Help arriving for Arizona solar customers in limbo

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — In previous On Your Side reports, we explained how SunPower Solar’s bankruptcy last year left its leasing customers without a way to get their systems repaired. Now there’s a new company in charge, but customers are still experiencing frustration when trying to get help.

Alicia Armstrong and her family had solar panels installed by SunPower about eight years ago. They’ve been very happy with the system because their AC bill was slashed for their 3,000-square-foot Surprise home.

“Ten months out of the year, it’s like $36 a month,” Armstrong said.

Then, last April, they ran into problems. A storm hit and the roof leaked right where the solar panels were attached. Repair crews had to remove the panels from one section of the roof and disconnect the system in order to fix the leak.

Once the work was done, SunPower was set to come out and reinstall the panels, getting the system up and running again. But they never showed up.

“Our appointment was scheduled September 25th,” Armstrong said. “And on September 24th, we got an email that canceled our service appointment to reinstall everything.”

They weren’t given an explanation, but it all made sense a week later when SunPower filed for bankruptcy protection. That left customers like Armstrong, who are leasing the panels, stuck without repairs for a non-working solar system.

As a result, she says her electric bill spiked to pre-solar costs, sometimes topping $500 a month. All the while, she had to continue making those monthly lease payments.

Then, late last year, SunPower’s leasing business was taken over by a company called SunStrong Management. Now SunStrong is responsible for taking care of solar systems like Alicia’s.

But the Surprise homeowner says getting in touch with the company has been almost impossible.

“There’s been zero communication,” she said. “If somebody would reach out to us, give us a date, acknowledge something, then that would at least slightly help. But it’s very frustrating.”

So, On Your Side reached out to SunStrong and we spoke with CEO Brendon Merkley.

“We learned there was a lot of neglected maintenance and just general customer neglect from SunPower leading up to their bankruptcy,” he told us.

SunStrong has been building a nationwide network of service companies that are familiar with the systems, and the company says it has repaired more than 3,000 systems in the past few months.

Merkley acknowledges plenty of repair orders, like the Armstrongs,’ likely fell through the cracks in the transfer between companies. He says the Armstrongs can expect a call in the next couple of days to get their system up and running again.

That’s welcome news to Armstrong, who says she’s glad she contacted On Your Side to get things done.

“We’re just a hard-working family,” she said. “We just don’t want to have to pay for something that we’re not receiving service for. And then we’re being forced to pay high electricity bills on top of that. It’s just infuriating.”

So if you have a leased system now owned by SunStrong and you’re waiting for repairs, the company says it is wrapping up repairs on the highest-priority problems. If you are still waiting to hear from the company on your repair request, they suggest you resubmit that request, and they’ll work to get those repairs scheduled.

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