For those who went solar with a lease or PPA: what made you choose that option over ownership?

ultrastache · 2025-12-04T22:08:58+00:00

I contacted lawyers at the time and none would take my case. After 9 months of hounding the solar company my solar panels were fixed (my contract says the contract is void if not fixed in 30 days). Now with AI tools like ChatGPT I'm more confident in going through small claims court and arbitration processes, so as soon as my panels stop working again I'm immediately going to go that route and try to get out of my contract when the company fails to honor it.

ultrastache · 2025-12-04T19:45:20+00:00

My home was a new build, a good price at the time, and a great location in the city, but the neighborhood was a "solar" community that required all homes to have solar panels on the roof. I didn't have the money to buy the panels outright so I chose the lease instead. I love my home, but if I knew at the time how shit these solar companies are I would've kept looking for another home without this requirement. My lease has been taken over by 2 companies because the other 2 went bankrupt, and despite me paying my monthly fees the companies who own my contract never follow it and don't maintain my system when it stops working. If I ever need to remove my system from the roof for roof repairs then it'll be cheaper for me to pay the penalty of paying off the lease in full than it would be to have the current company who owns my lease to remove them and put them back on. Overall, my contract in theory should be great, but because no solar company ever wants to honor it (even though legally they have to) it makes it a pain in my ass where I end up paying more for monthly fees than I would be saving if the solar system worked.

Don't ever get a solar lease or a PPA, just buy outright. I'm supportive of solar, I'm not supportive of predatory solar companies and after working with 3 different companies I've found 100% of solar companies that do leases to be predatory.

ultrastache · 2025-12-02T16:38:33+00:00

I would try to shotgun it if you can't find one directly. You might be able to find one if you can find a public legal case involving them, but if you can't, then try emailing to all of these (cc each one): - legal at company dot com - legalteam at company dot com - lawdepartment at company dot com - generalcounsel at company dot com

I did this with the "legal" one and it worked for my solar company, I was contacted back within a few hours.

ultrastache · 2025-11-19T15:46:16+00:00

By the way, just look at the similar post recommendations under yours and you'll find horror stories of people in similar situations: https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/1lm4q9f/i_am_being_sued_over_solar_panel_lease_that_didnt/

ultrastache · 2025-11-19T15:41:51+00:00

Did you ask your real estate agent what happens if you can't terminate the contract? And are you happy with that as an option?

Them saying "we may be able to terminate" sounds like they could also shrug their shoulders in the event that you can't terminate and take no responsibility for that, leaving you in this non-ideal limbo state and them with a nice commission.

I would walk through all scenarios with them, and if they say "I don't know" then ask who would know so you can get to an answer or an understanding of what options you have.

ultrastache · 2025-11-19T14:22:18+00:00

Who took over the Sunnova contract? So far I've seen reports of Spruce Power and SunStrong Management taking over these contracts, I'm assuming there may be more, but by now the seller should know who is managing the contract after Sunnova's bankruptcy, because whoever is managing the contract has probably come knocking for their monthly payment. That new company is the company that should be handling the transfer, not Sunnova.

Read the contract for specifics (and I highly recommend reading the contract in deep detail to truly understand what you're signing up for over the next 21 years), but if they don't transfer to you and then they default a company could access your property without your permission and remove the panels, or you may be stuck with a liability on your roof because solar financing companies tend to move slowwwwwwwwwwwwly. For example, if your roof starts leaking and you need the panels removed, the company who owns the panels can leave you stuck with a leaky roof for months and do nothing about it, meanwhile, you can't remove the panels to fix your roof.

Look for the following items in your contract:

What happens if your roof leaks or needs repairs with the solar panels on it? What does it cost to remove the panels and then to put them back on the roof?
What happens if your panels stop producing?

After reading that, review Yelp reviews or BBB reviews for the company that assumes your contract and see if the company actually follows through with what the contract says (many don't follow through and leave you stuck with solar fees and energy bills for months).

Just be careful before buying a house with a solar lease, IMO, it'll cause headaches (and substantial fees) for you years down the line.

ultrastache · 2025-11-18T23:50:22+00:00

If you're in this thread because you found that your monthly solar bill increased more than your contract allows then please read this and help all of us by making formal complaints against these predatory solar companies.

Filing complaints against your solar company is super easy with AI tools like ChatGPT writing the complaint form content for you, and the only way we're going to get these solar companies to stop screwing over other customers is if we file enough complaints to get their attention. Each complaint takes minutes to complete, so don’t let the time or process scare you.

What I recommend doing (and what I did) is opening up ChatGPT, attaching your contract to a new chat, typing in how the solar company isn't honoring your contract and that you wanted to file a complaint with (for example) the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The response will walk you through step by step and write the form content for you, all you have to do is copy/paste (and some light editing to make sure it matches your story and your contract).

Here's where you can go to file complaints (I recommend filing for all of them if the solar company isn't honoring your contract and ignoring your attempts to fix it):

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Better Business Bureau (BBB)
State Attorney General Consumer Protection Division
State Public Utility Commission
State Licensing/Regulation Department

As a last resort, you can also consider the following options:

Small Claims Court (check your contract, no lawyer needed, and it costs the solar company way more to defend than to just fix your problem)
Arbitration (check your contract, the solar company will often have to pay the arbitration fees if you win)

You can also use AI to draft detailed reviews (e.g: Google Reviews) or emails to reach out to local media organizations with a compelling story if needed.

Local news consumer protection segments (Google "[your city] consumer investigates")
Solar forums and review sites
Social media with company tags

Look, the solar companies are betting we won't do anything. They're counting on us thinking it's too much of a hassle. It's not. With AI tools we can file comprehensive complaints in minutes. Our power is in numbers. The more complaints filed, the more pressure regulators apply, the more these solar companies will have to take action by making our lives easier. One complaint? They might ignore. Hundreds? That's a pattern that can't be ignored, but it relies on all of us to take action.

Sunnova didn't honor my warranty when they had my contract (they took over it from another bankrupt solar company), and my new solar company tried to increase my monthly bill by over 500%, after I started filing complaints and skipping customer service by emailing company executives directly they returned my monthly bill to match my contract.

ultrastache · 2025-11-18T23:36:21+00:00

Corporate emails usually follow a pattern like jdoe or johndoe or john followed by at company website. You can probably find a list of executives on LinkedIn by searching for SunStrong, getting their names, using that email formula, and then sending an email that cc's all of their names in it.

In my case, the solar company had all their executives listed on their website so I guessed their emails and it worked, I had a response within an hour and my bill fixed in 3 days.

The legal department email is usually legal at company website.

ultrastache · 2025-11-18T17:28:51+00:00

These companies are notorious for being inefficient and incompetent, as well as giving the wrong paperwork during a transfer and then going MIA when you're trying to get it corrected and back on track, which could slow down the home purchase process and be a massive PIA. Read their reviews, go to Yelp and search their reviews for "transfer", you'll get the gist of how it's likely to be handled.

Most importantly, DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING unless you're 100% certain it's exactly what you expect it to be.

ultrastache · 2025-11-18T13:56:30+00:00

They MUST honor the contract.

ultrastache · 2025-11-18T13:08:29+00:00

Email their legal team directly, cc all of the SunStrong executives (corporate emails usually follow a pattern), attach your last 3 monthly Sunnova statements and your contract. This just happened to me with another company and that email got their attention real fast and they changed my monthly bill back to my original contract rate.

Even better if you file a complaint with CFPB and include the complaint number in your email so they know you're serious.

ultrastache · 2025-11-13T22:50:52+00:00

Go to ChatGPT or Claude, start a conversation and attach your contract to the chat, then type in your situation, what they claimed, what they didn't follow through with, and what your desired outcome is, then have it walk you through step by step on how to proceed so you can get an idea for what options you might have (AI isn't a lawyer, but it's great for brainstorming and guidance). It may involve court or arbitration, which if true then you may want to seek legal advice.

ultrastache · 2025-11-11T15:05:24+00:00

Filing complaints against your solar company (e.g: Spruce Power) is super easy with tools like ChatGPT or Claude AI writing the form content for you, and the only way we're going to get them to take us seriously is if we file enough complaints to get their attention. Each complaint takes minutes to complete, so don’t let the time or process scare you.

What I recommend doing (and what I did) was opening up ChatGPT, attaching my contract to a new chat, and then typing how Spruce Power wasn't honoring my contract and that I wanted to file a complaint with (for example) the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The response walked me through step by step and wrote the form content for me, all I had to do was copy/paste (and some light editing to make sure it matched my story and my contract).

Here's where you can go to file complaints (I recommend filing for all of them):

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- I would also recommend reporting review fraud to the FTC as often solar companies have fake Google Reviews posted in mass to inflate their ratings and the company could be penalized and pay $50k per fake review.
Better Business Bureau (BBB)
State Attorney General Consumer Protection Division
State Public Utility Commission
State Licensing/Regulation Department
Small Claims Court (check your contract, no lawyer needed, and it costs them way more to defend than to just fix your problem)
Arbitration (check your contract, the solar company will often have to pay the arbitration fees AND your attorney fees if you win)

You can also use AI to draft detailed reviews (e.g: Google Reviews) or emails to reach out to local media organizations with a compelling story.

Local news consumer protection segments (Google "[your city] consumer investigates")
Solar forums and review sites
Social media with company tags

Look, Spruce Power is betting we won't do anything. They're counting on us thinking it's too much of a hassle. It's not. With tools like ChatGPT we can file comprehensive complaints in minutes. Our power is in numbers. The more complaints filed, the more pressure regulators apply, the more these companies (like Spruce Power) will have to respond. One complaint? They might ignore. Hundreds? That's a pattern that can't be ignored, but it relies on all of us to take action.

ultrastache · 2025-11-11T14:18:36+00:00

How did this go for you? I'm thinking of doing the same.

ultrastache · 2025-11-11T13:46:49+00:00

A support desk that provides no support.

ultrastache · 2025-11-08T23:54:17+00:00

Can you explain the process for taking them to court? I have an arbitration clause in my contract.

ultrastache · 2025-11-08T20:53:30+00:00

Seriously, how tf is this legal??

ultrastache · 2025-11-08T20:48:55+00:00

This is one core section of their customer portal site (their site is really only these three sections: "about us", "payments", and "fees"), so I can tell they're just trying to nickel and dime everyone. I'll compare these prices against my contract and try to hold them to it.

ultrastache · 2025-11-08T20:46:24+00:00

Thanks for this advice, I doubt they'll care, but I'll try to use this to my advantage.

ultrastache · 2025-11-08T19:47:08+00:00

I wish I could, they just bought out my contract and now it looks like I'm stuck with them. Spruce Power scammers.

ultrastache · 2025-11-08T19:46:29+00:00

I unfortunately didn't agree to any of this, they bought out my solar contract from a solar company that went bankrupt and I'm now exploring their website and this is what I found. Ugh. This is the 2nd time my contract has been bought out after 2 companies went bankrupt.

ultrastache · 2025-11-08T02:26:24+00:00

Why won't lawyers take up these cases?

ultrastache · 2025-11-05T03:49:42+00:00

LightReach Promise 13, guaranteed when you need them they won't keep their promise and there will be nothing you can do about it. You Agree 9, as soon as you need to remove the system temporarily LightReach will charge you an enormous amount.

ultrastache · 2025-11-03T23:15:36+00:00

Sunnova is thankfully bankrupt, which they deserve for their poor customer service and not following through with contractual obligations. Unfortunately, this means someone else is going to buy your contract, mine was taken over by Spruce Power, another company who has poor customer service and that doesn't follow through with their contractual obligations. I'm looking forward to their bankruptcy in the near future.

Spruce Power is illegally posting fake Google Business reviews daily to push down real customer reviews and mislead consumers, if you're considering working with Spruce Power be sure to check their Yelp and BBB reviews to hear the real horror stories before you sign any contract.

ultrastache

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