Blister in the Sun - What You May Want to Know Before Installing Solar Panels On YOUR Roof

I start by sharing that I am supporter of the idea of using alternative sources of energy. Personally, I believe we need to go down that path and make some big changes in that space sooner rather than later. For lots of reasons that we don’t need to get into here. But if you are considering installing solar panels on your roof, I want you to read about an experience my clients had with this process before you do. So you can make an informed decision before signing that contract.

My clients’ experience in dealing with a poor installation and an even worse warranty claim process has left me feeling that the solar industry is not ready for prime time or is truly accessible to most homeowners. Personally, I would never want to deal myself with what my clients have gone through and that alone is reason to avoid a roof install for now. Professionally, I find the process we have gone through in this situation to have been so outrageous that I wouldn’t recommend anyone say yes to a solar roof install without hearing this story and making an educated decision. My clients remain super committed to conservation and want me to share their story in hope that it will inspire consumers like you to demand better, so that we can all be empowered to make informed decisions and apply consumer pressure to the industry to make beneficial changes as we strive to transition to better energy choices.

The three biggest problems they have had were:

1) A moldy attic due to NONE of the mounting brackets being sealed during install

2) Being forced by the solar company’s insurance company to pay for the repairs themselves (the cost of which has been in excess of $60,000, and included replacing the entire top portion of their house) out of their own pocket, then beg to be reimbursed. It has been almost 8 months since this claim was initially reported and my clients have been reimbursed only a tiny fraction of their overall outlay

3) Zero guidance from either the solar company (it’s a big one that’s been around awhile) or its insurer in how to navigate this process, what to expect along the way, and whether the amounts the contractors charged to do the work were going to be acceptable and reimbursed

We are now at almost 8 months since the claim was reported and my clients have been paid only a tiny fraction of the overall claim and the insurance company is now using their position to try to negotiate for things.

How’s that for a warranty? From one of the largest solar installers in the country?

Thinking about solar panels on your house and want to hear more? Or how this experience may impact you?

Imagine the day your solar panel installation is completed. The switch is flipped and boom! You get to watch your in-home display showing you just how much energy your panels are generating. Wow, you’re actually sending energy back into the grid. How cool is that! You feel great about your decision and proud that you are doing your part to reduce fossil fuel dependency.

You did your research, chose the most reputable, established company in your area to do the installation, and purchased your panels instead of leasing (because you’re analytical, you did the math and purchasing made sense). This big company also offered a warranty and that was important to you – not just the existence of the warranty, but the odds that the company would be around to service the panels and address any issues that came up that would be covered by the warranty. This company was definitely not the least expensive, but this was a big investment and going cheap definitely did not feel like the right choice. Plus, your town required a local inspector to come sign off on the job, so you felt like all was in order.

A year after the switch gets flipped, you notice a water stain on your bedroom ceiling. You call big company and they send someone out. That person goes into your attic, spends some time up there, comes back down and tells you he found a leak, repaired it, and checked everything else out up there and all was in good shape.

Awesome, that was great service! Just what you paid for!

Flash forward another two or so years and you head up to the attic to get something out of it that you haven’t needed for awhile. Oh, no….. It is infested with mold. Everywhere. On the rafters, the insulation. It’s like someone turned the entire space into a petri dish! You call a contractor to take a look at what is going on. You had someone from Big Company up there after the panels were installed, so surely it wasn’t that…. And you had the roof replaced right before the solar installation so you wouldn’t have to worry about that for awhile. So what the heck happened?

The contractor comes out and looks at the attic and sees that it is, indeed, the solar panels. None of the mounting brackets were sealed. Except for the ones over your bedroom. By the leak. That was repaired. By the guy who said he checked everything else and it looked great.

Clearly something went wrong there….

You call up Big Company and report the situation. They send someone out to take a look.

Great!

Then they send the claim off to their insurance company.

And that’s when the black hole opens up to suck all the good solar feels away.

Some people are sent to check out your house. You’re given the name of an insurance adjuster who is supposed to be handling your claim. That person has a voicemail box that is always full so you can’t leave a message. You don’t have an email address. It’s around the holidays, so there are weeks at a time where nobody seems to be working. And in the meantime… you’re living in a house with a super moldy attic.

That stuff makes people sick.

You finally hear from the insurance company who tells you to get quotes from contractors. So you do. And the contractors give them to the insurance company. Insurance company takes them and then…. The responses alternate between silence and promises that they’ll get back to you soon.

The silence and the “I’ll get back to yous” eat up another few weeks. Stories, stories. You wonder what you are supposed to do next. You ask the insurance company. The adjuster never gets back to you. Then your claim gets sent to another adjuster. That you never hear from.

You know mold can make you sick and you worry that all those colds you had last year weren’t colds at all, but possibly related to the mold that has clearly been growing in your house for some time. And… a member of your household is currently undergoing immunotherapy following a rare and unusual cancer last year. Will the insurance cover the cost of relocation while the work is being done?

You ask the insurance company. They dawdle again and give non-answers. What the heck are you supposed to do?

Nobody at Big Company or the insurance company have offered any guidance about what is covered, whether you are the insured party (which matters, but that’s a subject for another day), what your obligations and duties are as the homeowner, and it’s generally a big cluster.

And it’s now two months after you first reported the claim.

You talk to a lawyer who has worked in commercial insurance who is surprised that there isn’t some process or explanation of what is supposed to happen. Some coordination with the contractors, some education about what the insurance company’s field adjuster had to say after his visit to your house.

You tell the insurance adjuster that you are worried about the immuno-compromised person in the household and want an answer to the question of whether relocation is covered.

That triggers insurance company to assign the claim to another adjuster. Her response is that you, the homeowner, HAVE A DUTY TO GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE.

And fix it before it gets worse. That’s called mitigating your damages.

But she still hasn’t answered the question of whether those costs will be reimbursed.

So, you have to pack up, get out, and hope that it’s going to be covered. Do you go to a friend or relative’s house? Do you rent a short term apartment? Nobody will suggest what you should do.

They just tell you that you have to move out and get it fixed.

So you do.

They next day they send you an offer to write you a check in exchange for a release. They cherry pick from the estimates to make a low-ball offer that would require you to use different contractors for different pieces of the work in order to get it done for the amount insurance company has offered you.

They tell you they will send the check out as soon as you sign the release.

And you? Have no idea how much it is going to cost to do the work. You have no idea how long it will take (or how long you will be in temp housing).

What about the panels? Will they take them back? You don’t want them back on your roof after all this.

And now you hire a lawyer. To review the release.

The release requires you to accept the check they offer and that’s it – you won’t get reimbursed for anything else. The health issues, the costs of boarding your dogs while in temp housing, any increase in costs that may be incurred after the work gets started.

How’s that for a warranty?

Oh, and they want to charge you $500 to remove the panels that caused all this to begin with. Because that’s in your contract.

You have a choice, accept the offer and hope the work gets done in that amount. Or… ask the contractor to deal with the insurer directly.

Contractor declines to work under that arrangement because they have been trying to do so and the insurer has ignored them completely.

So the only way the work is going to get started is if you start paying the contractor. Yourself. And hope you get paid the full amount down the road.

What are you going to do?

And how does that sound for a warranty?

Is the $60,000 plus you have to pay out of pocket just three years after installation worth it to save a few hundred dollars a month on your electric bill?

Those are questions you have to answer for yourself. I know how I would answer them and I know how my clients would answer those questions today.

The reality is you’ll hear stories from 9 out of 10 people about how much they love their panels, they love the savings, and love feeling like they are doing something good for the environment.

But, do you know what the environmental impact of building those panels is? Do you know what happens to panels that no longer work? Are they recycled? Is there much of a program out there for that (there is not, so far). These are questions you may wish to consider before signing that contract.

Perhaps the biggest question to ask, however, is what if you are that 1 in 10 who has a problem? Will it be worth it then?

When I share this story, I usually hear naysayers and solar supporters tell me that I’m wrong. Saying no isn’t the right choice. That my clients were stupid or lazy or somehow to blame (they were none of those things, by the way – an engineer and a conservationist). That I just hear the “bad stories” and that makes me jaded.

I nearly did solar myself until this situation came along into my life. I am not a “no,” but I am firmly in the “not now” camp. Until the industry creates a better process, better inspections (just fyi, my clients’ town inspected only the electrical component, not the construction part of the installation – little known fact about inspections), and is held accountable to fix problems they create, I am going to continue to sit out and choose other ways to reduce and reuse energy consumption.

If you’re thinking about solar for your own roof, ask the tough questions. What will I do if this happens to me? Can I afford to front tens of thousands of dollars to fix a problem like this? Do I want to deal with this level of stress for months and months? If you don’t have piles of money in the bank, perhaps just saying no for now is the right choice.

Technology continues to evolve. This may be one place to let it do just that for a little while longer until it is ready for prime time and mass consumption. We can and perhaps should all demand better before saying yes.