The North Carolina attorney general’s office has opened an investigation into Mooresville-based Pink Energy.
KANNAPOLIS, NC — Pink Energy, formerly known as Power Homes, has filed a Chapter 7 claim in North Carolina’s Western District Court, which involves the liquidation of its assets in order to pay creditors.
JP Morgan Chase Bank is its largest creditor with more than $80.5 million. Court documents filed also show that Pink Energy has between 25 and 50,000 creditors.
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The solar company’s CEO, Jayson Waller, told WCNC Charlotte they weren’t entirely responsible. Waller sent this statement:
“In declaring Pink Energy (formerly PowerHome Solar) bankrupt, I would like to sincerely apologize to all of our customers, employees, their families and suppliers who believed in us and can no longer rely on Pink Energy to go from strength to strength. before. It’s devastating to know how much disruption and hurt this has caused, and I want to recognize and acknowledge that. Today is truly a sad day. We did not expect this outcome and we We have made great efforts to work things out to avoid this situation.
Pink Energy was not perfect as a company, and we own it. However, we went into business in 2014 to benefit our customers while helping them make the transition to solar power and energy efficiency. Our professional experience has shown many years of great success and customer satisfaction in the industry.
We never anticipated or prepared for the flood of Generac SnapRS malfunctions at a rate of more than 40%, while managing our own standard customer service requests. It became a huge strain on our team and our resources. The influx of equipment issues and complaints has literally crippled our ability to handle all customer issues quickly and efficiently. It keeps me awake at night.
Generac has finally acknowledged the over 40% failure rate of SnapRS, causing tens of thousands of our systems to malfunction. But their lack of transparency from the start has been detrimental to our business. Service calls at Pink Energy snowballed from around 800 calls per month to over 30,000 customer phone calls per month, and we began to fight an uphill battle that we couldn’t recover from.
We executed three rounds of painful layoffs while trying to find a way to continue to help customers amid declining sales resulting from equipment malfunctions and negativity. Naturally, the media was focused on sharing negative customer stories, but unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to share Generac’s role in customer complaints and malfunctioning systems.
On behalf of our customers, we are still demanding that Generac initiate a recall of its SnapRS part.
Over the past few weeks, the management team has used personal means to meet the payroll, but with hundreds of employees and suppliers, and millions of dollars in overhead, it was simply not not possible to follow. We’ve tried everything to make it work, and that’s why it hurts so much.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to hear our truth, and once again we understand the pain and offer our most sincere apologies.
Waller said the millions of dollars in overhead was just too much.
However, for owners like Joe Baluha, who bought Waller’s company in 2018, that’s little consolation. He said they had attorneys involved.
“We’ve been trying to get it rectified now since May when the system completely broke down,” Baluha said.
Instead of paying Duke Energy a nominal fee every month of less than $20, their energy bill hovers around $300 a month. The couple have an outstanding loan of $37,000 which they are still paying.
On top of that, Baluha said holes in the roof caused water damage to the drywall.
“We’re on our fifth inverter, the inverters keep blowing, and that’s because it’s not wired properly,” Baluha said.
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He said his system was not installed with Generac parts.
“Don’t think the motto of you is going to own your own power,” Baluha said. “You can for a few years, but it won’t be a lifetime.”
WCNC Charlotte asked Baluha if he could go back and do whatever he decides.
“I would never, I would never – costliest mistake I’ve ever made,” Baluha said.
Generac sent the following statement to WCNC:
“In some situations, particularly where product installation guidelines were not followed, as appears to be the case with some Pink Energy installations, customers may have experienced certain issues with a particular Generac component in their system. solar power system – the SnapRS 801 or 801A. We have introduced a new, next-generation rapid arrest device, which has been designed and manufactured to the highest standards of reliability. We are committed to ensuring that these upgrades upgrade and those warranty replacements are taken care of as soon as possible and those steps are well advanced.
Generac is a leading manufacturer of solar + storage solutions, and we sell our products to a wide range of solar distributors and contractors. We’ve been in business for over 60 years and we’ve done it by delivering on our promises and our products.
We are aware of Pink Energy’s recent Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing. Over the past few weeks, we have already contracted with high-quality third-party vendors to perform warranty services on Generac products, now that Pink Energy will no longer provide this service to its customers.
We understand that consumers are frustrated with Pink Energy and their inaction. However, Generac remains committed to our customers. Customers with questions about Generac components in their solar systems can contact [email protected] or 1-800-396-1281 for assistance.
We ask for your patience as we strive to help customers as quickly as possible.”
Consumers can file a complaint with the North Carolina Attorney General’s office or call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM.
Contact Jane Monreal at [email protected] and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and instagram.
