How to Cancel a Solar Contract in New Jersey

Most solar contracts in New Jersey are signed at a kitchen table. A salesperson shows up with a tablet, walks through the savings, and the signature happens in under an hour. The regret usually arrives months later, when the first PSE&G or JCP&L bill looks nothing like the proposal, or when a company you’ve never heard of starts sending you the monthly invoices.

If you’re in that spot, you have more options than most people think. The right one depends on how long ago you signed, what kind of contract it is, and what happened during the sale. Here’s how it works in New Jersey.

The three-day window

New Jersey’s Contractors’ Registration Act gives you three business days to cancel a home improvement contract for any reason. The clock starts when you receive a copy of the signed contract, not on the day you signed, and it runs through midnight of the third business day. A Rutgers copy of the law spells out the mechanics.

Cancellation has to be in writing, sent by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested, or delivered in person to the address in the contract. If you cancel inside the window, the contractor owes you a full refund within 30 days of receiving your notice.

Two details trip people up:

• Business days exclude weekends and holidays, so a Friday signing doesn’t give you until Monday night.
• A missing or incomplete copy can mean the clock never started. If the salesperson kept the only copy on a tablet, or the cancellation notice was left out, that’s worth raising.

If you signed at your door and the contract was solicited at your home, the Federal Trade Commission’s Cooling-Off Rule can also give you three days for certain in-home sales. The FTC explains how it works at ftc.gov.

Lease, PPA, or loan: your contract type sets your strategy

Before anything else, check which of the three you signed. The paperwork often calls the same thing by different names.

• Lease: a fixed monthly payment to the company that owns the panels on your roof. Usually 20 to 25 years.
• Power purchase agreement (PPA): you pay per kilowatt-hour the system produces, so the bill moves with production. Also long-term.
• Loan: you own the system and borrow the money from a lender, which is a separate company from the installer.

The difference matters for exits. With a lease or PPA there’s one counterparty and the obligation is a long stream of payments. With a loan there are two, and a separate lender means different legal arguments. The FTC’s Holder Rule can preserve claims you have against the seller in a consumer credit contract, so in some situations those claims can be raised against the lender too.

After the window closes

Missing the three days doesn’t end the conversation. It changes the route. The ones we see most often:

How the contract was sold. New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act covers misrepresentation in the sale of goods and services, and a successful consumer can recover treble damages and attorney’s fees. In solar, the usual claims involve promised savings that didn’t materialize, “your bill will be zero” statements that weren’t in the contract, financing terms the homeowner didn’t understand, or a lease described as a loan. The state has acted on this before. In 2021 the Division of Consumer Affairs settled with NRG Residential Solar Solutions after investigating 21 consumer complaints, and NRG agreed to offer two complainants free uninstallation of their panels.

Registration and paperwork defects. Home improvement contractors must be registered with the Division of Consumer Affairs, and the contract has to carry certain required terms. A missing registration number or a contract without the required cancellation notice can change the picture.

A company that sold, collapsed, or disappeared. SunPower filed for Chapter 11 in August 2024, and Sunnova filed in June 2025. Homeowners with contracts through either have been dealing with new servicers, uncertain warranties, and panels that stopped reporting. Your payment obligation usually continues, but a change of ownership can open a negotiation that didn’t exist before.

A negotiated buyout or termination. Some contracts include a buyout schedule. Others can be settled for a discounted amount. A buyout quote is just a number to compare against the alternatives, not a verdict.

Check what’s recorded against your house

Many solar companies file a UCC-1 fixture filing, the Uniform Commercial Code form that gives them a claim on the equipment, and a few record additional documents against the property. These usually sit in your county clerk’s records, whether that’s Essex, Bergen, Hudson, Monmouth, or Camden County. A title search will show you what’s there, and it’s worth doing before any refinance, home equity line, or sale.

On a Newark-area house, whether it’s a rowhouse in the Ironbound, a two-family in Vailsburg, or a colonial in Forest Hill, the lien question usually shows up at the worst time, when a buyer’s title company finds it two weeks before closing.

How to send a cancellation notice

If you’re still inside the three days, do this today:

• Write a short, dated letter stating that you’re cancelling the contract. Include your name, address, and the contract date.
• Send it by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the address in the contract. Hand delivery works too if you get a signed receipt.
• Keep copies of the letter, the receipt, the mailing slip, and the contract.
• Email a copy to the company as a backup, but don’t rely on email alone.
• Calendar the 30-day refund deadline.
• Don’t allow work to start or equipment to be installed while you’re waiting.

If it’s past three days, skip the letter and get the contract reviewed first. A premature or poorly worded demand can weaken a claim you might otherwise have.

When keeping the system is the smarter move

Exiting isn’t always the right call. New Jersey remains one of the better states for solar. Net metering still credits excess production, and the Successor Solar Incentive program (SuSI) pays for the electricity your panels generate, with details on the Board of Public Utilities site. The federal residential tax credit for homeowner-purchased systems ended at the close of 2025, which makes a replacement system more expensive than it used to be.

So if your system produces what was promised and your payments are fair, keeping it may beat the cost of an exit. The homeowners worth reviewing are the ones paying more than they were told, the ones stuck with a bankrupt or unresponsive installer, and the ones about to sell or refinance.

Where to file a complaint

You can file with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs at 1-800-242-5846, and for loan problems with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A complaint on record can support a later claim. If the dispute turns into litigation, New Jersey cases go to the Superior Court, and federal claims go to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, whose main courthouse is in Newark.

Get your contract reviewed

Every solar contract has a different set of exits, and the deadlines don’t wait. New Jersey Solar Exit will review your lease, PPA, or loan paperwork and tell you which options apply to you before you decide anything. We’re not a law firm and this isn’t legal advice, but a review will show you where you stand.

Call (973) 649-9006 or book a free consultation online.