CAPITALI$M IS UNSUSTAINABLE

‘Stressful’: Customers who went solar encounter problems after companies went under

Jason Stoogenke

Fri, January 27, 2023 

Multiple people who started using solar energy for power have been reaching out to Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke recently.

They say they have spent tens of thousands of dollars on systems for their homes and panels don’t work like they’re supposed to.

Even worse, those who are using solar energy say the company has gone out of business, including Accelerate Solar and Pink Energy, formerly PowerHome Solar.

Action 9: Will Pink Energy customers with solar panel issues have to pay back loans?

Homeowners say the feel stranded.

Yaz Humaideh says he bought his solar panels in 2019 from Accelerate Solar, a company that folded about a year later.

Humaideh says he’s had leaks and that he hasn’t saved as much money on his power bills as the company promised.

He now has a lien on his house, which will make it hard to sell or refinance someday.

“This has been stressing me out for years now,” Humaideh said.

Another company eventually bought parts of Accelerate Solar’s assets, but it has no obligation to treat customers, including Humaideh, as its own.

So it doesn’t need to make things right.

The new company can charge him to service his panels like it would anyone who used a different solar company.

“This is $60,000,” Humaideh said. “It’s not like cheap. I work 60/70 hours a week at my job. I don’t have time all the time to go chase all these little things. So, it’s been stressful.”

There’s not much you can do when a company you use goes out of business, Stoogenke said.

But in this case, there may be one option, which is to complain to the attorney general in North Carolina or South Carolina.

Both states have been asking major lenders to suspend payments for certain customers.