Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/10/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Rabosolar own the solar panels on my roof. They produce electric and I am supposed to get a credit for the electric produced, on our electric bill. For the last 13 months we have not received our credit. Complained to Rabosolar many times. The push me off by saying they need more time.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/19/2023

  Dear BBB and Customer:

  While we appreciate the customer's frustration and confusion (perhaps) about how the solar system works, the complaint filed is completely baseless and without merit.

  There are 2 overall themes that are worth sharing in addressing the complaint.

  The first theme is that having a rooftop residential solar system does not guaranty that your utility bill will be zero or even better, negative.  If a customer consumes more than the system produces for a given month, then the customer will have to pay the utility for the net usage.  For example, put very simplistically, if a customer consumes 500 KWH of power per month, but the solar system only produces 200 KWH, the customer will owe the utility the 300 KWH of usage.  In this case, if the solar system is leased, the customer will owe both a solar lease payment and a utility payment.  

  This happens to be the case with this customer.  This customer is simply consuming more than the system is producing.  If the solar system were not there, this customer would be consuming on average about 580 KWH more brown power per month from his utility and his utility bill would be materially higher.  We know that because this customer's system produces approx. ***** per year.  This has been the case for more than 10 years and continues to be the case based on current run rate.

  The second theme is each of our solar lessee customers is required to have a working internet connection for ********, our highly experienced and highly regarded service provider, to properly maintain and monitor the system.

  Let ** preface what we're about to say with this:  this customer's system has been and continues to be a healthy system and quite frankly, a "rock-star" of a system since it was installed in 2012.  The system repeatedly overproduces by about 15-20% per year vs. expectations, which is quite remarkable.  For 10 years, we have had no issues whatsoever with this system and zero complaints from the previous homeowner.  That is simply because it's a great system and it had a proper internet connection.  All that changed when this customer moved into the home is early 2022 and the solar lease was transferred.  While we are not sure what exactly happened, it is clear in hindsight that the internet connection was altered.  Without getting into all the details and notes we have on this, ******** reached out to the homeowner in April 2022 to troubleshoot what they saw as a "non-comm" (no communication) error.  For several months after that, ******** went back and forth with the homeowner in attempts to resolve the issue.  On multiple occasions, they could not reach the homeowner.  On other occasions, the homeowner admitted he himself was having internet connection issues. 

  To make a long story short, when internet connection was finally restored, ******** was able to deduce that the homeowner needed a brand-new solar meter.  Rabosolar approved the new meter and associated work in early 2023 and in March 2023, the new meter was installed.  This work was very expensive and cost Rabosolar (and its partners) thousands of dollars.  But we are the lessor and that is our responsibility, and like we do for all our customers, we took care of it.

  Of course, for about a year, there was no measurement of his solar power, but that is simply because of the combination of lack of good internet connection and a faulty solar meter.  THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS SYSTEM WORKING!!  Having a broken solar meter is akin to having a broken odometer on a car.  A car will drive without a working odometer just like a solar system will do its job and function without a working solar meter.  You might ask, 'but how do you know that?  How do you know it was working when it appears that there was no production during this "non-comm" period.  We know this because the moment the new meter was installed (properly I might add), his system went back to being fully healthy and overproducing again vs. expectations (just like it is today).  If we had reinstalled the new meter and noticed new alerts coming up or zero generation continuing, then that would be an entirely different issue.  That would indicate an ongoing mechanical problem or failure with the system and there would be further work to explore on our end.  Please note, if this were the case (for example, customer had an inverter failure), the customer would be able to make a dollar claim against Rabosolar for reimbursement of lost solar power and yes, we do and would honor that claim.

  However, this is not the case here.  This customer's system is working great, overproducing in fact, and ******** is back being able to monitor it appropriately.

  Rabosolar has spoken to the customer directly and explained all of this.

  Regards,

  Rabsolar I Customer Support

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/24/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  The supplier has contacted me and they have taken my compliant seriously. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************