PROVIDENCE – A local solar company and its top executive are being sued by the state for allegedly violating the state’s deceptive trade practice act and engaging in unfair and deceptive practices targeting solar panel consumers within Rhode Island.
R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced Wednesday that Smart Green Solar LLC, based in the city, and its CEO, Jasjit Gotra, allegedly made unsolicited sales pitches about residential solar panels to customers by going door to door, according to a complaint filed Wednesday with R.I. Superior Court. Neronha alleges Smart Green Solar’s salespeople were trained to mislead customers guaranteeing them that they would receive the Residential Clean Energy Tax Credit for up to 30% of the purchase price of the solar panels. The salespeople, Neronha alleges, described the credit as an “I-owe-you” or “down payment” from the federal government.
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Neronha also alleges that Smart Green Solar works with third-party lenders to deceptively structure financing arrangements with low initial payments. These payments, he alleges, would balloon to 133% of the initial payment amounts if customers fail to pay off 30% of the total loan amount within 18 months.
“Consumers who were told they were financing a solar panel system for no money down at a locked-in rate are now faced with either paying potentially tens of thousands of dollars to their lender or paying a much higher than expected price per month for their energy,” Neronha said in a statement.
The complaint also alleges one visually impaired customer who paid for 33 solar panels to be installed only had 21 installed. Smart Green Solar did not notify the customer on the issue “for months” after they were installed and not until Neronha’s office intervened, Neronha alleges.
Customers also reported to Neronha’s office that they had difficulty obtaining from Smart Green Solar contracts they signed with the company for the panels, with some saying it took weeks and multiple requests to get the contracts, Neronha alleges.
Neronha is seeking from the court an order requiring Smart Green Solar to cease misleading customers, immediately provide paper contracts to customers and pay restitution to harmed customers, he said.
This is not the first time that Gotra has been in hot water legally, according to Neronha. He said that in March 2020, Gotra and a previous company – Alliance Security Inc. – were each fined $9.85 million in civil penalties by the Federal Trade Commission for illegal telemarketing and illegally obtaining consumer credit reports.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
