A Las Vegas woman who spent tens of thousands of dollars to install solar panels on her home had to jump through multiple hoops after she realized there was a massive problem.
According to KLAS-TV, Eve Kaganovitch had the panels installed on the roof of her home in the Hillcrest Manor neighborhood of the Las Vegas Valley.
Kaganovitch paid $73,584 for the solar panel system, KLAS reported. Her monthly payment on the loan she received for the panels was about $260.
In the summer months, Kaganovitch said her power bill dropped to about $13 per month. But in the fall and winter, she said it went up as high as $200 or more per month.
A simple look at the solar panels showed her the problem: They were being shaded by trees that were already in her yard at the time of installation.
“These trees have been here for 30 years,” Kaganovitch said. “No source of sunlight during the fall and winter months in order to produce any energy for me and therefore, I’m incurring all of the costs of the power bill about half of the year.”
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Kaganovitch told KLAS she had partnered with both LGCY Power and Titan Solar Power on the project.
She said LGCY Power designed the solar plan and Titan Solar Power did the installation work.
Would you take out a loan well over $50,000 for solar panels?
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When she realized the solar setup had been installed under trees and therefore was not working properly, Kaganovitch said she contacted both companies and asked them to move the panels to a part of the roof where they could get adequate sunlight.
However, she told KLAS, both companies continued to blame each other for the mistake and did not fix the problem for months.
Barrow County, Georgia, homeowner Daniel Stancea said he experienced a similar problem. He told WAGA-TV he paid North Carolina-based installer Pink Energy $82,203 for 27 solar panels, three Generac batteries and their installation last year.
Stancea said he operates the Dee Kennedy Senior Center on the first floor of his home, and the system worked to power it until earlier this year.
He said he began seeing constant error messages on the main Generac panel in March, and he is only getting a small portion of solar power in his home.
“When the power goes down and I don’t have electricity for the residents, I’m scrambling,” Stancea explained. “[Pink Energy] kept saying they’re sorry and they apologize. They’re very apologetic but they’re not doing anything about it.”
Pink Energy is blaming Generac for the problem. In fact, the company is suing Generac in federal court and accusing it of shipping defective equipment, WAGA reported. Meanwhile, Stancea’s issue has not been resolved.
In Kaganovitch’s case, she reached out to investigators from KLAS and asked for help.
“I just want [the panels] relocated,” Kaganovitch said.
At first, KLAS experienced similar difficulties when attempting to get the issue resolved.
“Repeated attempts to reach both companies on the phone revealed it was difficult to reach a human,” the outlet reported. “Emails were returned, however. Both companies provided lengthy responses and appeared to blame each other.”
In one statement shared by KLAS, LGCY said it used to have a business relationship with Titan Solar Power but no longer did.
Finally, Titan agreed to move the solar panels to a better place on the roof.
“Titan was under the impression it had been resolved by the sales company LGCY Power,” a Titan spokesperson told KLAS on Sept. 6. “A Titan team will be out tomorrow (Sept. 7) to relocate the panels for Eva.”
The crew arrived as scheduled on the morning of Sept. 7, and Kaganovitch said she was very thankful to KLAS for helping her.
“I can’t express how happy I am,” she told the outlet. “I feel like I’ve been fighting for over a year and trying to get somewhere, and I can’t believe in just a week or two what you guys have been able to do.”
While Kaganovitch was finally able to get her issue resolved, her story does highlight the drawbacks of some alternative energy methods. Solar and wind power both rely on weather to work properly, and that can cause major issues when the weather is not ideal.
In addition, some homeowners in northwest Florida told WEAR-TV they have been forced to find new insurance after installing solar panels.
Stephen Wilson said he and his wife decided to install solar panels in an attempt to cut energy costs, but his insurance company subsequently told him he could not renew with them.
“When I called to renew and explain to our insurance agent that we were going to be getting solar panels installed that summer, she checked and said it wasn’t going to be covered,” Wilson said.
He said he had to get a new insurance company that would cost about $200 more per month.
While solar power is not inherently bad, it does have very real limitations. It is important for Americans to understand this fact as people continue to call for the abolition of fossil fuels.
