Author: Jeff Brady Published: August 14, 2024 NPR
PHILADELPHIA — The solar power industry is booming and that growth helps the world meet its climate goals by replacing fossil fuels. But an emerging problem in the U.S. solar business that installs panels on homes risks slowing the effort to cut the country’s emissions.
Customer complaints against the country’s residential rooftop solar industry have increased dramatically in recent years. One-star ratings on Solar Reviews increased more than 1,000% since 2018. Across the country, prosecutors are investigating high-pressure sales tactics and misleading financing arrangements. Some customers say they were victims of fraud and forgery. This threatens rooftop solar’s impressive momentum. Now, some solar companies are working to repair the industry’s reputation.
“There have been a lot of shady business practices in residential solar. And I think it’s hurting the market,” says Micah Gold-Markel, who founded the company Solar States in 2008. He says the solar industry started with, “hippies who looked at the idea of getting electricity from the sun and had very pure intentions” and wanted to make that clean electricity available to everyone.
But now Gold-Markel says larger companies with more of a profit motive have introduced questionable sales and financing practices that are hurting the industry’s reputation.
Even prosecutors who are investigating companies across the country say a good idea has been corrupted.
“We think that having rooftop solar is good for the environment and does save people money. We don’t want people deceived, though,” says Adam Welle, a lawyer with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office who is pursuing a case against solar financing companies.
Beyond the industry’s reputation, real people – many of them already financially vulnerable – have been hurt.
“I will die before I could pay this off”
Ninety-one year-old Emanuel Minto’s Northeast Philadelphia house has a tidy front yard, where the Jamaican immigrant proudly flies an American flag. On his roof there are solar panels. They generate electricity but also have become a source of frustration for the retired machinist.
In December 2022, Minto says a door-to-door salesman approached him about a government program to help senior citizens save on their electric bills.
“Well, everybody wants a cheaper electric bill, right?” Minto says.
“‘This program is going to cost about $20,000 out of your pocket, but don’t worry about it, you’re only going to pay about $100 a month,’” Minto says the salesman told him. The cost would be over 20 years, and Minto says the salesman told him it would cut his electric bill in half. “So I said, ‘Well, that would be good.’”
But there was no such government program, and the monthly payments ended up being four times what Minto says he was promised. “I will die before I could pay this off,” Minto says.
Minto didn’t have a computer or an email address and says the salesman created an email and then forged his signature onto an electronic contract.
“Him sit right here,” says Minto, referring to the salesman and pointing to a chair on his enclosed front porch, “and said, ‘This is your email address and this is your password.’” Minto says he never saw or signed an electronic contract.
According to a lawsuit filed against the companies involved, the contract was discovered later when Minto’s granddaughter got access to the email. His attorney says the only messages in the inbox were from the solar installer and the financing company.
“I wish I could say it was surprising,” says Andy Milz, an attorney who specializes in solar fraud and who is representing Minto. “We’ve seen so much of this.’”
Milz says as part of the loan, a lien was placed on Minto’s paid-for home to secure a nearly $50,000 loan. “Part of the scam here, especially when it comes to elderly consumers, is to strip equity from their homes – to steal their nest egg from them.”
The salesman no longer works for the solar sales company Graysquare Solar. Owner Tim Koontz disputes many of the facts in the case, though he confirms the salesman created the email address. He says there are safeguards in place to prevent what Minto claims happened. And he accuses the elderly Minto of scamming him.
“I feel like I’m the one being defrauded. I feel like this is a hustle to try and get money,” Koontz told NPR. He says the case likely will bankrupt his company.
Milz says Graysquare Solar didn’t even appear in court to defend itself, “Actions speak louder than words.”
The finance company involved in the Minto case, Solar Mosaic, said in an email, “We dispute the allegations and cannot comment further due to pending litigation.”
Milz says in cases of fraud, he generally tries to get mandatory arbitration clauses voided and move the case to a regular court before a jury. But that process could last years and given Minto’s age, he’s pursuing arbitration to get it resolved as quickly as possible.
Milz says he’s handled more than 100 cases like this, and he’s part of a loose network of attorneys around the country who specialize in fraudulent solar sales.
As complaints against solar companies mount, state attorneys general are also getting involved.
Complaints grow faster than installations
In online forums like Reddit, there’s a constant stream of complaints and requests for help from dissatisfied residential solar customers. Part of the reason is that many customers who feel victimized don’t know where to turn.
“There’s not really one place for consumers to complain to,” says Jenifer Bosco, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center. “If they do have a problem with solar companies, they can complain to the Federal Trade Commission. They might complain to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, they might complain to their state AG’s office.”
That makes it difficult to identify the exact number of complaints against residential solar companies. But it’s clear the number of dissatisfied customers has increased faster than the industry’s healthy growth rate.
Percentage change since 2018