NC among 9 states asking solar lenders to suspend Pink Energy customer payments

N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein and eight other state attorneys general are asking solar lending companies to suspend loan payments and interest for Pink Energy customers.

On Tuesday, Stein and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron led a coalition of nine attorneys general asking five lenders to assist Pink Energy customers who are having functionality and installation problems. The other states signing the letter are Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

“Pink Energy failed to deliver what it promised customers, and now these customers are on the hook for payments for a system that doesn’t work,” Stein said in a statement. “As I continue my investigation into Pink Energy, I’m asking these lenders to do the right thing and help lessen some of the financial burdens that Pink Energy customers are facing.”

The letter, sent to five solar lenders who financed solar power system purchases from Pink Energy, are Dividend Solar Finance, GoodLeap and Solar Mosaic of California, Cross River Bank of New Jersey and Sunlight Financial in New York.

The request comes after the Mooresville-based solar company Pink Energy, also known as Power Home Solar, abruptly closed in October and filed for liquidation bankruptcy amid mounting lawsuits and complaints, The Charlotte Observer previously reported. Stein and a growing list of other state attorneys general have been investigating the company for allegedly violating consumer protection laws.

The AGs letter to lenders

In the three-page letter to solar lenders, the attorneys general say Pink Energy customers are stuck making loan payments for a solar power system that underperforms or doesn’t work. Pink Energy made “false representations regarding the systems’ capabilities and anticipated electric bill reduction,” the letter states.

Pink Energy customers also say the company misrepresented state or federal tax credits eligibility that could be used toward the loans forcing increased monthly payments, according to the attorneys general.

“As a result of Pink’s alleged misconduct, numerous affected consumers throughout our jurisdictions have been placed in financial hardship,” the letter states. “Given your companies’ role in these transactions, and now that Pink has filed for bankruptcy, we believe your companies are in the best position to provide immediate relief to impacted consumers in our respective jurisdictions.”

Pink Energy’s fall, lawsuit

Pink Energy’s growing eight-year-old business had been cut in half, CEO Jayson Waller told the Observer in August. The solar company had been overwhelmed by customer complaints going from 800 a month to 30,000.

At the start of the year, Pink Energy had more than 2,100 employees in 16 states. In September, Pink Energy laid off 500 employees, including 81 jobs in North Carolina, the Observer reported. Those job cuts followed two prior rounds of layoffs in mid-May and mid-August affecting 600 jobs.

Waller blamed Pink Energy’s demise on its former business partner. In August, Pink Energy sued Wisconsin-based Generac Power Systems claiming its SnapRS device used in Pink Energy’s solar panels since 2020 failed, causing house fires in South Carolina, Virginia and Ohio.

Generac, however, blames the SnapRS problem on bad installation by Pink Energy, the Observer reported.

This story was originally published November 23, 2022 at 12:15 PM.