The U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are providing resources to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive consumer acts and practices in the residential solar power sector.
The residential solar industry is booming in the U.S., with the Solar Energy Industries Association forecasting that 15% of U.S. homes will have solar by 2030. But just as there’s been strong growth in solar installations in recent years, there’s also been an increase in consumer complaints about unscrupulous practices by some solar companies. These include pressuring consumers into predatory contracts or purchases, unfair financing, failing to install or activate residential solar systems as promised, and more.
Treasury, CFPB and FTC released consumer advisories warning the public on how to spot potential unfair and deceptive practices and encouraging consumers to file complaints of suspicious behavior to FTC, CFPB, and state consumer protection offices. The advisories are intended as educational resources to help consumers understand the solar-shopping process in order to make informed decisions. They describe different types of solar power options, warn about common unfair or deceptive practices, provide key questions to ask before making purchases or signing agreements, and provide instructions on how consumers can file complaints.
Treasury, CFPB, and FTC, along with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), also announced an interagency partnership with the goal of coordinating efforts to prevent predatory practices. The new partnership will foster greater communication and collaboration between the agencies and better protect consumers from bad actors.
“While skyrocketing growth of the residential solar industry is lowering costs for consumers nationwide, a small number of bad actors are taking advantage of opportunities to scam customers,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo. “By providing new information to consumers interested in solar energy for their homes and coordinating across federal agencies to prevent scams, the Biden-Harris Administration is helping to ensure consumers who want to lower their utility bills are able to successfully do so.”
See the Treasury Consumer Advisories and Educational Resources here:
- Consumer Solar Awareness Website
- Solar Consumer Advisory
- Before You Buy Solar Panels
- Before You Sign a Solar Lease
- Before You Sign a Power Purchase Agreement
- Before You Sign a Solar Subscription
See the FTC resources here:
- Consumer: How To Avoid Getting Burned
- Business: Don’t Waste Your Energy On a Solar Scam
The government partnership follows development of two industry standards by SEIA, designed to help protect solar energy customers from deceptive and unethical practices and is seeking public comment on the standards. The two standards, 401 and 201 ensure transparency for customers while also enhancing the safety and quality of installations. Read more about these standards here.
Also read With great (solar) power comes great responsibility
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
In Florida, we installed 52 panels on our residential home and then our insurance company said our homeowners insurance would double because it was a threat to the grid which nextera/FPNL also said we needed a battery to be off the grid in our garage. We were shocked we had no idea, I started calling and ask if this was correct and they back down but to say it was going to go up $4000 was astonishing after we thought we were doing the right thing !