Solar industry exec admits a breach of ‘trust’ after revelations of widespread ‘fraud’
Last November, I wrote a blog on alleged predatory practices within the solar industry, after one company in particular (Sunnova) came under scrutiny when dozens of people filed complaints with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, many of whom accused the enterprise of preying on “deathbed dementia patients” and locking them into decades-long contracts worth tens of thousands of dollars—come to find out, Joe Biden’s federal bureaucrats were giving this company billions in taxpayer dollars.
As it seems, Sunnova’s approach to business wasn’t just a one-off, but perhaps an indicator of a bigger problem. According to NPR’s Climate and Energy Correspondent Jeff Brady, “Customer complaints against the country’s residential rooftop solar industry have increased dramatically in recent years.”
Here’s more, from Brady:
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.
Micah Gold-Markel, an executive behind Solar States, admits there’s been a breach of trust in the industry, acknowledging “a lot of shady business practices” across the board, which Brady refers to as “a fraud problem.” Here’s one experience, that of 91-year-old Jamaican immigrant Emanuel Minto, reported by Brady:
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.
…
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.
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‘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.’
This doesn’t sound like it’s just in the “shady” territory but the “criminal” one too.
As I noted in November essay, Texas’s Paxton was on the case, but now other state attorney generals are actually helping the complainants:
‘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.
For context, Welle’s is Assistant Attorney General of Minnesota, and his bosses are none other than Keith Ellison and Tim Walz, radical leftists with about zero redeeming qualities. This just goes to show how bad the problem really is—leftists forced to confront and undermine their sacred “green agenda” cow? Connecticut AG William Tong, also a Democrat, is suing SunRun and two associated solar companies; here’s what SunRun allegedly commented about the matter:
SunRun says in a statement to NPR, ‘In these instances, the sales representatives and installation crews allegedly did not meet our expectations, which we are addressing through the lawsuit and otherwise.’
Doesn’t exactly sound like a denial to me.
In theory, harnessing solar energy is a wonderful concept—the source is a giant orb of hot gas that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon—but in practice?
In practice, it’s a net negative, if the environment, public fiscal responsibility, consumers’ financial security, and ethics are of any concern.
Image: Oregon Department of Transportation, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr, unaltered.