Palmetto Finance Newsfeed

The Update: Palmetto is partnering with Recheck to provide a new option for completing your welcome calls: VoiceVerify.

The Deets: VoiceVerify is an AI-powered welcome call covering the basics of your customer's solar plan. It's straightforward and available to complete at point of sale in your customer's Palmetto account.

The Impact:

• No change in our NTP requirements today
• When an account receives a welcome call stipulation, the customer now has the option to complete that call directly with us via home.palmetto.com
• VoiceVerify is recommended for fastest approval, and the stipulation clears automatically upon successful completion
• Partners are still welcome to submit their installer-conducted call via our underwriting chat to satisfy the stipulation (just make sure it covers all our required criteria!)

[Solar & Energy Backup] Texas Policy Update: New State Regulations in Effect:

• All sales reps must register w/ TDLR
• All sales organizations must register w/ TDLR
• All consumers must be presented the TDLR Consumer Info Brochure 24 Hours prior to contract signing.

TX M1 requirements Effective 11/1/26:

• Two Rep Countersignatures: Every TX contract package requires rep signatures on both the Attestation of Compliance and the Electronic Disclosure Form.
• Senior Customer Wet Signature* (65+): Customers aged 65 and older require a physical, wet-signed Disclosure Form collected by Installation (M1).

*Applies to contracts signed on or after 11/1

[Solar] California Market Update:

• PPA to Lease: All California solar agreements are transitioning from PPAs to Leases.
• Go-Live: New contracts from 11/1/26
• Utility Impact: PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E (LADWP, IID, & APU utilities already operate on Leases)
• Practical Impact: Our Energy Plans look & function the same for all consumers. The fine print is that escalators, when applied, are calculated based on monthly payment (lease) vs kWh rate (PPA).

[Solar] Illinois Shines Annual Designee Registration

• Registration is open, and Illinois Partners are required to renew-including sales orgs and installers. Renewal window closes 11/30/26.
• Annual registration is a Mandatory Requirement: All designees must complete their renewal before the deadline.

In a continued effort to support our partners, PLR's Quality Control team is offering a new webinar series regarding our Energy Backup program.

For partners new to the EB program: Palmetto Energy Backup Program Overview Webinar

• Every Thursday at 1:00pm EST

For partners in need of M1/M2 refreshers: Palmetto Energy Backup Operations Webinar

• Every Wednesday at 1:00pm EST

[ADVANCED PREVIEW] Solar Agreement Update

Key Details:

• PPA to Lease: All California solar agreements are transitioning from PPAs to Leases.
• Target Go-Live: November 1, 2026.
• Impacts: PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E - (LADWP, IID, & APU utilities already operate on leases).

- Pre-November 1: Contracts retain PPA status.

- Post-November 1: Contracts issued as leases.

[LIVE] Illinois Market Update

Illinois Shines Annual Designee Registration open now, and Illinois Partners are required to renew-including sales orgs, installers, and anyone touching our projects.

Key Details:

• Renewal Window: Opens October 18 and closes November 30.

• Partners will receive an email from the Illinois Shines Program on Monday, October 19, 2026, containing a link to their renewal form and unique login credentials

• Mandatory Requirement: All designees must complete their renewal before the deadline.

• Non-Compliance: Designees who do not renew will receive a Notice of Potential Violation (NOPV).

The Headline: An OEM installation best practice is being highlighted in our quality review process for Tesla installations.

Nuts & Bolts: Tesla Remote Energy Meter (TRM) antennas should be installed wherever possible to support optimal device performance. This guidance has been added to our existing M1 Photo Documentation Knowledge Base article.
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Heads up: Our Quality Control team is noting this install detail during the review process. Partners may receive notifications following M1 review, with completion expected by M2. For details, refer to the OEM’s Remote Energy Meter: Installation Best Practices.

What's Staying the Same: Existing installation review milestones remain unchanged. This detail will need to be shown as completed by M2.

The Update: Beginning 10/13/2026, all backup batteries installed in Arizona must have 'storm guard' settings disabled.

The Details: Removing automatic 'storm guard' prevents false storm alerts from locking the battery during peak hours, while still maintaining the essential 20% backup power requirement.

All other battery settings and state level specifications remain unchanged. More info here.

The Headline: How and when a Safe Harbor deduction applies is changing.

What's New: Payout deductions for Safe Harbor material will occur at the sooner of:

• Install Submission, or
• 14 Days from Equipment Delivery Date

What's Changed: Previously, payout deductions were applied at install approval and commissioning. This new trigger is earlier than the previous deduction trigger.

What's Staying the Same: No change to our Safe Harbor assignment, forecasting, cost, or distribution system. This new deduction trigger is earlier than previous--that's it.

The Timing This change applies to equipment pulled from distributor on or after October 15th. Equipment your organization already received is not impacted.

The Update: We’ve rolled out an update that gives you more flexibility.

• ​Previously, Direct Pay was applied at the organization level across all eligible markets.

• Today, You can now enable or disable Direct Pay separately for each market/state.

The Details:

• Partners can turn on Direct Pay in select states without it being applied in all of their other states.
• You can add or remove a market at any time without affecting your other markets.
• Direct Pay availability may vary by market based on vendor coverage and program requirements.

Sales & Underwriting support chat support has adjusted its weekend hours from 10/3.

• Saturdays: now 11am-7pm EST
• Sundays: now 11am-4pm EST
• Weekday hours are unchanged.

View our full support queue hours here. Partners can expect expanded weekend hours ahead of peak season 2027.