Sunnova Complaints Ohio (2026): Triple Damages Under OCSPA

Ohio homeowners who signed Sunnova solar leases and power purchase agreements expected long-term energy savings and a company that would maintain their systems for decades. Instead, Sunnova Energy's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in February 2025 left Ohio customers with dark monitoring portals, unanswered service calls, and payments being collected for services no longer rendered. What makes Ohio different from most states in this situation is the extraordinary consumer protection law available to homeowners: the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act (OCSPA) allows courts to award triple the actual damages sustained — one of the most aggressive consumer protection remedies in the country. Here's what Ohio Sunnova customers need to know and do.

What the Sunnova Bankruptcy Means for Ohio Customers

Sunnova's February 2025 bankruptcy was one of the largest in the history of the residential solar industry. The company had expanded aggressively across Ohio in recent years, targeting homeowners in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and their surrounding suburbs with promises of clean energy and decades of stable service. The bankruptcy shattered those promises almost overnight.

For Ohio customers, the impacts have been direct and immediate. Sunnova's system monitoring — which was supposed to alert homeowners to performance issues and provide production data — has gone offline or stopped updating for many customers. Warranty service has been routed through the bankruptcy process, where consumer claims receive no priority treatment. Maintenance requests go unanswered. And yet, the bankruptcy estate continues to send invoices and collect payments from Ohio homeowners who are receiving nothing of substance in return.

Ohio's AG office has a long track record of aggressive consumer protection enforcement, and the Sunnova situation is exactly the type of widespread consumer harm that has historically attracted state-level action. For more context, see our Sunnova company profile and our guide on what to do when your solar company goes out of business.

What Ohio Homeowners Are Reporting

SolarComplaints.co has collected extensive reports from Ohio Sunnova customers. The most frequent issues include:

• System monitoring failures: Production monitoring has stopped entirely for many Ohio customers. Homeowners cannot verify whether their panels are generating power, making it impossible to know if they're even receiving any benefit from their agreement.
• Unresponsive customer service: Multiple Ohio homeowners report going weeks or months without any response to warranty claims, repair requests, or basic service inquiries.
• Billing without service delivery: Lease and PPA invoices continue to arrive even as Sunnova provides nothing in return — a situation that the OCSPA may characterize as an unfair or deceptive practice in itself.
• Inverter and panel failures: Equipment failures that should be covered under Sunnova's warranty are going unaddressed, leaving homeowners with non-functioning systems and no recourse through normal channels.
• Property sale complications: Ohio homeowners trying to sell their homes report that Sunnova's bankruptcy has made buyers unwilling to assume the solar agreement, complicating or killing sales.

Your Legal Options in Ohio

Ohio homeowners have access to one of the country's most powerful consumer protection tools. The Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act (OCSPA), O.R.C. § 1345.01 et seq., prohibits suppliers from committing unfair or deceptive acts or practices in consumer transactions. The Ohio AG publishes a list of acts deemed to violate the OCSPA, and violations of that list allow courts to award triple actual damages plus attorney's fees — making this one of the most financially impactful consumer protection statutes in the nation.

Relevant OCSPA violations that may apply to Sunnova's Ohio conduct include:

• Misrepresenting that services have certain characteristics or qualities that they do not have
• Making false or misleading representations about the financial standing of the supplier
• Representing that services are available when the supplier knows or should know they cannot be provided as promised

If Sunnova's sales representatives misrepresented the company's stability, monitoring capabilities, or warranty coverage — and the Ohio AG has published guidance treating similar acts as OCSPA violations — you may be entitled to triple your actual damages. That could be a powerful financial outcome for homeowners who have been paying for years on a system that receives no monitoring or maintenance.

Additional Ohio legal options include:

• Ohio AG consumer complaint: Filing with the AG's Consumer Protection Section documents Sunnova's conduct and may support broader enforcement action including restitution orders.
• Breach of contract claim: Material failures by Sunnova to provide contracted services may independently give Ohio homeowners grounds to terminate their agreements.
• Bankruptcy proof of claim: Filing in Sunnova's Chapter 11 case protects your rights as a creditor in the proceeding.

Read our guide on how to cancel a Sunnova contract and the full Sunnova bankruptcy overview for additional context.

What to Do Right Now

Ohio's OCSPA is only as powerful as your willingness to use it. Here are the concrete steps to take now:

1. Document everything: Gather your original Sunnova contract, all payment records, service request submissions, monitoring screenshots, equipment issue photos, and all communications with Sunnova. A complete record is the backbone of any OCSPA or breach of contract claim.
2. File a proof of claim in Sunnova's bankruptcy: The case is pending in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Filing a proof of claim makes you an official creditor and preserves your ability to share in any distributions. It is free to file and does not require an attorney.
3. Consult an Ohio solar attorney: Given the OCSPA's triple damages provision, Ohio homeowners may have significant financial claims. An attorney who specializes in consumer protection or solar contract disputes can assess the strength of your case and often works on a contingency or reduced-fee basis.
4. Get a free review at breakyoursolarcontract.com: Their solar contract specialists can review your specific agreement under Ohio law and advise on your exit options and potential remedies at no upfront cost.

The OCSPA was designed for exactly this kind of situation — where a powerful company takes advantage of consumers and fails to deliver what it promised. Ohio homeowners have more leverage than most. Visit our Ohio solar complaints page for more local resources and to report your experience.