The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office says a solar energy firm pays a judgment of greater than $220,000 in a shopper safety case.
The judgment was entered in opposition to Design 1 Group LLC, a solar energy gross sales and set up firm, for partaking in misleading practices and practices beneath the Kansas Consumer Protection Act. The DA’s Office mentioned the corporate violated state legislation by making false representations within the issuance of permits, making false representations in coordinating and scheduling inspections, improperly set up of shopper photo voltaic programs, failure to put in correct gear required by Evergy for electrical connection. grid, did not disclose the impact of photo voltaic panel orientation on vitality financial savings, and different fraudulent practices.
The court docket ordered Design 1 Group to pay $106,780 in restitution to shoppers and $110,000 in civil penalties, together with court docket prices and investigative charges. The court docket additionally prohibited the corporate from partaking in all enterprise in Kansas until correctly licensed and solely after acquiring the mandatory permits.
The DA’s Office has recommendation for shoppers purchasing for a solar energy system, and they need to contemplate a number of points:
1) System Life and Transfer: How lengthy do I plan to remain in my house? (Most photo voltaic programs are designed to remain on a house for at the very least 20 years). If I transfer, will the contract switch? How will the photo voltaic system have an effect on the worth of the home if I determine to promote? If the system is financed, will a property tax lien forestall me from promoting my house till the mortgage is paid off?
2) Costs: What is the true value of a photo voltaic system? How can I pay the system? Do I perceive how and after I can obtain any rebates or tax credit supplied?
3) Advantages: Do I perceive the vitality output of the photo voltaic system and what’s the offset it supplies? Do I perceive how the system saves energy? Do I perceive which route the photo voltaic panels ought to face for optimum vitality era? (The south is the perfect. The north is the worst.)
4) Seller/Warranties: Is the vendor correctly licensed? Do early buyer evaluations of the photo voltaic firm counsel they stand behind their programs? Do I do know the mandatory steps to be taken by Evergy to connect with {the electrical} grid? Do I perceive the system upkeep necessities and guarantee protection? Who is chargeable for harm to the photo voltaic system from excessive climate and different sources? What about roof substitute if the roof is broken however the photo voltaic panels nonetheless work?
