows, in what type, and the reminder.

Published 2026-10-20

A residential solar contract in California starts with a page the contractor did not write. Bus. & Prof. Code s. 7169 requires a “solar energy system disclosure document”, developed by the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) with the Public Utilities Commission, to be printed on the front page or cover page of every solar energy contract, in boldface 16-point type. The Summer 2026 issue of CSLB’s newsletter carries a reminder to solar contractors about it, with a change in who else now collects the form. Solar is also the sector the board’s September 2026 packet names first when it reports rising complaints, so the page is worth knowing line by line.

What the section requires

Subdivision (a) sets the purpose: accurate, clear and concise information about the installation, the total cost, the anticipated savings, the assumptions behind the savings estimate, and what the financing options mean. Subdivision (b) sets the mechanics. CSLB had to publish the document by July 1, 2018, a solar energy system company provides it to the consumer before completing a sale, financing or lease, and it goes on the front or cover page of every solar contract in boldface 16-point type. Three items are mandatory on that page:

  1. The total cost and payments for the system, including financing costs.
  2. How and to whom the customer may complain.
  3. The consumer’s right to the cancellation period under s. 7159.

That third item ties the disclosure to the home improvement contract rules. Under s. 7159(e)(6), a contract not negotiated at the contractor’s place of business carries the Three-Day Right to Cancel, or the Five-Day Right to Cancel for a senior citizen, and the disclosure page repeats that right on the cover.

Subdivision (c) lists what CSLB may add after the front page, at its discretion: the amounts and sources of financing, the calculations the home improvement salesperson (HIS) used to size the array and to estimate its output, any monthly fees or turn-on charges from the utility, rebate terms, the final price without rebates, the contractor’s license number, the consequences of work not done to code, the difference between a lease and a purchase, what the financing terms do to a later sale of the home, including balloon payments or a required relocation of the system if the contract is not assigned to the buyer, and a performance calculator.

Two more rules sit in the section. The contract and the disclosure are written in the language principally used in the sales presentation or the marketing material (subdivision (d)). And for a system financed through a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) assessment, the PACE Financing Estimate and Disclosure form satisfies s. 7169 for the financing contract only, never for the installation contract underneath it (subdivision (e)).

What counts as a solar energy system

Subdivision (g) draws the line: a solar energy device installed on a residential building whose primary purpose is generating electricity, rated at not less than one kilowatt and not more than five megawatts alternating current peak, and meeting the eligibility criteria set under Public Resources Code s. 25782. A system installed as a standard feature on new construction is outside the section (subdivision (h)).

The 2026 reminder

CSLB’s Summer 2026 newsletter reprints the disclosure form, which it identifies as form 13L-6 (05/2018), and reminds licensed solar contractors of the statute behind it, AB 1070 (Chapter 662, Statutes of 2017), and of a California Public Utilities Commission resolution, E-5364. The change the newsletter reports is on the utility side: as of November 1, 2025, the utilities named in that resolution collect the disclosure document, and an accompanying Solar Energy System Supporting Information form, as part of the interconnection application. A contractor who leaves the page off the contract now has a second party asking for it before the system is connected. The newsletter also notes that a version of the disclosure with the five-day right to cancel, and Spanish versions of both forms, are on CSLB’s website.

CSLB’s interest is not abstract. Under s. 7170, the board receives complaints about solar companies and solar contractors, and since July 1, 2019 it compiles an annual public report of them by number, type, ZIP code and disposition. The September 2026 board packet’s Registrar’s Report says complaint volumes are rising “particularly in solar and home improvement work”, tied to qualifiers not supervising the operations they are responsible for.

How a question is likely to put it

The testable facts are the ones with numbers and names attached: front page or cover page, 16-point boldface, the three mandatory items, the July 1, 2018 publication deadline, one kilowatt to five megawatts, and the PACE form covering only the financing side. A question asks which contract carries the form, where it goes and what has to be on it, not for the form’s text.

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