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Solar panels are seen on the roof of the West Dallas Branch Library in an aerial view on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Dallas, TX. 256 solar panels were installed on the city building in 2022.<\/p>\n
Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
The science of rooftop solar panels made sense. It began a few years back. Put solar panels on your home\u2019s roof, watch your electric bill decrease and help protect the environment.<\/p>\n
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Then humans had to come in and ruin<\/a> it.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n How? Here are victims of solar schemes<\/a> in their own words, courtesy of pro-consumer group, Texas Appleseed<\/a>, which collects victim statements<\/a>:<\/p>\n Legally blind<\/p>\n D.P. of Fayette County: \u201cThe salesman came to my mother\u2019s house and convinced her she would save money on her electric bills, and the government would pay for solar panels if she qualified.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cNo mention of a cost to her throughout the entire process. She is 90 years old and is very confused about the whole ordeal. She had no computer, no email account and is legally blind. Yet somehow she ended up with a debt of $56,930.43. The salesman created an email account on her phone without her knowledge and was using it to DocuSign documents.\u201d<\/p>\n A double amputee<\/p>\n From Houston. G.C. is 77 years old. \u201cA door-to-door salesperson said that the solar panels were free through a government and would also save her money on her electric bill. None of those benefits panned out. After the panels were installed, she learned that she owed $50,000 on a 25-year loan. She felt tricked. She\u2019s a double amputee and is struggling with the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n Terminally ill<\/p>\n From Joshua. \u201cHe was terminally ill and in hospice care. His adult daughter tried to stop workers installing solar panels and was told they had a contract. After his death, his daughter discovered a 25-year loan contract for $60,000. The company says they do not allow dealers to sell to a consumer who is unable to fully understand terms of the contract (language barriers, health or other evident conditions). But his family wondered how he could sign the contract in his state of illness.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAfter he passed away, the family stopped paying the loan. So the company filed a lien on the property. As a result, the family was struggling to sell the property.\u201d<\/p>\n Signed blank page<\/p>\n From Garland. \u201cShe was considering solar panels and met with a salesperson. During the pitch, she was asked to sign a blank tablet screen authorizing a credit check. She eventually decided against getting solar panels.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cAround two years later, she discovered that a solar lending company had put a lien on her home and claimed she owed $97,000. The installation company said they canceled the contract, but the lender kept attempting to collect.\u201d<\/p>\n Illiterate victim<\/p>\n From Dallas. \u201cTook advantage of our elderly grandmother, who is low income who can\u2019t even read or write. They conned her into buying solar panels on a house that is so old it\u2019s falling apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe salesman didn\u2019t tell her his real name. He got all her personal information and even tried to get all her checking account information. She was tricked into a 25-year-loan for $43,000, That\u2019s not including the interest, and she\u2019s 79 years old. Now she has a lien against her house and her health has worsened since this scam.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “No cost”<\/p>\n From Hunt County. \u201cThe salesperson said there was \u2018no cost\u2019 and she will have money \u2018in her pocket.\u2019 She is elderly and gets confused. She does not remember signing anything, but her name is on a 20-year bank loan. The solar panels are not producing as they were advertised, and as a result, she now has two bills \u2013 one for electricity and one for the loan.\u201d<\/p>\n Forged signature<\/p>\n From Hidalgo County. \u201cThey told us we did not qualify due to our roof not passing inspection. Then we got letters from the court. I went to the court, and they told us that we had to pay thousands of dollars for panels we don\u2019t even have. They had forged my signature. I don\u2019t speak English or write.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “No luck”<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n From\u00a0Kerr County. \u201cThe sales rep told me \u2018you will no longer have an electric bill.\u2019 After installation, I was still getting an electric bill. My signature had been forged and a false email I have never seen was listed as my account email. I have had no luck speaking to anyone about the $45,000 loan.\u201d<\/p>\n As these stories show, the problem was never the panels. Sunlight is free. It was the salespeople who messed it up.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In my next Watchdog column, I\u2019ll show whether Texas turned its back on solar swindles \u2013 or worked to protect us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Solar panels are seen on the roof of the West Dallas Branch Library in an aerial view on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-237290","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775016909_917_rawImage.jpg\" "\\"#\\"")
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