Rhode Island Solar Consumer Protection Law

Rhode Island just signed a solar consumer protection law, and its a lot like Washington's law but with an added registration list for solar companies and sales reps.

https://governor.ri.gov/press-releases/governor-mckee-signs-solar-protections-bill

I am a big fan of solar consumer protection laws, but I do have to say that they seem very amateurish to this solar old timer with a policy degree. Its like a saying from when I was in college studying Political Science: when they don't know how to solve a problem they pass a law.

Here is my main problem with these laws (while I support them too): they increase the soft cost of going solar for a good solar company and too slowly and loosely pursue the bad actors. What I hope happens next is we improve upon these laws and ramp up enforcement. The time to end fraudulent solar sales is NOW!

First of all, the focus on the contract itself does not prevent a consumer from being fooled into signing a bad contract, and its only after something really bad happens that the consumer is likely to become aware of the law and how their solar sales rep and solar company violated that law. Then, small claims (under $100,000 of damages), are really hard to pursue for a non-rich person and result in bad actors being able to do a lot of damage before they find a victim that is able to litigate. A lot of bad deals will still happen with solar purchasers only realizing what happened years from now.

The new Rhode Island law creates a registration list of solar sales reps and solar companies. The registering of sales reps and companies does not have clarity yet, especially the fees associated with it. There is both a registration fee and a re-occurring annual fee. Again, increasing the cost of operation for the good actors is thus an increase in the soft cost of going solar with good solar installers. What this tells me is that these solar consumer protection laws are being passed with out funding support, so the government is exporting the cost of operation of the law onto the solar companies, and I am not a fan of that unless it comes with swift enforcement from the government to stop bad actors promptly.

Bad actors are still able to do a lot of damage in Rhode Island before being noticed, individual lawsuits are not sufficient deterrence and take way too long to happen. The consumer needs more protection than this since the details of purchasing solar is still new to most all consumers.

What I really support strongly in this bill is a 7 day right to cancel the contract. I pushed for that in Washington (5 business days), but its still just the minimum of 3 days. On a large ticket item like solar (and hopefully batteries too) customers need ample time to figure out if they signed a good deal and cancel if they find something illegal or non-optimal in the deal they signed. I know some companies try to install within 7 days of signing and I just don't support that as that would only benefit the solar installer and not allow adequate solar consumer protection.

What I would like to see is something like a "welcome call" where a customer is virtually recorded agreeing to the deal they signed and that data goes straight to regulators. This will give clear notice to customers of what the law is while they have time to cancel. The regulators then have all the info they need to swiftly and proactively intervene. A welcome call mixed with a 7 day right to cancel starts to bring us to a place where real consumer protection is happening upfront when the timing matters. Imagine bad actors being cut out every time they pop up their Hydra head. Since bad actors make so much profit and sales commission off of every deal we need to not let them accumulate millions of dollars before stopping them, they need to be stopped before they make a pile of gold out of the good intentions of homeowners trying to buy solar to save the planet and lighten their financial load.

Just last week I went to a Seattle Sounders soccer game with a friend from 2nd grade, and while we are sitting in the stadium he shows me a solar deal being offered to him by a known bad actor to me. Right away I saw several issues making the offer illegal in Washington. I am reporting it to the Washington Attorney General's office, and I am hoping they follow up with that company and get them to stop the obvious illegal activity. The problem though is that they sales rep was very pushy, and that works on many people, I'm just glad my friend checked in with me so I could direct him to a good local honest solar installer.

***If i got any details wrong about this law please inform me, I read the law itself, but I can always make the mistake of not find the final version passed.