Getting Solarized is smart, but watch out for crooks
By Bonnie Phillips / ecoRI News staff
As the focus on renewable energy ramps up in New England
and across the United States, and more homeowners are considering installing
rooftop solar panels, the Better Business Bureau is warning about scammers
using misleading sales tactics to convince homeowners to go solar.Solar installation in Charlestown.
Photo by Will Collette
“Con artists use misleading sales tactics and lies to
trick homeowners out of money and personal information,” according to the BBB.
“If you’ve received an offer for ‘free solar panels,’ it could be a scam.”
Larry Chretien, executive director of the Green Energy Consumers Alliance, said that
while he has no specific evidence of such scams in the area, “we generally know
there are some solar scammers out there.”
The way such scams work, according to the BBB, is that
someone contacts the homeowner, either by email, phone, social media, or in
person, pretending to be a solar company salesperson. The “representative” has
a special offer: they can install solar panels on the home for a low cost, or
even free. Of course, the deal is only available for a limited time, they
claim, instilling a sense of urgency and adding pressure on the homeowner.
From here, the scam can go several ways. In some versions, the scammer is after personal information. They ask the homeowner to fill out forms that include banking details “to see if you qualify.”
Other times, the “solar representative” claims the person must pay upfront costs, which they promise will be reimbursed by a (non-existent) government program. In other instances, the scammer may begin the installation of the solar panels but then never returns to finish the job.
Or, they may install the panels but
do a poor job, resulting in panels that don’t work. If the homeowner reaches
out to the scammer to finish the job or fix the panels, they become unreachable
and disappear.
Chretien urged caution and patience when considering the
installation of residential solar.
EDITOR'S NOTE: There ARE honest solar contractors out there. SolPower was Charlestown's choice as the contractor for the 2017 Solarize Charlestown program. We were among the first to sign up.
I can vouch for SolPower's business practices - from the initial contract and projections for savings, to installation and to getting the right paperwork done to qualify for the sizable federal tax credit and to sell excess solar electricity to National Grid.
The only "deviation" from SolPower's promises compared to our actual experience was that we actually produced a lot MORE electricity than they projected, leading to lower than expected power bills and higher rebate checks from National Grid. For much of the year, our net electricity cost is under $100 a month.
Instead of taking 12 years to break even as projected, I believe we've already made up our cost - town discount - federal tax rebate. - Will Collette