ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Just the other day, I got a piece of mail telling me, your property qualifies for free solar panels. It had a photo of my house and everything - kind of creepy. This is a sign of something happening all over the country. Solar power is booming, and that helps meet the country's climate goals. At the same time, customer complaints are also growing about the part of the industry that installs solar panels on homes. NPR's Jeff Brady has spent the last few months looking into this. And, Jeff, what's the big lesson that you've learned from your reporting?
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: You know, the really big concern here is high-pressure sales. Not all companies use them, but if you're thinking about solar power, you're going to need to be prepared for that. And the example of this that really sticks with me is a 91-year-old man, Emanuel Minto. He immigrated from Jamaica. He retired as a machinist and paid off his house in northeast Philadelphia. When I visited him in his tidy front yard, Minto's lawyer was there to meet me.
ANDY MILZ: Mr. Minto, Jeff Brady from NPR News.
BRADY: Hi - nice to meet you.
EMANUEL MINTO: Sir.
BRADY: A year and a half ago, Minto says, a door-to-door salesman approached him, offering a government program to help senior citizens save on their electric bills.
MINTO: So I said, well, that would be good.
BRADY: But there was no such program. Minto has solar panels, but a lawsuit claims the salesman created an email address for him and forged his name on an electronic contract for a 25-year loan for the installation. Now Minto also has a lien on his house.
That salesman worked for GraySquare Solar. Owner Tim Koontz disputes many of the facts in the case, though he confirms the salesman created an email address for Minto. Koontz says there are safeguards to prevent what Minto claims and accuses the elderly Minto of scamming him.
TIM KOONTZ: I feel like I'm the one being defrauded. I feel like this is a hustle to try and get money.
BRADY: Minto's attorney, Andy Milz, says GraySquare didn't even respond to the lawsuit, and a default was entered against it. Milz specializes in solar fraud and says many door-to-door salespeople carry an iPad with electronic contracts. He says, be careful because some dishonest salespeople have taken electronic initials and signatures and copied and pasted them to other contracts.
MILZ: Don't be bullied into touching their device, whether it be an iPad or a cellular phone. Take the time to review the documents in the comfort of your own home.
BRADY: Milz says you can request a paper contract, and reputable solar salespeople won't have a problem with this. Another person I talked with is Tiffani Krieg of Mesa, Ariz. She put off for a couple of months a salesperson who calls herself Solar Sandy. Then one evening, Krieg's family was in their driveway, headed out to see a movie.
TIFFANI KRIEG: My husband looks at the rearview, and he's like, oh, Sandy's here. I'm like, Sandy? And she's got her Range Rover parked, like, you know, making a T so we can't get out of our driveway. So she jumps in the backseat, like, with the kids.
BRADY: Krieg says Sandy said to secure a low interest rate, the family had to act now. Consumer advocates say creating urgency is a common sales tactic, and you should never feel pressured to make a decision about such a big purchase. I talked with Solar Sandy, whose name is Sandra Cordero. She didn't want to do a recorded interview. She disputes some of Krieg's story and confirms a lot of it. Cordero says she didn't do anything wrong and has hundreds of satisfied customers.
SHAPIRO: Reporting there from NPR's Jeff Brady, who is still with us. Jeff, you are making me think I should not respond to that flyer I got in the mail. But what should a person do who might be interested in going solar but doesn't want to get scammed? How do you find the salespeople who aren't going to use high-pressure tactics?
BRADY: Well, you probably want to avoid the solar companies that find you, either, you know, at your front door or maybe at a local big-box store. They're more likely to practice these high-pressure sales tactics. And some of these companies only do sales. A different company will actually install the panels. And the experts I talked with say it's better to work directly with an installation company. They suggest you find someone that's been in business in your community for years. A lot of these installers, they, you know, survive on word-of-mouth advertising. So you can ask neighbors and friends, people who already have solar panels, for recommendations.
SHAPIRO: If people aren't getting government subsidies, these solar panels can be really expensive. What's the best advice for people who are going to pay for this?
BRADY: Sure. Most people can't afford to put out 20 or $30,000 for solar panels. So about 85% of these systems are financed. You need to get at least three quotes and ask each company to give you quotes for financing and for paying cash. You want to compare those numbers because some companies include hidden fees in the cost of a system just so they can offer a cheap interest rate. And these fees, they're significant. The solar marketing firm EnergySage says fees for the most popular loan averaged 47% for the last half of 2023.
SHAPIRO: Wow.
BRADY: Yeah, that adds thousands of dollars in cost, even if the interest rate you get is relatively low, so you may be better off finding financing on your own.
SHAPIRO: But there are federal tax credits to help pay for solar panels, right? How do those work?
BRADY: Yeah, the federal government offers a 30% tax credit, and some states have incentives on top of that. But one thing about tax credits - you need to owe taxes to take advantage of them, and not all salespeople will tell you that. Cameron Holly in the Dallas area learned this. He expected a check from the IRS for about $14,000, but his family didn't owe that much in taxes, so he only got back about 2,500.
CAMERON HOLLY: Honestly, I do feel deceived, you know, because the way it was always worded in our conversations with the salespeople was that we would get this tax credit on our next filing.
BRADY: And Holly says he planned to use that money to pay off credit cards and take a family vacation. So the best advice is, you know, talk with the tax person rather than a salesperson about these tax credits.
SHAPIRO: And what if someone listens to this and decides solar is not right for them, or they live in a rental and can't install solar? What then?
BRADY: Yeah, solar is not right for a lot of us. My house is surrounded by big trees that shade the roof, so solar won't work here. You know, if helping climate change and saving money are your goals, you can try using less energy, and if the options out there today aren't right for you, they might be next year, so keep checking in. The energy world is changing fast right now.
SHAPIRO: That's Jeff Brady of NPR's climate desk. Thank you.
BRADY: Thank you.
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