Pulling The Lid Back On The Solar Panel Scam

In the last decade, tens of thousands of households have put solar panels on their roofs. The reasons for doing so vary, but the commercial operations that are supposed to service and maintain many of those solar systems are doing a bad job of it.

Very bad. So bad  that according to this Time Magazine piece:

There were 5,331 complaints containing the words “solar panels” submitted on reportfraud.ftc.gov between Jan. 1 and Sept. 19 of 2023, up 31% from the entire year of 2022 and up 746% since 2018, the first year for which the Federal Trade Commission has data, according to the FTC's response to a Freedom of Information Act filed by TIME.

How did things go so very wrong for so many solar-powered homes? It's a complicated story, but has a familiar ring to it: 

For all the promise of solar—that it can help wean us off fossil fuels and cut our energy bills—the focus on speeding adoption has come at a cost: it allows unreliable players to flourish in a booming industry.

And it's not just those who are supposed to service solar panels. The installers are a bit dodgy, too. 

But the rush to install new solar panels is in high gear, thanks to government incentives that reduce one person's costs…at another person's expense. 

Many new installations don't have solar panels leased from a company that can't be bothered to ensure the things work. That's a good thing for the new adopters. But for those who lease systems? They are stuck:

That doesn't solve the problem that I and many others are facing—we can't sign up for new solar systems or take advantage of new tax credits because we're already stuck with older panels on our homes that are owned by companies that don't seem to want to maintain them. Indeed, while solar does save money for many people, the savings are pretty low for many people with older systems; Zuckerman, the Maryland resident, says his savings come out to about $7 a month. And that's even before the nightmare of dealing with a company that still has not fixed his panels.

Early adopters usually take big risks on the new tech or service they are buying (or leasing for these panel systems). Solar is no different.

You should read the entire story to see what a fiasco these leases have turned out to be. And take it all as a warning. It's not just a case of “buyer beware.” It's also a lesson in “there's no such thing as a free lunch.” Or an affordable, low-maintenance home solar system. 

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.