TriSMART Solar closed in late 2025: what Texas customers should do now

TriSMART Solar, which billed itself as the number-one residential solar installer in Texas with more than 17,000 projects, wound down its operations in December 2025. Customer service went largely unstaffed and much of the leadership team departed by early 2026, leaving thousands of Texas homeowners without the installer they signed with. If TriSMART installed your system, this guide explains exactly where you stand: what still protects you, what you actually lost, and what to do if you are still paying a loan on a system that has stopped working.

What happened to TriSMART Solar

TriSMART Solar was a large Houston-based residential installer that grew quickly across Texas during the solar boom. In late 2025 the company ceased normal operations. By early 2026, news coverage in Texas (including a CBS News Texas segment) documented customers unable to reach anyone for service, systems left broken or unfinished, and a support line that no longer had staff behind it. Whether the closure becomes a formal bankruptcy filing or stays a quiet wind-down, the practical effect for you is the same: the company that installed your panels is no longer answering the phone.

The important thing to understand up front is that a closed installer does not mean a worthless system. Most of what protects your solar investment never depended on TriSMART in the first place. Here is how to separate what you kept from what you lost.

Your equipment warranties still run through the manufacturer

This is the reassuring part. The long warranties that matter most, the 25-year coverage on your panels, the 10 to 25-year coverage on your inverter, and the 10-year-ish coverage on any battery, come from the manufacturers, not from TriSMART. They are contracts between you and the companies that made the hardware, and they are completely unaffected by TriSMART closing. If your panels or inverter fail, you can still file directly with the manufacturer.

The catch is that most homeowners never learned how, because the installer was supposed to handle it. To file, you need to know exactly which panel and inverter brands are on your roof, your install date, and your equipment serial numbers. Pulling that together now, while everything is calm, is the single most useful thing you can do.

The workmanship warranty is the part you lost

What does disappear when an installer closes is the workmanship warranty: the installer's own promise to fix labor and installation issues (roof penetrations, wiring, mounting, and the general "we will come out and make it right" coverage). With TriSMART not answering, that coverage is effectively gone, and there is usually no successor company standing behind it. For anything urgent, especially a roof leak or an electrical safety concern, do not wait. Hire a local licensed solar contractor, get it fixed, and keep every receipt and photo in case you pursue recovery later.

If you are still paying a loan on a system that does not work

This is the hardest situation the news coverage highlighted, and it deserves a straight answer. Several things are true at the same time. Your solar loan is a separate contract from your installer, so TriSMART closing does not, by itself, erase what you owe the lender. That financing is often secured by a UCC-1 lien filed against the equipment, which is what can turn an unpaid solar loan into a title and even foreclosure problem. And lenders such as GoodLeap, a common solar financing partner, have said they set up support teams for customers whose installers are gone.

At the same time, reporting on TriSMART and similar closures notes that some customers are pursuing arbitration or contract disputes, arguing the system was misrepresented or never delivered as promised. Whether that path fits your situation is a legal question, and it is worth talking to a licensed consumer attorney about your specific contract. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice.

What we can do is give you the facts to walk in with. Before you call your lender, an attorney, or a prospective buyer, you want to know exactly what is on your system, whether there is a UCC-1 lien and who holds it, your permit status, and the real state of your warranties. That documentation is the difference between guessing and negotiating.

Get direct access to your monitoring

Most systems report through the equipment maker's own app (Enphase, SolarEdge, Tesla, and others), separate from any installer-branded layer. Getting a homeowner account set up in the manufacturer's app is how you will know whether your system is actually producing, and it is the evidence you need for a performance warranty claim. If you are not sure which platform your system uses, the lookup above will tell you, or check the gateway device (often a small box in the garage or utility closet) for the brand and serial number.

Your action plan

1. Identify your equipment. Get the panel, inverter, and battery brands, the install date, and serial numbers into one folder. Run the lookup if you do not have the paperwork.
2. Set up manufacturer monitoring. Create a homeowner account in your system's app so you can see production and prove underperformance if needed.
3. Check for a UCC-1 lien. Find out whether your financing filed a lien on the equipment and who holds it, so it does not surprise you at sale or refinance.
4. Handle anything urgent with local licensed labor. Roof leaks and electrical issues cannot wait for a company that is gone. Fix, document, keep receipts.
5. If you owe on a loan for a broken system, talk to a licensed consumer attorney about arbitration or contract options, and get your documentation in order first.
6. If you are selling, document all of the above so your solar helps the sale instead of stalling it.

General information, not legal or financial advice. Verify each item for your specific system and contract, and consult a licensed attorney about loan or arbitration questions.