4 states jump on investigations of troubled NC company as consumer complaints grow

A North Carolina solar energy company, already battling a wave of consumer complaints, suddenly shut down and also is the target of investigations by North Carolina and three other states.

On Sunday, Pink Energy CEO Jayson Waller said on LinkedIn that the eight-year-old Mooresville company has permanently closed, blaming former business partner Generac for solar equipment failure that led to “rampant consumer discontent.”

Last week, attorneys general in North Carolina, Ohio, Missouri and Virginia confirmed they were investigating complaints about Pink Energy.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein’s office told The Charlotte Observer it has received 270 complaints about the company. No other details about the case were disclosed.

On Sept. 26, the Ohio Attorney General’s office filed a complaint against Pink Energy in Cuyahoga County court, alleging high-pressure sales, shoddy work, warranty issues, false and misleading statements, and evading legal obligations. Since January 2020, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has received over 100 consumer complaints, according to the state.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit against Pink Energy, alleging “false promises and misrepresentations, used deception and even concealed material facts from consumers,” St. Louis TV station KMOV4 reported.

The attorney general’s office in Virginia also is investigating Pink Energy, after receiving about 54 consumer complaints following its sudden shutdown, according to Richmond TV station 8News.

Pink Energy did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

‘We exhausted all avenues’

The company’s sudden demise is the latest twist in the saga of the solar company that had served 35,000 residential solar customers in 16 states, including about 5,700 homes in North Carolina.

Pink Energy had been rapidly growing, including opening a Charlotte office in June with about 150 employees at 8711 University East Drive. Other North Carolina offices were in Concord, Raleigh and Fayetteville.

But equipment failure had affected over 10,000 customers, Waller said, costing Pink Energy about $50 million in services and resources.

“We exhausted all avenues to find a way forward that would allow us to service all past, present and future customers,” Waller said, “and are devastated that we can’t do so.”

Lawsuit, layoffs preceded abrupt closure

In August, Pink Energy, formerly known as Power Home Solar, sued Wisconsin-based Generac Power Systems in federal court in Virginia, citing negligence, breach of contract and other claims against its former business partner, The Charlotte Observer had reported.

Generac’s devices, called SnapRS, that were used in Pink Energy’s solar panels since 2020 had failed, causing house fires in South Carolina, Virginia and Ohio, according to the lawsuit’s claims.

The switches, which are supposed to cut off electricity to individual solar panels in case of lightning strikes or power surges, melted or exploded, according to the complaint.

On Sept. 12, Pink Energy laid off 500 employees. The layoffs, including 81 jobs in North Carolina, were companywide in 16 states, company spokesman Roger Kuznia told The Charlotte Observer.

Those job cuts followed two prior rounds of layoffs in mid-May and mid-August affecting 600 jobs.

Pink Energy had over 2,100 employees at the start of the year before all the layoffs, Waller told The Charlotte Observer last month.

The business was cut in half, Waller said, because Pink Energy had been swamped with complaints from unhappy customers this year, going from a typical 800 a month to 30,000.

Generac’s response

Generac, which has been in operation for 60 years, blamed the SnapRS problem on bad product installation by Pink Energy.

“Instead of helping expedite the resolution of their customer complaints, they asked Generac to solely assume this responsibility,” the company said in a statement to The Observer on Monday. “By their inflammatory public statements and the lawsuit, we believe Pink Energy may be hoping to distract customers from the many complaints and allegations that reportedly have been leveled against them.”

Customers who need help with Generac components can reach out to Generac about them, the company said.

1,200 BBB complaints against Pink Energy in NC

Pink Energy has “a pattern of complaints,” Better Business Bureau of Southern Piedmont and Western said on its website. Those complaints were over product and sales practice issues, as well as customer service complaints, BBB said.

There have been over 1,200 complaints filed against Pink Energy in North Carolina, including 855 in the past year, according to the BBB website.

In May and August, the BBB said it was working with Pink Energy to resolve the issues. Efforts to reach the BBB on Monday were unsuccessful.

Federal lawsuits against Pink Energy

Pink Energy also has been the target of more than a dozen federal lawsuits since mid-July.

Owens Corning alleged trademark violations in Pink Energy’s use of pink when it changed its name this year.

A Massachusetts firm claimed Pink Energy owes more than $270,000 for equipment it bought from March through May.

Meanwhile, homeowners across Ohio have filed almost identical 26-page federal lawsuits against the company and Waller.

The 12 complaints all claim that Pink Energy used high-pressure tactics to sell them exorbitantly priced home solar units that were poorly installed and serviced, and failed to come close to providing the savings Pink Energy promised on home energy bills.

Also named as a defendant in the filings is a California financial company that provided the loans for the purchases.

The suits – filed between July 14 and Aug. 24 – accuse Pink Energy of breach of contract, fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, negligence, violations of the Consumer Protection Act, and civil conspiracy, among other claims.

The complaints all were filed by Canton, Ohio, attorneys Stacie Roth, Sean Steward and Robert Tscholl, who did not respond to a Charlotte Observer email Monday seeking comment.

This story was originally published October 4, 2022 at 6:15 AM.