@scottmyers909

This isn’t the “dark side of solar.” This is the dark side of crappy companies and not being able to hold them accountable.

@1001Hobbies

They paid $91,000 to SAVE ON ELECTRICITY COSTS!!!! How long would it take to use $91,000 in electricity so that they could break even????? These people are nuts.

@VintageSixPiece

The salesman was crapping himself when the reporter came out to confront him. This is good investigative reporting. We need thousands more just like you all over the world.

@andyg806

Spending 10's of thousands of dollars, even as much as $100k, to save a couple hundred bucks a month! Solid thinking there.

@anthonyromo8684

It's astounding that none of the cited companies are being charged with any criminal violations.

@By-s

I really miss this kind of investigative journalism, especially these days.

@user-cp7fo7im1s

I like it when news stations get back to doing stories and investigations that actually help people.

@magicmegan4290

I’m glad this news report helped that family get out of their contract and get those panels taken down.

@richardgarrett3188

When I had solar put on my house, I entertained a couple of these company's sales pitches.  What they didn't know is that I did enough research to know what the panels and inverters cost, how many I would need to achieve my goals, and the efficiency for different parts of my roof to fit 50 panels.  I was quoted $45k-$65k total price for ~$20k in materials.  They had no answer on why the costs were so high when I showed them the retail prices of the components used (exact panels and inverters).  

I ended up finding a contractor to do the install, purchased the panels and pulled the permits myself.  My total cost was $28k before my 30% federal rebate.

There are many people that seem to be against solar due to ignorance in the comments.  In many cases, solar may not ever pay for itself.  In my case, it will do this in < 8 years.  I'm almost 3 years into this journey and have produced 57.4MWh in electricity on my roof.  My average electricity bill was $260 and now I average $10/mo ($25 when the FU minimum kicks in).

I did a time-lapse of my installation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oquw-f5Wm8

@noelleonard2498

Yes, there are scammers out there, but paying 300+ dollars a month for 25 years just to pay for the system is insanity.

@cklindo4646

Gimme me $91K and I will pedal the water-wheel to produce the power for the house.

@bombbaby9870

“Retrained to tell more lies” & “Fired for telling the truth”

@fargoloomis3569

As a solar installer, this is infuriating!
Salespeople can turn any industry into a money pit even if the industry as a whole has good intentions.

@AppaTalks

I built an off-grid solar battery (after the great Texas Freeze last year), have 6x100W panels and a 300Amp-hour battery connected. Spent about 3K total on the project and super happy that it can take anything I throw at it. Not a 1-1 grid replacement but definitely Peace of mind.

@bsusak09

"Saying our clients will save 100% of their bill is a fireable offense but we absolutely won't be firing him"

@ezrollerj

There's a reason they have no experience hiring ads everywhere for "sales" people

@ivanzepeda6216

These people don’t realize if your paying 90 grand for a solar system and your payment is 450 a month for the next 25 years and your regular monthly electric bill is only 200 doesn’t it make more sense not to get solar at all 😂

@ellisvener5337

This is good job of consumer interest reporting. It rightly targets  dishonest sales people using  hard sell tactics, not solar power.

@danny_the_K

As an engineer this really upsets me.  These con men need to get jail time for this.  These systems are not "rocket science".  Your air conditioning and heat (if electric/heat pumps/etc) are your major power consumption devices.  Changing a 100w light bulb to a <8w LED light is a good step, but a baby step.  Replacing 30 yr old heating A/C is expensive, but carries a much bigger bag for the buck at a much higher cost.  Replacing old leaky windows and doors and increasing isolation are a vital part if you want to reduce your energy costs too.   Once you reduce your overall power consumption, then you need to capture how many kilowatts of energy you consume on a 24 hr graph as well as a summer verses winter graph.  If you live in the deep south, you can almost skip the heating cost because it is bound to be cheaper than the AC you use 10 months of the year and conversely, if you are living in a very northern climate, heating is a larger concern. Then size your solar system for the weak solar season so in the short days (Dec-Mar) you can produce enough electric for your needs and then you will have too much in the very sunny days of the year.  Put in some battery capacity so if you have a week of heavy weather you don't need the sun as much because you have some energy stored.  Also, plan on getting a generator that can plug in and run the whole house on gas (liquid or propane) and recharge your batteries.  That way you have prepared for the preventable outages that could occur.

@c.h.r.i.s2253

That's why they keep changing company names. They get in trouble, get sued and file bankruptcy and open as a different company