August 13, 2024, NPR News — Ari Shapiro, Host, All Things Considered and Jeff Brady, Correspondent, NPR Climate Desk
Andy Milz of Flitter Milz, a nationally recognized expert in solar panel finance fraud, was recently interviewed by NPR News for a nationally-aired report concluding — Rooftop solar has a fraud problem. Andy offers advice for avoiding sales fraud when considering solar panels for your home.
Click the link to listen to the program or read the program transcript below. https://www.npr.org/2024/08/13/nx-s1-4926495/thinking-about-solar-here-are-some-things-to-consider
NPR Transcript: “Thinking about solar? Here are some things to consider”
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.
Seek Qualified Legal Help
Flitter Milz attorneys have helped hundreds of families who have been victimized by shady solar sales. If you have been defrauded in a solar sale, we may be able to help. Hidden contracts, forged signatures, illicit credit inquiries, suspicious email accounts, elder exploitation, and other bad acts can give rise for a case under the consumer protection laws. Contact us!
Some common traps could leave you stuck with a bad deal for decades when entering a contract for solar panels. Nationally recognized consumer protection attorney Andy Milz of Flitter Milz in Narberth, PA, was interviewed recently on CNET for an article and offered 4 Financial Red Flags to potential solar panel customers.
On Monday, June 24, 2024, 
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Flitter Milz looks forward to continuing to achieve successful results for consumers that have suffered the challenges of every day consumer credit matters involving credit reporting privacy and accuracy issues, wrongful vehicle repossessions, and unfair or deceptive business practices. 
Rather than being interchangeable with punitive damages, treble damages under the UTPCPL are a separate remedy available to consumers wholly independent of any entitlement to punitive damages or attorney fees.
Drug companies have filed lawsuits in courts across the country challenging the Constitutionality of the new 
“We’re gratified by the Court’s ruling in this case and happy to be part of a top-tier team that made it happen,” says Milz. “Whenever we can help consumers, particularly the elderly, save money on necessities, we consider it a job well done.”
The IRA contains several reforms designed to lower the high cost of prescription drugs and make them more accessible to patients, including seniors enrolled in Medicare. The program relies on a process in which the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is responsible for implementing Medicare, and the manufacturer of selected drugs negotiate the prices at which drugs will be made available to Medicare providers and drug plans.
NPLS will direct the cy pres funds to continue their work in assisting disadvantaged consumers in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
This past summer our attorneys visited Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey and Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to educate military lawyers (commonly known as Judge Advocates General or “JAGs”) about common scams targeting servicemembers and how consumer protection laws exist to give our men and women in uniform some measure of relief.
Young and impressionable servicemembers often become targets of scammers. Factors such as reliable pay checks and great military benefits, as well as being subject to sudden deployment and relocation, make servicemembers easy prey for payday lenders, buy-here-pay-here auto dealers, and sub-prime finance companies.
Fortunately, the “Military Lending Act” places caps on interest rates to be charged, mandates certain disclosures, and prohibits the use of arbitration clauses in credit agreements. A violating seller can face punitive damages and having to pay the servicemember’s attorney fees.
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Our firm gets a lot of calls from consumers who are senior citizens, or from their children, after they have realized that the “free” solar panel deal they were promised is nothing of the sort.
Every week, we hear similar complaints from consumers who met with a solar sales representative and felt taken. Statements such as the following may be deceptive or outright false:
Salespeople are likely to tout a 30% federal solar tax credit (for 2023). Consumers must be careful, this is not cash or a refund, but rather a tax credit to count against the taxes you pay. Some seniors pay only minimal taxes or no taxes at all (if, for instance, their sole income is Social Security) and may not benefit at all from this promised “government program.” Other times, the company keeps the tax credit for itself.
Salesmen also like to tout a “no cost installation” or “no upfront cost” because this makes it sound like the consumer is getting the solar panels for free. That is not the case. With programs like solar leases or power purchase agreements (PPAs), it is the solar company, not the consumer, who owns the panels that are installed on the roof.
While the solar company may not charge upfront for the panels and the installation, the consumer is bound to pay for the energy that’s produced by the panels at ever-increasing rates – sometimes for 25-years or more – forcing some elderly consumers to pay expensive rates until they’re over 100 years old. All the while, they are still obligated to pay their electric bill.
Solar sales can be expensive and burdensome to consumers. Solar salesmen know this, and that’s why they use electronically displayed and signed contract documents (instead of a paper contract that you hold and keep) with deceptive language to hide the agreement from elderly consumers by using a bum email address or making up an email address that only the sellers control.
The lender may attempt to collect the deficient balance from the borrower or assign the collection to an agency or collection law firm. If the debt is not collected, the lender may choose to file a lawsuit against the borrower.
Judgments are dangerous. The lender attempt collection of the judgment through bank attachment, seizure of property, or in many states, wage garnishment.
