Camille Mitchell sat in her living room, phone clutched in her hand, listening for a voice to come through on the other line. She was on hold with the lender that financed the solar panel system on top of her Clear Lake City home. She waited to discuss a $189...
When Camille and Charles signed their contract with installer, Vision Solar, the last thing they expected was to find out months later the company would be out of business.Camille Mitchell sat in her living room, phone clutched in her hand, listening for a voice to come through on the other line. She was on hold with the lender that financed the solar panel system on top of her Clear Lake City home.
"In response to Vision Solar's closure, Dividend has established a program to help customers with both system remediation and loan relief. Where feasible, Dividend will work with customers to engage replacement installers, at its own expense, to help complete projects and make solar panel systems operational. Dividend is also offering payment deferments to those customers whose installations are being completed.
He said the need for help when these companies vanish is a new, naturally evolving part of the solar industry. As the number of people seeking this assistance grows, there will be an emerging demand for more businesses like his. Suntuity and Pink Energy filed for bankruptcy, and ongoing litigation against both businesses is pending in several states.
If the trend continues, Agopian projected that what Solar Insure refers to as the “consumer abandon rate” could climb up to 25 percent by the end of 2024. Jones-Albertus, who now oversees SETO, said the office aims to reduce the cost of solar energy. When it first launched as the SunShot Initiative in 2011, one of its main goals was to bring solar prices down to where they were cost-competitive.
Rice University professor Dr. Ramamoorthy Ramesh and the former founding director of the SunShot Initiative said innovations in other technologies, such as solar batteries, have expanded the financial benefits of residential solar systems. Jones-Albertus said there are also a mix of ways, on the local, state and federal level, that make solar power a more affordable option.
“There’s a whole bunch of companies now, installers, many of them very credible, but not all have the same level. Some of them are fly-by-night people,” Ramesh said. “This is not government mandated, so it’s purely business practice.” Jose Treviño, an Austin resident and one of Burnside’s clients, found Burnside through a former employee of his original solar installer, Speir Innovations. Treviño had asked his electrician to shut his solar panel system off because the initial installation left the system sending the incorrect voltage to electrical ports in his house. This caused the lights and appliances to burn out and tripped the surge protectors.
Treviño later learned through speaking with a former employee that Speir was out of business. Before contacting Burnside, Treviño reached out to his manufacturer, Enphase Energy, where he was referred to their list of seven partner installers – all of which were not taking new customers. Dividend temporarily paused Camille and Charles's payments when they challenged the first amount withdrawn from their account. Charles said this was not an easy process and felt like a “merry-go-round” of endless calls and constant mixed messages.
Camille and Charles said Dividend sent a crew member of a new installation company, TriSMART Solar, to assist with getting their system up and running. The installer came to their house to inspect the status of the installation and said he would send them a quote for the work that would need to be done.
According to Jeremy Sanders, a Chapoton Sanders Scarborough law firm partner, this could include investing in a solar operations and maintenance insurance plan or purchasing solar equipment from a warranty-ensuring manufacturer. If a business is not abiding by these regulations, consumers should file a complaint with the state licensing agency or the Office of the Texas Attorney General. Residents could also contact the state consumer protection office or the Better Business Bureau to report faulty or deceptive business practices.
According to Jones-Albertus , consumers should look at the interest rate and the loan fees. If they choose to lease, they should look at the conditions of the contract and what financial commitments are required if residents want to buy the system when the lease is up.
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