Arizona solar installer marketing, from the A.R.S. 44-1763 savings method to APS's year-20 switch

If your ads, landing pages or sales decks mention savings, Arizona's solar law covers them. It was written for the people who sell and market a system, not only the crew that bolts it down.

The law defines a "seller or marketer" broadly. It means an individual or a company that markets, sells or solicits the sale, financing or lease of a home system. It also covers anyone who negotiates the agreement. A company counts when it acts through its officers, employees or agents. In our reading, that takes in a lead company, an appointment setter and an agency writing the ads, when they work for the seller.

The part that matters most for marketing is Arizona's solar disclosure law, and it follows the material, not a named party. Any document or sales presentation that says or suggests the system will save money has to back up how those savings were worked out. A document meant for one homeowner also has to give a reasonable total of the savings expected over the agreement. The same law says every document or presentation must state how far maintenance and repairs are included. It must also estimate the maintenance costs the customer will pay.

In our reading, that gives a website and an ad account three working rules:

• A savings headline carries its method. "Cut your power bill" on a landing page should sit beside four things: the rate plan, the export credit, the production estimate and any assumed rate increase. The contract's own savings summary has to list those same four. Where a short ad has no room, ask counsel whether a link to the method page is enough.
• The proposal carries the total. A personal quote shows cumulative savings across the full loan, lease or PPA term, not one good July.
• Maintenance is part of the pitch. Some decks skip who pays for an inverter swap or panel cleaning. That leaves out a disclosure the law asks every presentation to make.

The contract then has the buyer separately acknowledge two things in bold capitals. Utility rates and rate structures "are subject to change," and so are projected savings. An ad promising a fixed bill for 25 years argues with a sentence your customer is about to initial.

Many older APS solar homes are about to lose their original net metering deal. That deadline gives those owners a reason to talk to an installer.

APS's legacy EPR-6 rider is true net metering, and it is closed to new customers. An account may stay on it for up to 20 years from the date its system was interconnected. When that time runs out, APS moves the account to RCP dollar credits. It sends a notice about 60 days ahead. The owner also has to choose a rate plan. The choices are time-of-use with 4 to 7 p.m. weekday peaks, the same plan with a demand charge, or EV overnight charging from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on weekdays. An owner who does not choose by the deadline lands on the plain time-of-use plan.

Picture that homeowner: an aging inverter, a new bill structure and a two-month window. The 20 years count from the day the system was connected to the APS grid. So a system connected in 2007 reaches year 20 in 2027. What a site can honestly offer them:

• A rate plan review built from their own past APS bills, with no promise about what the next bill will be.
• A battery quote that shows what the battery covers in the 4 to 7 p.m. window. In Berkeley Lab's 2026 data update, batteries went from a quarter of new home solar installs nationally in 2024 to 37% in 2025. Arizona is one of the states it singles out for a large jump.
• An equipment check on panels and inverter ahead of the switch, sold as an inspection rather than a diagnosis.

A battery brings its own Arizona paperwork. The law's definitions count a device that stores more than one kilowatt-hour for use on site as a distributed energy generation system. So in our reading, a battery added to an old array carries the same contract disclosures as a new system.

The disclosure law also lists battery storage among the major components whose warranty periods the buyer initials in bold. APS sets its own bar for battery work. Its installer list asks a battery installer for an R-11 residential electrical license. It also asks for experience with batteries from at least three manufacturers and at least ten residential battery systems installed.

Reaching these owners is where Arizona's call rules bite. An old install list is likely to hold many cell numbers. Arizona makes it unlawful to intentionally place an unsolicited sales call to a cell number, under its telephone sales law. Our Arizona HVAC page sorts a past-customer list by those rules. Have counsel sort yours.

Buyers tend to ask about the roof, the warranty and the HOA before they sign. Arizona law already answers all three, so your site can answer them before the rep arrives.

The solar company guide covers the licensing side. Here is how the same laws become pages a buyer reads before the visit.

The roof. Before a roof install, the contractor has to judge whether the roof can support the system, under Arizona's solar installer law. The contractor also has to recommend an inspection by a licensed roofing contractor. By installing, the contractor is deemed to accept the roof surface. It must then repair any damage the installation causes.

The contract adds a written acknowledgment the buyer signs before the deal, under the disclosure law. It says the roof may need repair or replacement during the term. It says the owner may bear the cost of removing and reinstalling the system for roof work the install did not cause. It also says doing so may affect the warranties. A page that walks through both duties, with photos from your own roof checks, answers the question a skeptical relative would ask.

The warranty. The installer law sets a floor. Collectors, storage units and the installation carry at least two years of warranty, or an energy production guarantee instead. The remaining components carry at least one year. If your terms beat that floor, say by how much and on which parts. Match the wording to the warranty statement the buyer receives.

The association. An HOA in a planned community cannot ban a solar energy device. It can only set reasonable rules on where it goes, under Arizona's planned community law. Those rules cannot prevent the installation or impair how it works. They also cannot restrict its use or hurt its cost or efficiency. In a lawsuit against the board under that section, the court awards attorney fees to whichever side substantially prevails.

Deed restrictions get similar treatment. A deed restriction that effectively bans solar is void under Arizona's deed restriction law, unless it was entered into before April 17, 1980. Condominium associations and roofs held as common elements sit outside the planned community section. Take those, and any live HOA dispute, to counsel. APS still tells customers to review their plans with the HOA. So the page should explain how you prepare the approval request, not invite a fight.

One site detail belongs in the proposal too. APS needs 24-hour unrestricted access to the production meter and the utility disconnect. The production meter cannot sit behind a gate or fence, or under a patio or roof overhang.

Arizona's two biggest utilities tell solar buyers to get several quotes. So your reply speed and your paperwork are being weighed against other installers from the first call.

APS tells its customers to get quotes from at least three installers on its qualified list. It also tells them to check licensing, reviews and the Better Business Bureau when choosing. TEP's homeowner page tells Tucson buyers to get detailed proposals from several companies and to ask for at least three references. A buyer following that advice is comparing you with other installers. A web form answered the next afternoon may reach someone who has already booked another company's site visit.

Set a reply standard you can keep, then measure it against your own call log. It might be a person or an AI receptionist picking up during business hours. Add automatic follow-up on every form, and offer a site visit on the first contact. In our October 2026 study of 36 Arizona installer websites, 9 state a time for replying, quoting or answering a service call. They state it on a page we read or in a chat greeting. Just 4 open a scheduler whose opening screen does not ask for a name, phone or email. A stated reply time is uncommon among the sites we checked.

The APS list sets a bar of its own. A solar installer on APS's qualified list has to keep an A rating with the BBB. Other trades on the list need a B or better. It also needs a physical location APS customers can visit. If you qualify, put the address and the listing on your contact page.

A rep who pitches in Spanish takes on more paperwork in a solar sale. If the homeowner did not invite the visit, the contract must be in the language of the pitch. So must every document that goes with it, under Arizona's home solicitation language law. An Arizona solar contract carries a run of items the buyer separately acknowledges or initials. They include the bold price terms, the equipment description, the maintenance cost summary and the capitalized warning that rates and savings may change.

The Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey counts 19.1% of Arizonans aged five and over who speak Spanish at home. APS's own solar pages carry an Español link. Counsel, not a translation app, should approve the Spanish set of papers. The language law says the buyer's agreement is not effective when its papers miss the pitch's language.