A solar company that was awarded a $3 billion Department of Energy loan has been accused of scamming dementia patients on their deathbeds into signing five-figure, multi-decade solar panel leases, according to interviews and state consumer complaint records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Terry Blythe, a Texas resident, told the Washington Free Beacon that her father was 86 years old and had been diagnosed with dementia when a door-to-door Sunnova salesman persuaded him to sign a 25-year solar panel lease in 2020. When her father passed away earlier this year, Blythe said she was left to grapple with the $34,000 contract.
“It was truly ripping off old people,” she said. “It was the biggest ripoff I’ve ever seen.”
Blythe said she sold her parents’ home, which was in disrepair and in a low-income neighborhood, to pay for her mother’s assisted living care. But she said she was forced to take a significant price cut because buyers weren’t willing to pay for the entire solar panel contract.
“If I can’t recoup the money my mom needs, at least maybe I can help others that they might scam,” she said. “The fact that they were just awarded that much money from the government is sickening.”