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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Surprised solar customers find themselves with liens

Jeff Leeds says installing SolarCity’s panels on the roof of his home in the Northern California city of El Granada was the sorriest day of his life.

Agreeing to the company’s 20-year lease was like partnering with the devil, he claims. He says he has endured skyrocketing electric bills, installation of an inferior system and contract violations because SolarCity refuses to clean the panels or to provide a payment for his system’s poor performance.

The latest surprise: a notice from his bank telling him that SolarCity had placed a lien on his home, and that his equity line of credit application could not proceed until the lien was removed.

“I was totally surprised by this and very pissed off,” Leeds said. “When I talked to the bank they told me it was a lien. I had to pay the bank a $48 fee for removal. They held me up from closing my loan to buy a vacation home so I had to borrow from another account. It cost me time in calls to both Wells Fargo and to SolarCity.”

SolarCity say it’s not a lien, but a “fixture filing” that stakes the company’s claim to the panels, which it owns if consumers have taken part in its popular lease program. Owning the solar electricity-generating system allows SolarCity to claim lucrative state and federal subsidies available only to system owners. SolarCity has received approximately $500 million in tax subsidies and grants over the years.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't this the outfit that lil' Jimmie and the rubberstamps ( an excellent name for a parody band, if I do say so myself ) are hearing a presentation from this week? This usually means it's a done deal. I personally strongly support renewables, but am completely confident that if a deal can be f**ked up and boondoggled, this is the administration that can do it!

Anonymous said...

Solar benefits the few at the expense of many. It is a money switch spawned from greed not green energy. Follow the money...

Anonymous said...

Probably 10:25. Salisbury mayors are known for having a turd for a brain and falling for snake oil. Just think back to that dopey broad Berry Tillman the last mayor falling for some Rube Goldberg waste water treatment plant design and what that cost the tax payers. I watched this latest mayor pontificating about something to do with the fire houses the other day and one thing is certain-he can not possible strike anyone as having it anywhere near together.

ginn said...

If only energy conscience Americans would pressure for gov't research (Grants, etc.) and implementation of both LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reaction) and Overunity Electric Generation (Zero Point) these snakeoil salesman pedaling, pathetic by any comparison to LENR or ZP, wind & solar would be out of work. And, rightfully so, too.
Numerous 50+kw/h output Oveunity generators have been demonstrated, running for great stretches of time with no external input whatsoever. Imaging an Overunity generator where your DPL or REA meter is providing you virtually free electricity and that same type of unit in your car/SUV.
Andrea Rossi’s E-Cat LENR cold fusion device has just been successfully replicated in the Soviet Union with astounding results. Imagine a unit the size of a suitcase right next to your Overunity genset heating & cooling your house for pennies a day.
However, few people take the time to understand either of these two extremely promising alternative energies. Meanwhile, in the wings, we have academics and gov'ts outright refusing to even consider them (..because they 'violate laws of physics' and can't exist). Yet, they do exist and are working.
Here's a quote from oilprice dot com, "These scientists who engage in demoralizing, dismissive and character assassination and destruction have done far more harm than any collection of ‘scammers’ anyone might choose to propose."
And another., "It's the reason Saudi Arabia is acting in desperation... depressing oil prices... and even risking internal unrest. Their (and OPEC’s) very survival is being threatened." The latter is addressing OPEC's concern over the LENR & Overunity competition that is looming on the horizon.
Not only OPEC but all energy business including your federal gov't(DOE) are in deep concern. They're suppressing any movement that they can., all in the name of the almighty dollar for the 1%ers. It's sickening....

Anonymous said...

Well put 1:22. For clarification, I do not include Mr Spies as a rubberstamper.