The pitch is getting a closer look, and the battery sits in the middle of it. California’s contractor board put tougher rules for home improvement salespersons up for discussion on Nov 3. The CPUC has a proposal out on bigger batteries and a new order on how utilities will coordinate them.
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1. CSLB says solar complaints are climbing and floated tougher rules for salespersons.
At its Legislative Committee meeting on Tue Nov 3, 2026, the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) said it is seeing "a significant increase" in consumer complaints tied to residential solar transactions. Its slides count 2,111 solar complaints so far in 2026, about 230 a month, and more than 1,000 were still open as of Oct 6. CSLB says it is staffed for about 1,160 complaints a month, while intake is averaging 1,520 a month in 2026. The common allegations it lists are energy savings misrepresentation, lack of diligence in completing the contract or responding to corrective work requests, and financing terms that differ from what consumers expected or could pay. Its concerns include financing agreements signed during in-home sales presentations without the consumer fully understanding the terms, loan repayment that starts before the work is completed or operational, and misleading claims about financing terms, energy savings, tax incentives or rebate programs.
CSLB says registered home improvement salespersons (HIS) are frequently involved in these transactions. Registration today means an application, fingerprints and fees, with no education, experience or exam requirement. Staff put up for discussion a surety bond requirement and an exam covering home improvement contract law, progress payment restrictions, construction contracts, payment structuring, financing and liens. Staff also asked whether CSLB should meet with DFPI about lender license requirements when an HIS includes financing or loan terms in a home improvement contract. A separate item floated posting complaint information publicly when a contractor gets more than five complaints in one month or has more than ten open at once, removed if they close without legal action. CSLB says 91 contractors received 10 or more complaints in 2026, many not publicly disclosed. These were discussion items. Nothing has been adopted, and no law has changed.
Source: CSLB Legislative Committee meeting slides, Nov 3
2. A CPUC proposal would keep bigger batteries allowed behind NEM solar until 2030.
A proposed decision from Administrative Law Judge Debbie Chiv, mailed Oct 26, 2026, would extend a waiver the CPUC has kept in place, with extensions, since 2020. The rule being waived covers NEM-paired storage larger than 10 kW AC. It says the battery’s maximum output can be no more than 150% of the solar system’s maximum output. That limits how fast the battery can deliver power, not how much it can store. The proposed decision grants CALSSA’s petition in part and would extend the waiver three more years, to Jan 1, 2030. It would not make removal permanent. It says there isn’t enough of a record yet and wants results from the CPUC’s Net Billing Tariff evaluation first. CALSSA’s petition says 24% of paired solar and storage systems under the Net Billing Tariff exceeded the 150% threshold, or 20,206 systems, and 39% did from February to April 2025. CALSSA points to the Tesla Powerwall 3, with a nameplate discharge of 11.5 kW, against an average NBT residential solar system of 6.6 kW. By CALSSA’s math, that’s 173% of the average. A proposed decision has no legal effect until the Commission votes, and the earliest it may be heard is the CPUC’s Thu Dec 3, 2026 business meeting. Utilities would then file advice letters.
Source: CPUC proposed decision, R.19-09-009
3. The CPUC told PG&E, SCE and SDG&E to propose one plan for coordinating customer batteries.
On Oct 29, 2026, the CPUC directed the three utilities to propose a common framework for coordinating distributed energy resources (DERs), including customer-sited batteries, electric vehicles and other flexible technologies. According to the CPUC, the framework would use visibility, forecasting and scheduling tools to find grid needs by location and time, then signal eligible devices to deliver verifiable services. It has to address open and interoperable communications, data sharing, cybersecurity, customer protections and clear participation pathways. It also has to cover how customers, community choice aggregators and other providers can take part without unnecessary barriers or duplicative compensation. Utilities must also add load flexibility scenarios to distribution planning starting with the 2028 to 2029 planning cycle. CPUC President John Reynolds said he’ll be "particularly interested in proposals regarding affordability and competitive neutrality." The Duck Curve reports the utilities get 12 months from the decision’s issuance to file a joint application, and 120 days to present a load flexibility scenario at a workshop. It calls the order "a plan to write a plan, with a schedule," and says aggregators get a hearing but no guaranteed role. Nothing changes for homeowners yet.
Sources: CPUC release, The Duck Curve
Why it matters at the door
Complaints. The state board is looking at how solar gets sold at the kitchen table, so keep every claim to what you can back up. You already have to give the homeowner the contractor’s business name and license number before any home improvement contract. The bond and exam ideas are only proposals, so don’t tell anyone they’re coming.
Battery sizing. If a homeowner asks about a bigger battery, the straight answer is that the waiver is still temporary. The proposal would extend it to Jan 1, 2030, but only if the Commission adopts it, and Dec 3 is the earliest that could happen. Don’t say whether their system would or wouldn’t qualify.
Grid coordination. Right now this is a framework the utilities still have to propose. Nothing changes for homeowners yet, and nobody has promised them payments. If it comes up, say the CPUC told the utilities to write a plan and leave it there.
CA Corner
pv magazine USA reported on Nov 3 that in California, projects under NEM 3.0 reached an 80% storage attachment rate. At the same pv magazine USA Week 2026 panel, Ohm Analytics’ Ryan Feeney put the national battery attachment rate at 49%, with national residential solar install volume down 19% year over year and residential storage roughly flat at nearly 1 GWh in Q2 2026. Tesla’s Doug Middleton said Tesla aggregated more than 600 MW across multi-hour California summer grid dispatches, and its California Powerwall VPP fleet grew capacity 50% year over year. FranklinWH’s Ronnie Pettersson said salespeople are moving from "how much solar do you want to have on the roof" to "how many batteries do you really need."
Source: pv magazine USA
Before you head out
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The KnockGenius Team