In December 2022, a door-to-door salesman knocked on Emanuel Minto’s door in Northeast Philadelphia. Minto, then 89, a Jamaican immigrant and retired machinist, was told about a government program that helped senior citizens cut their electric bills. It would cost about $20,000, the salesman said, but the payments would only run about $100 a month over 20 years, and his bill would drop by half.
There was no such government program. As NPR reported, Minto’s actual monthly payments came out to roughly four times what he says he was promised. He had no computer and no email address, so the salesman created one for him and, per the lawsuit Minto later filed, forged his signature on an electronic contract. His granddaughter found the contract months later when she got into the email account. The only messages in the inbox were from the solar installer and the lender.
A lien was placed on his paid-off home to secure a loan of nearly $50,000.
“I will die before I could pay this off,” Minto told NPR.
The sales company involved, Graysquare Solar, disputes many of the facts in the case. Its owner told NPR he feels he is the one being defrauded. The lender, Solar Mosaic, said it disputes the allegations. Minto’s attorney, Andy Milz, told NPR he has handled more than 100 cases like it.
Solar is a good product. We install it. But the sales side of the residential solar industry has a real problem, and Pennsylvania homeowners are squarely in its path.
This Is Not One Bad Apple
The numbers tell the story. As of NPR’s 2024 reporting, complaints to the FTC containing the word “solar” had quadrupled in four years. One-star reviews on SolarReviews had jumped more than eleven-fold since 2018. Residential solar installations over that same stretch grew about two and a half times. Complaints are growing several times faster than the industry itself.
Attorneys general have taken notice:
- Connecticut, July 2024. AG William Tong sued Sunrun and two companies it worked with, Bright Planet and Elevate Solar, alleging forged signatures, impersonation of customers on confirmation calls, unpermitted work, and non-functioning systems. In one case, salespeople allegedly signed a household up for a 25-year lease after both the father and daughter had said no. Tong called the complaints “beyond shocking.”
- Connecticut, earlier that year. Tong’s office also went after Vision Solar LLC, a New Jersey company that operated in Pennsylvania too, over high-pressure tactics, misrepresentations, and unpermitted work. He called its practices “far and away the worst we have seen.” Vision Solar later filed Chapter 7, and a separate class action brought by 18 homeowners included plaintiffs from Pennsylvania.
- New York, March 2026. AG Letitia James sued Attyx, formerly SUNco, alleging a scheme that generated nearly $275 million in New York alone off more than 200 customer complaints. The pitch: free roofing, HVAC, and other home improvements if the company could put solar on your roof. If someone offers you a free roof in exchange for solar, that is the pitch a state attorney general is now litigating over.
- Minnesota. The AG sued four solar lenders, including GoodLeap, Dividend Solar Finance, Sunlight Financial, and Solar Mosaic, over hidden upfront fees. EnergySage data cited in the same NPR report found that in the second half of 2023, fees on the most popular solar loan averaged 47 percent of the installation cost. The companies dispute the allegations.
If the storm-chaser pattern sounds familiar, it should. It is the same playbook that shows up in roofing after every major weather event, just with a 25-year contract attached.
Six Ways Out-of-State Solar Companies Specifically Fail Pennsylvania Homeowners
1. They don’t know our patchwork of local jurisdictions
Pennsylvania has 2,560 municipalities, according to the Department of Community and Economic Development: 956 boroughs, roughly 1,547 townships, plus cities and towns. Each one handles permitting and inspections its own way. A rep trained in Arizona has no idea how a permit moves through your township. That shows up as delays, failed inspections, and rework.
2. They have no relationships with our utilities
Getting a system switched on means clearing interconnection with your electric distribution company, and the process differs across PECO, PPL, Duquesne Light, Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power, and West Penn. Interconnection and net metering enrollment are two separate authorizations under 52 Pa. Code Chapter 75. Miss one and your panels sit on the roof producing nothing. Homeowners in the Vision Solar litigation alleged exactly that, paying for systems that were never connected to the grid.
3. They misquote our energy credit market
Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards require utilities to source 0.5 percent of electricity from solar. Your system earns one SREC per 1,000 kWh produced, and those credits are sellable. But PA SRECs have recently traded in roughly the $22 to $40 range, nowhere near what higher-value markets like New Jersey or Maryland fetch. Reps unfamiliar with PA routinely quote the wrong number.
4. They price like they’re in California
National companies often carry pricing built around West Coast costs and incentives. The result is Keystone State homeowners paying thousands more than a fair local quote.
5. They subcontract the install
The rep who made the promises is not the crew on your roof, and there is frequently no clear line between them. That gap is where quality problems and finger-pointing live.
6. They leave
This is the one that hurts most, and it is not hypothetical. Titan Solar Power stopped operating June 13, 2024, and filed Chapter 7 a week later. SunPower, founded in 1985 and one of the largest residential installers in the country, filed Chapter 11 on August 5, 2024. Its assets were bought and the brand relaunched, but the new company explicitly did not assume responsibility for systems installed on or before September 30, 2024. If your system predates that, nobody at that name is obligated to service it. Customers of Chapter 7 liquidations like Titan and Vision Solar lost their warranties outright and, as unsecured creditors, typically recover nothing.
Pennsylvania Law Gives You More Protection Than You Probably Realize
Under the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, any home improvement contract over $500 in Pennsylvania must be in writing and must include the contractor’s PA registration number, legal name and address, start and estimated completion dates, scope of work, total price and payment schedule, and a three-day cancellation notice.
Two things worth committing to memory:
- You can verify whether a contractor is registered with the Office of Attorney General by calling 1-888-520-6680. Do this before you sign anything.
- You have three business days to cancel. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that you can exercise that right through any medium, by phone, in writing, or in person, as long as the contractor has actual notice. You do not need a letter.
Ask These Before You Sign
- What is your Pennsylvania HICPA registration number?
- Who physically installs the system, your employees or a subcontractor?
- Who do I call in year seven when an inverter fails, and is that agreement with you directly?
- What is the total amount financed, the APR, and the dealer fee built into the price?
- What SREC value are you quoting me, and where did that number come from?
- Which municipality will you pull the permit from, and have you pulled one there before?
- How old is my roof, and what happens to the panels when it needs replacing?
That last question is the one almost nobody asks.
The Roof Comes First
Panels last 25 years or more. If your roof has seven years left, you will eventually pay to have the entire array removed and reinstalled before the shingles can be replaced. It is a real project with a real cost, and it is worth understanding before you sign anything.
A solar-only company has little reason to raise this. A company that does both roofs and solar has every reason to. If you are unsure where your roof stands, our repair-or-replace decision framework walks through how to tell, and our step-by-step guide to roof replacement covers what the work actually involves.
Why Local Actually Matters
At Topp Home, we are in Dauphin, York, Lancaster, Lebanon, and Berks counties every week. We pull permits in these townships, we work with these utilities, and we handle roofing, siding, windows, doors, gutters, and solar under one company. Same team for the sale, the install, and the service call in year eight. Our reputation here is not portable, which is exactly the point.
Schedule a free consultation and price quote today.
