A new industry aims to help frustrated homeowners out of rooftop solar deals

SALT LAKE CITY — The rooftop solar industry has, well, a bit of a reputation. The KSL Investigators routinely receive tips from frustrated homeowners from misleading sales practices and confusing financing agreements to shoddy installation work and customer support failures. Ghosting is a word we hear often. Similar tips also pour into the inboxes of state regulators and of Solar Equity Solutions — a company whose entire business model is helping homeowners out of bad solar contracts. “There's too many people that are taken advantage of,” said Solar Equity Solutions’ chief operating officer, Josie Garcia. My interview with Garcia turned into a bit of a therapy session as we traded rooftop solar horror stories we’ve come across or heard about. The list of stories included Deserie Jensen’s experience when she purchased a solar system but couldn’t get the company to activate it. We also spoke about Val McQuiston’s trouble when an inverter for his solar system broke down, and he couldn’t get anyone to make the warranty repair. We also talked about Thomas Paskett, who questioned the legitimacy of advertising flyers disguised as government notices warning of drastic rate hikes who have not installed a renewable energy system. Garcia said many of the complaints she hears about and where her company can help are from homeowners who bought systems that don't match their needs. “Verbal promises, like ‘there’s going to be no electric bill,’” she used as an example. Garcia said her company didn't start off to be exclusively in the solar contract game but pivoted with demand. “We have seen an increase in folks who are just trying to get out of these,” she said. There are, of course, plenty of homeowners who are perfectly happy with their solar system on their rooftops. But considering how many feel jilted down the road, experts say plan for the worst. Read everything before you sign any agreement and hold onto those documents. They can come to your rescue as evidence, if you ever need to argue that a rooftop solar company misled you.

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